Since January of 2020, my boyfriend George and I have made a ritual out of preparing our ghee on the full moon. First we set an intention of being ‘Present’ while preparing our ghee. Each one of our intentional ghee creations has gifted us the love which we sealed into each jar.
Planting, growing, harvesting, prepping and storing food is rewarding on many levels. Instead of consuming store bought butter or ghee, we enjoy the benefits of crafting loving-intentional-infused ghee.
Ghee is a type of clarified butter. Butter consists of milk fat, water, protein, and milk solids. After the ghee making process is completed (approximately twenty-five to thirty minutes), the milk fats and water have been removed from the butter. Ghee has no lactose therefore can be stored on a shelf.
A few more benefits of ghee are; the smoke point of ghee is 482 degrees F. Butter’s smoke point is 350 degrees F. Thus, ghee is easier to cook (doesn’t burn as quick as butter) with and has a great nutty flavor. Ghee in the grocery store or purchased online is pricey, and making ghee at home will save you money. If you make your own butter, that’s awesome. If you don’t make your own butter then buy butter when it's on sale.
A Native American tradition tells of tribal members looking to the full moon as a guide during the changing seasons. For example the full moon showed the first peoples when to plant crops, harvest crops, catch the most fish, go out for the last hunt and prepare for winter.
Recently as George and I were preparing for winter we came upon the work of a Beaver. Coincidently, November is called the Beaver full moon. Native Americans were known to set beaver traps in November since the beaver’s coat is at it’s thickest. The beaver and the natives both prepare for the long cold winter. When we make ghee we are also preparing for the long cold winter.
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Here’s is a simple STEP by STEP guide to making your own small batch of ghee.
First you need 4 sticks of butter (1/2 cup - sticks), One 16 oz. glass mason jar, mesh strainer, and cheesecloth.
Note: Ayurvedic teachings recommend using unsalted butter.
Place the butter into a sturdy metal pot. Place on cooking stove and turn the temperature to Medium to Medium High - initially - (the butter will melt different depending on if you use a gas or electric stove).
Standby, watch and listen to your Butter melt. Make sure the butter doesn’t boil too quickly. You don’t want the butter to burst up and out of your pot. Simply watch the butter melt and then start to Simmer...... almost to a boil... but not quite.
It’s important to Listen to the butter....and watch the butter. The butter will begin to transform. We enjoy being ‘Present’ with our butter as it transforms by infusing a Loving Intention into the pot.
The water in the butter will soon start to bubble up through the milk fat.
Next as the bubbles start to go from smaller to bigger bubbles continue to listen. The water will evaporate out and the milk solids will remain. Then the milk fats will sink to the bottom of the pan once all of the water has boiled off.
At this point you have now crafter Clarified Butter. Be sure to remove the pan from the Heat, so as not to burn the milk fats to the bottom of the pan.
Strain through a wire mesh strainer which sits atop a 2 Cup glass measuring container. If you don’t have a glass measuring container you can put a rubber band around the top of the mason jar to hold the cheesecloth on and strain the butter into the mason jar.
Pour the hot golden ghee into a mason jar and seal lid. Your ghee will cool on the counter and take on the consistency which is shown in the the photo below. Now you’ll be able to keep your ghee safe in your kitchen cabinet for many months to come.
Spread your ghee onto your favorite dishes, such as rice or pasta. It’s easy to cook with ghee. Our dogs enjoy the milk solids which we had strained out from the pot. Also, I use ghee in my coffee (to make my coffee creamy) and enjoy rubbing ghee on my skin as a moisturizer.
We hope you enjoyed this ghee blog.
Please Join George and Alicia for a on-line ghee crafting experience.
Date: 11/29th, Sunday, Time: 4:00 pm - 4:30 pm (PT - Oregon time)
Ghee-fully Creative experience, as we will infuse, via Zoom, Mindfulness/Intention/Native American and Yogic teachings/Singing Bowl into your very own batch of ghee.
Together over a thirty minute Zoom class we will take you step by step through the transformative process of making Intentional Delicious and Nutritious ghee.
Send Alicia Valentyn an email at: healingmotion13@gmail.com and RSVP for the ghee making class. Sign up today by paying the class fee of $15 to Alicia’s Pay Pal account.
This price helps Alicia to continue advertising on her Meet Up. Com site - which is called ’Find the Present.’
Please send any questions or comments to Alicia’s email.
Namaste.
Alicia & George <3