1) WHY DO YOU MAKE YOUR GHEE ON THE FULL OR WAXING MOONS?
For more than ten thousand years the ancient cultures of the world have noticed a relationship between the ever changing appearance of the moon and the qualtiy of things, happenings and events on earth. Almost all of the ancinet calendars were lunar, based on the cycles of the moon. Pre-Industrial cultures paid close attention to the phases of the moon in all aspects of their farming, harvesting, planting, milking, hunting and food preparation. They recognized and sought to work with the forces in nature that surrounded them and saw that the moon was a living symbol of the flooding and ebbing of the tides of life. It was considered grossly stupid and highly ignorant not to take the moon cycles into consideration, similar to what we now call 'swimming against the tide', you can do it, but it is difficult and one often goes in the opposite direction from which you intend.
Some of this ancient wisdom still survives: In the West today, in many of the villages of rural Italy, Mozzarella is only made on the waxing or full moons. In the Vedic culture of ancient India and still in the village cultures of that land, ghee is still made on the full or waxing moons. This period of the moon cycle is known in the Indian culture as the 'shukla paksh' or the white part of the moon. All the qualities that the moon represents increase to their maximum during the growing phase of the moon cycle. The moon is considered to rule or control 'soma', the juice or essence of plants and of life itself. The Vedas also speak of milk as the essence of grass or plants and consider ghee to be the essence of milk. When we consider this larger picture, it becomes more clear how making ghee, the essence of the essence of grass, in the shukla paksh or 'rising tide'
of increasing lunar influence, plays an 'essential' role in producing the very best ghee.
2) WHY DO YOU USE THE MAHAMRTUNJAYA MANTRA WHILE YOU MAKE THE GHEE?
Like the moon, there are more things to making exquisite ghee than just the fact that we use the very best organic butter. It is also important to create a harmonious, benign, positive, relaxed and 'healing' environment in the vibrations of the space we make our ghee. These vibrations effect everythiing they touch. The primary way we create this effect is by the sounds, music and meaning of the repetitive chanting of the Mahamrtunjaya Mantra. There is a vast difference between the feeling sense communicated in Heavy Metal and the Four Season by Vivaldi. There is a dramatic difference between angry hateful speech and blessing prayer. Each of them has someithing to 'say' but I would not want to eat a fine dinner to just any music. The quality of any sound and music plays a large role and has definite effects, just like the moon. Much modern research has been done to confirm this ancient truth. If you are interested in seeing some pictures of the effect of different vibrations of sound on water CLICK HERE.
The ancient Mahamrtunjaya Mantra was traditionally used to make ghee. It is a sacred prayer for liberation and was and is used for its healing and balancing effects. To make ghee all day in the beautiful atmosphere of this mantra is like diving into the ocean, you cannot help but come out wet all over with water and everything around you is wet as well. The mantra soaks into our minds through our ears and bodies and flavors our emotions and of course into the ghee. To hear our favorite version of the Mahamrtunjaya Mantra that we use click (HERE). We beleive it makes a difference in the ghee we produce. To see a vide that summarizes the effect of vibration on water (Ghee is a liquid) and the aility of water to retain that as a memory click HERE.
3) HOW TO KEEP GHEE FROM SPOILING?
Two things will ruin ghee. They are 1) moisture and 2) sunlight. Moisture will cause a mold to grow that will cause the ghee to sour. A good and easy way you can tell if the ghee has gone sour is to smell it. If it does not smell sweet, it has spoiled. This is not a toxic mold or toxic process, but, it is not considered a good ghee for eating. Sunlight will cause ghee to oxidize and lose its nourishing and ojas-producing qualities.Ojas is the most subtle or refined level of substance, in life and in the body One can think of it as the 'sap' of life..
We reccomend that you keep your ghee in a dark, cool, temperature stable place. If you cannot do that, keep your ghee in a refrigerator. If you take your ghee in and out of a refrigerator, condensation may form on the inside of the lid and sides of the jar. If you use the ghee in a week or so, this should be no problem. Once again, you can guage the 'condition' of your ghee by smelling it. It should smell sweet. Much of the ghee on the market today is never sweet, so you may not know what ghee is supposed to smell like. This is what happens when a tradition becomes lost, people no longer know what a thing or qualtiy is supposed to be. They have lost the memory. We want to restore that tradition by giving form to the memory.
When you use your ghee, take from the jar, only the amount that you are going to use there and then. Do not keep an open jar of ghee next to the stove when you are cooking as the moisture and steam that settle there will spoil the ghee. Also, do not use a damp or wet spoon to dip into your ghee. If some moisture or a piece of food fall into your bottle, do not despair, just refrigerate your ghee from then on and use it relatively quickly. Remember, you can always test your ghee by smelling it. Good ghee will always smell sweet.
4) IS THERE ANY LACTOSE oR CASEIN IN GHEE?
In properly made ghee, there is no lactose or milk sugar. Many people are lactose or casein intolerant and ghee is perfect for them.
According to Ayurveda, in our modern times, much lactose intolerance is due to the pasteurization, homogenization and ultra-pasteurization of milk. These are considered to be destructive processes, changing the qualities of milk into a destructive and toxic substance. In addition, here in the west, these 'qualities' of milk are not accounted for and milk is usually taken cold and unspiced, increasing the difficulty of digestion. In India, milk is traditionally very briefly brought to a boil and then taken warm and spiced with ginger, cardamom and cinnamon. These spices are not only for taste but aid in the digestion of the milk. There are many factors that need to be considered when looking at lactose intolerance.
5) IS YOUR GHEE PASTEURIZED?
Sometimes people ask if our ghee is pasteurized. They are concerned with whether the ghee may be indigestible due to using pasteurized milk/butter. We agree that pasteurizing milk destroys the enzyme lactase that digests the milk sugar lactose. But, because ghee has no lactose in it, this is not an issue, whatsoever. We boil our butter at approxomately 217degrees farenheit for several hours. This is higher than most of the pasteurization temperatures except for ultra-pasteurization. It is almost unknown for any digestive difficulties to occur. For thousands of years, ghee has been considered to be the most easily digestible of fats and is known to help with the digestion of other foods. For more on pasteurization read this additional ARTICLE.
6) WHY DO YOU CALL YOUR GHEE ARTISANAL?
There are many ways to make ghee. Recently, at a food fair, a person came up to us and told us 'The way' to make ghee involving a vacuum which would lower the boiling point of the butter and a 'steam jacketed boiling system' so that our ghee would never burn. When he told us this, I realized a critical part of what makes our ghee so special. Because we make our ghee on fire in an open pot on a stove, we always and intentionally burn or carmelize the milk solids on the bottom of each pot. (This is because the fire is much hotter on the the very bottom of the pot). this burned material lends a flavor to the ghee that is a rich, nutty taste. Industrial/ large producers of ghee use 'steam-jacketed kettles' to make their ghee. This allows them to make the ghee without burning it on the bottom. However, this type of process does not produce the same taste or quality. Much of the time spent in every ghee making session goes into scraping off and cleaning the bottom of each pot. We do not use the burned material on the bottom of the pot and give it away for people to use with their animals.
We really do make our ghee the ancient and 'old fashioned' way. This is a method that can only be done in small batches and cannot be mass produced. The ghee needs to be watched closely towards the end as if it is cooked too long, the burning will go too far and the taste of the ghee will be ruined. It is this hand made, small 'batch' scale that makes our ghee artisanal in both technique and taste. Of course the use of mantra and the consideration of the quality of time (in terms of the full or waxing moon) bring the use of the term 'artisanal' to the level used in ancient times.
7) LIQUID/SOLID CONSISTENCY OF GHEE? - I bought some of your ghee and am wondering if there is a problem with it. It is not creamy and of uniform consistency like ghee should be, and seems to be separated i.e. there is a runny part and more solid part.
The separation of ghee into liquid and solid is due to the changes in temperature that the ghee is going through. One of the signs of a saturated fat is that it is solid at room temperature. ghee is an exception! This is pointed to as one of the unique qualities of ghee. Cow ghee is supposed to be liquid at a consistent 72deg or room temperature. It will slowly 'crystallize' and turn solid if the temperature goes below that point. however, It takes a long time to change from one state (solid) to the other (liquid) if the temperature is varying up and down with day and night variations. If you heat the ghee in any container you will see it go completely liquid and bright yellow. If you put it in a refrigerator it will go completely solid and the color will change to a light yellow. What you are noticing is ghee that has been initially cooled below room temperature and is now warming and becoming liquid.
The liquidification will usually show itself on the top of each jar first. sometimes the solidifying pricess shows up as 'granulation' in the ghee. Once again, this does not mean that the ghee is bad. It is just a sign of temperature variation. I always suggest that people test their ghee by smelling it. If it smells sweet, I have nver found it to be bad.
8) I HAVE SEEN OTHER GHEES THAT ARE 'ORGANIC' AND THEY DON'T COST AS MUCH. WHY IS THIS AND WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THEM?
To make the very best ghee we must use the very best butter. The primary reason our ghee is more expensive is that we use one of the most expensive premium organic butters on the market today-Straus Sweet Cream Butter. This butter won the gold medal award for the 'Best Butter in the World' at the Interational Dairy Competition in Los Angeles in 2009. It is the very best we know of. Straus butter has won similar awards in the past. Straus butter was named "One of the Top Premium Butters in America" by Food and Wine Magazine.
STRAUS ORGANIC DAIRY aND CREAMERY is our local dairy and creamery. They are located on the coastal hills north of San Francisco Ca. They are the first and oldest organic dairy in the West and are the only business that is both organic dairy and creamery. They are the exclusive source of our sweet cream butter.
But, the question remains, why is it so expensive? To consider why this is so we must consider the environment in which that butter existed and from which it comes. This is an interesting consideration and has to do with many factors. To answer your question is complex and needs some time to explain- let's begin by making some distinctions between organic dairies.
All organic dairies are not the same. There is a great difference in the quality of milk from the cows of even organic dairies. . Much depends on where the dairy is located. Is it in a part of the country where there is a harsh winter? This means that the cows are in a barn during the winter months and not eating the green growing grass of a pasture. This does not mean that the cows are not treated well, but it does affect their diet dramatically and the diet of a cow is the single biggest difference in the quality of their milk.
Many organic dairies do not give their cows access to pasture!. Just because a dairy is certified organic does not mean that the cows are on pasture for the same amount of time as another organic dairy. There is an additional consideration- Even if the cows go outside in pasture year round, the Pasture is different all over the country. As you can imagine, the diet of the cows varies widely and the quality of the milk and milk products vary along with what they eat.
All organic creameries are not the same. Unlike Straus Dairy, very few dairies in the United States still have their own creamery- the place where the milk is processed. Several of the large 'organic' dairy operations work with small organic dairy farms all over the United States and then ship their milk, by truck, long distances, across many states to deliver to their creameries. At the creameries the processing of the milk and butter can vary widely. (Remember, we are talking about 'organic' dairies and creameries). One of the biggest differences is how they 'pasteurize' their milk. Milk and milk products can be pasteurized in basically two ways.High temperature short time (HTST) or ultra pasteurized. The former creates a shorter shelf life than the ultra-pasteurization. Many of the 'organic' dairies ultra-pasteurize their milk. Unknown to American consumers is the fact that ultra pasteurized milk need not be refrigerated. American consumers would not trust milk that was not refrrigerated and so it is put in cold storage. But, the product is dramatically different. The ultra pasteurization renders the milk indigestible according to Ayurveda and strips it of much of the heatlh giving qualities and benefits historically attrributed to milk and milk products.
Our butter is made differently- All 'organic' butters are not made the same. Butter used to be churned in a batch (meaning in a small 'batch') churn (you can see the batch churn in the picture on the right below). In America today, over 90% of even 'organic butter' is produced in a process called a 'continuous churn' in which cream is hydraulically forced through a fine mesh screen. A continuous churn can produce around 20,000 lbs of butter in an hour. This is more than our dairy/creamery (Straus) with their batch churn can produce in a week. All of these factors change the taste and qualities and quality of both milk and butter. We are very fortunate to have one of the very best organic dairies and creameries in the United States.
We make our ghee the old-fashioned way that includes carmelizing the milk solids on the botom of each pot. This creates a situation in which it is very time consuming to scrape the carmelized milk solids off the bottom of each pot. Large ghee-mailking operation use 'steam jacketed kettles that prevent the carmelization on the bottom of the pot and thus obviate the need to clean them with scraping. Thisalso prevents the nutty taste from occurring and we beleive creates a far inferior ghee.
Most people do not understand or appreciate how corrupt and harmful the dairy industry and their dairy products have become today. Unfortunately, this has now extended into the 'organic' dairy business. There are many ways to do things and many of them are just plain wrong, certainly not in accord with the spirit of what 'organic' means. What is now occurring throughout the world and in the United States is that large Industrial Organic dairy corporations are purposefully misleading the public to make more money. They are using loopholes in the law to get around treating their cows well, putting their cows out on pasture and making a truly healthy product. Then they hide the fact that they produce an inferior product behind 'pleasant', 'happy'and misleading advertising. To read a recent (11/09) article on this topic (CLICK HERE)
It costs more to make the very best product. From our superior butter to the artisanal (slow/seasonal/ancient) way we make our ghee, everything is hand done with care and great attention. We recently joined the Cornucopia Institute which has done much good work to protect small scale organic dairies and protect consumers from the abuses of the industrialization of organic dairy operations.For an article from their website (CLICK HERE)
Most of us have lost the ability or discrimination to tell the difference of one milk from another or one butter to another. How many of us notice the difference between butter made in the spring (when the grass is growing fast and there are spring flowers) and the green grass of the summer months and the milk and butter made during the winter when the cows are not on pasture as much (Or even if they are on pasture at all? I assure you that you can notice these differences. Once it is pointed out.
Straus cows are on open pasture almost all year round. A recent USDA study shows that cows who graze produce five times more of a cancer-fighting compound, Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA), than cows fed a conventional diet. When a cow grazes on green growing grass in pasture, they have more beta-carotene in their diet and their butter is more yellow. Many creameries (even some organic ones) compensate for the lack of color in their butter by later adding (organic) carotene in as a colorant.
Straus churns their butter at their own creamery in a old fashioned 1950's batch churn (batch means in small 'batches'). This type of churn (picture on right) is not even made anymore. Straus butter has the highest butterfat content (86%) of any butter on the market today.
 
Batch butter Churn and Yellow butter at the Straus creamery
We also put great attention and care into the way we produce our ghee. We make our ghee according to the moon cycle which allows us only 14 days a month to actually make our ghee. This is the way that the ancient Vedic culture of India made their ghee and the way that many cultures still do. My partner is Italian and she told me that in the remote villages of Italy, they will only make fresh mozzarela on the waxing moons. The recognition and use of the moon cycles to determine and regulate foodstuffs and plants was 're-discovered' by Rudolf Steiner and is amongst the principles that make up modern bio-dynamics.
We also tend to the the vibrational atmosphere in which we make our ghee. This is why we use the chanted/mantras or prayers throughout the ghee-making and bottling period.
So, this is the answer to why our ghee is more expensive. Obviously, all of the above was not based on what we thought was the cheapest way to make ghee. However, it is the best way we know and if we were going to do it, we wanted to do it the best way we know how. To sum up, It is for all these reasons: our butter costs more, our production methods cost more. . . 'more' than the industrial organic ghee and 'more' than non-organic ghee (which you should not eat as the hormones, steroids and antibiotics are concentrated in the fat . We believe that if you take the true cost of real ghee into consideration, if you add in the health benefits of a real food, if you consider the exquisite taste, then our ghee comes out as a true bargain.
9) IS THERE ANY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CLARIFIED BUTTER AND GHEE?
Yes! A great difference. It takes only a few minutes to heat butter and make clarified butter. (Clarified butter is also called 'drawn butter'). Moisture is boiled off and most of the milk solids rise to the top and are skimmed off. In the making of traditional ghee, the butter is boiled for a much longer time (for example, we boil a pot of 10lbs of butter for several hours) and all the moisture is boiled off and all the milk solids, casein and lactose settle to the bottom. In addition, in the making of traditional ghee, this 'settled' mixture of milk solids on the bottom of the pot is intentionally burned or carmelized which lends the carmel/nutty flavor to genuine ghee. With clarified butter, there is no burning of the solids on the bottom of the pot .
Some of the commercial brands of ghee (organic and non-organic) on the market do not seem to make their ghee this way. We say this after tasting them. Real ghee demands an artisanal approach and the technique of making the ghee in batches. If ghee is not made in this way, it will taste very different, less 'nutty' and have different medicinal qualities as well.
10) IS THERE ANY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BROWN BUTTER (BEURRE NOISETTE) AND GHEE?
Some have wondered if 'brown butter' and ghee are the same. A French chef who works in our kitchen told us that, "While the brown butter flavor is similar to ghee, unlike brown butter (beurre noisette), the milk solids are removed from ghee and thus ghee can reach much higher temperatures with out burning. We think that the removal of these milk solids make a big difference in the elemental/ health/ nutritional effects of ghee as compared to brown butter.
11) WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN REGULAR BUTTER AND GHEE?
There are quite a few interesting and important differences. To find our article on all of them: CLICK HERE
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