Ghee!

I am planning a 2 week BWCA trip in early May - although with the weather going the way it is, I am not sure that the lakes will be iced out yet. You can actually check the DNR for ice out dates for lakes in the state (and for median ice out dates too) from past years. My Charming Companion and I are planning to go to Saganaga on May 12th, which is one of the last lakes in the state to ice out because it is large and pretty far north. In the past 25 years, it looks like the ice has always been gone by then except for three times: '89, '96, and '08. I wonder what will happen?!

I am going forth as though some kind of trip will happen, and am doing some of the pre-trip food prep. This week I made a big batch of ghee. I use ghee a lot of the time at home, but it is perfect for camping because it is stable without refrigeration and tastes so good. It's very simple too (and WAY cheaper than buying pre-made stuff) - it just takes some time where you need to be fairly attentive. Though actually, I got sucked in to my new Nalo Hopkinson novel, and forgot about it for an hour, but it was okay due to the low heat. Whew.

One pound of butter will yield just under 2 cups of ghee. I was making 4 pounds all at one time, and it took about an hour and a half on very low heat. If you only make a pound at a time, it will only take 20-25 minutes. I like to use pastured butter, which comes lightly salted. I would prefer to use non salted butter - but alas. The salt all condenses into the milk solids that are the bi-product of the ghee. They are actually super tasty if you can digest milk, so I like to cook with those or put them on roasted veggies. But they are salty with the salted butter!

Making Ghee:
1. Unwrap the butter sticks and put them in a heavy pot on medium heat to melt. Stay nearby for this part because it goes pretty quickly. The butter will melt and will start to foam at the top. As soon as that happens, turn the heat down to low. I always stick a wooden spoon in the pot too - it breaks up the surface so that bubbles can get out and not be trapped by the foamy layer (otherwise it can bubble up in one big bubble that can get over-excited and leave the pan - messy and dangerous).

Foamy! This is shortly after all the butter has melted.

2. Now you are just watching and waiting for the water to cook off and the butter to clarify. There will be some crackling sounds, and the liquid under the foam will gradually become clear and golden. There will be milk solids that start to settle on the bottom and sides of the pot. At first they will be light in color, and they will gradually darken. The foam at the top will also start to disappear. You can stop cooking the ghee at any point after the liquid is clear and the milk solids at the bottom are brown. Be careful not to go too long or your ghee will have a bit of a burnt taste from the very browned/burned milk solids.
 

You can see the browned milk solids on the bottom, and a little foam left. Almost done!

3. Let the ghee cool for a bit in the pot, then pour it through a strainer and/or cheesecloth into jars. This will capture any bits of milk solids so that the ghee can be shelf stable. At this point, I stir in a little salt (2 pinches per pint jar) because I like it that way, but you can also leave it plain.

The ghee is now sit out on the counter as you make your way through it - or you can store it in the freezer or fridge. I will transfer two of these to a plastic, non-leaking nalgene bottle for the camping trip. Mmmm.