Ghee is expensive!

(Alex) #1

I found a local brand of Ghee here (I live between Italy and Greece, back and forth). I am surprised at how expensive it is, I got a small jar (from grass fed beef) for 16 Euros, or $16, same thing with current exchange rates. I want to cook healthy, but with the meats, quality ingredients I am getting every few days, the keto diet is turning into quiet the expense.
How much does Ghee go for were you live?

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #2

It’s currently on sale for US $8.99 at a nearby supermarket. But if even that is too much, why not make your own. I imagine any really worthwhile cookbook contains instructions for clarifying butter.

(Alex) #3

Is clarified butter the same thing?? Isn’t there a taste difference?

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #4

I suppose you’re right, although I’ve always known the two terms to be synonymous. But according to www.thespruceeats.com,

Ghee (pronounced GEE with a hard G), the Hindi word for “fat,” can be used as a synonym for clarified butter, with one difference. Unlike in the French technique, ghee traditionally simmers for a while, browning the milk solids and adding a slightly nutty flavor to the finished product.

#5

Clarified Butter and Ghee are the same thing. Ghee is just the Indian word for it, and it became trendy to sound “worldly”. I pay $8 I think for mine, but it lasts a long time so not a big deal!

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(Alex) #6

Wow, I paid over double the price for a 150 mg jar. I use it quiet liberally so it will probably finish by the end of next week maximum.

(Allie) #7

So buy butter and make your own ghee, it’s so easy to do.

(Alex) #8

Thanks, yes, I found some recipes to make ghee, I will try it tomorrow. It will be a fun experiment :blush:

(Allie) #9

A few of us on here have made it before with great success. It actually seems nicer when it’s over done, gives it a caramel type flavour.

#10

I never saw ghee I think but it must be super expensive, I am not even interested. The cheapest butter is something I barely can afford in grams so ghee would be out of question even if I liked it. But I don’t, it’s completely tasteless to me, I made it once because I needed something for a multiple days travel by motorbike, I had to use something that doesn’t spoil. It was okay with ground walnuts :smiley: But butter is way, way, way tastier if you ask me. Not everything feels so, tastes are different.

(Marianne) #11

I only cook with ghee now or add it to my leaner cuts of meat (bacon grease is another good one) to make a sauce of sorts. I don’t know about where you are, but I found it wildly expensive at the conventional grocery store. $9.99 for 12 oz? - something like that. Discovered an “international” grocery for Asian/Middle Eastern folks and got a 32 oz. jar there for $16. It lasts a very long time for the amount I need to use.

(Marianne) #12

This is the same brand that I buy. If purchased at the international store, I get 32 oz. for $16. I get two jars at a time because it keeps unrefrigerated (unopened). Definitely worth a special trip across town.

(Allie) #13

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I get this one since I stopped using it in coffee and only use it for cooking.

(Doug) #14

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This is the one I get - a comparatively good deal at $15 for 5 lbs / 2.27 kg. Supply chain issues - it’s not in stock at my local store right now. :neutral_face: (I have no doubt that the $3/lb price is long gone.)

Nice name though, eh?

Yes indeed! In the U.S. most butter is 80% butterfat (no argument that European butter - usually somewhat higher in fat - isn’t better). You lose a little, so let’s say you get 75% of the stated weight of the butter in clarified butter.

Cheap places to buy butter in the U.S. that I know of:

Restaurant Depot $3.24 lb

Costco $3.50(?) lb - Used to be $3 but the last time I got it I think it had gone up a little.

Walmart $4 lb

Target $4 lb

So, if the butter is $4 per lb, then the clarified butter will be ~$5.30 lb or ~$1.17 for 100 grams.

= $4.36 lb = Excellent! :slightly_smiling_face::sunglasses: (And likely cheaper than you can make it for yourself.)

I realize that not everybody can store large quantities, but there is ‘economy of scale’ - I think it pays to make a big batch at once. There’s less waste that way, and there is some effort and clean-up involved, so might as well do it less frequently.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #15

The saturated and monounsaturated fats in butter are reasonably stable, so they can sit out on the counter for a long time, just like bacon grease. We keep butter in the fridge (to keep the individual sticks from melting) until a stick is put in the butter dish, but the butter dish stays out and the butter remains fine. In London, my ex and I used to get solid pounds, and we’d put an entire pound out and leave it out till it was gone, with no problems.

(Doug) #16

Agreed, Paul - we leave the “butter in use” out too. Clarified butter - I don’t know but it would probably last a LONG time at room temperature…

:smile: Googled it - Ghee will last around 3-4 months at room temperature.

(Bob M) #17

The benefit to ghee is that it has a higher smoke point than butter. Butter will burn, but ghee at the same (high) temperature will not.

Now, some people (like the Serious Eats people) think that burning butter can add flavor, such as to steaks. But I’m not so sure that’s true…

I’ve made my own ghee, and it takes a while to make. And I use it so rarely that I just buy it. But if you use it a lot, that could get expensive.

(Doug) #18

For sure, Bob. Ghee is ~250°C / 485°F - higher than everything(?) but avocado oil.

Butter is WAY down there at 177°C / 350°F.

#19

Agreed “brown butter” is an excuse for burning something. Whenever somebody says something is “earthy” or “nutty” unless its dirt or nuts… You’ve lost me!

#20

You must have used a lot :slight_smile: We can’t leave out more than 30-50g or it will go off… But we mostly just used it for buttered bread or sometimes for coffee, this amount is enough for a week.

Yeah that’s too. I don’t need that. Butter is the tasty stuff I eat as it is, ghee is useless for me, it seems it costs 10 times as much as lard or coconut oil, the fat we use for cooking? But I do my best to avoid using any added fat (lard rendered out of my meat and used for my eggs doesn’t count :smiley: but that’s tiny too). Of course some dishes need it but I rarely make such ones.

Hmmm burned butter… Keto caramel starts like that, once I did that perfectly and never again. Oh well, I can live without that :slight_smile: