Learning How To Make Ghee

I don't get a lot of cream from my goats' milk, so I've adjusted how I use it. That means, it accumulates faster than I can use it, so I end up storing it in the freezer. When I want cream for ice cream, whipped cream, cheesecake, or butter, I defrost what I need. But eventually, I need the freezer space for something else, and that's what got me thinking about learning to make ghee.

Butter is fat plus a little remaining water (as whey) and milk solids (proteins). Much of this is washed out in the last step making butter.

Washing goat butter to remove residual whey.

Even so, some of these remain and that's what can give old butter an off-flavor. It's also why butter smokes when heated too high. If the water and solids are removed, however, the result is pure butterfat, which is shelf-stable. It can be stored for months without refrigeration and has a low smoking point, making it a very useful product. There are two forms of this - clarified butter and ghee. Ghee has a nuttier flavor because because the milk solids are browned a bit after the butter melts. Clarified butter is commonly used in French cooking, while ghee is used in Indian cuisine.

I'm not an expert at ghee making yet, but I'm starting to get the hang of it; at least enough to share some pictures and explanations. It starts with unsalted butter. Plop it in a pot and turn on the heat to medium. Then watch for three things: fine foamy bubbles, large airy bubbles (from simmering), and the milk solids floating to the top of the simmering butter. The foam forms first.

After it melts, it begins to bubble and foam. Stir gently and watch.

In every tutorial I've read or watched, the bright golden yellow color is mentioned somewhere along the way. I'm using butter made from goat cream, so I won't get that beautiful color because goat milk lacks beta carotene. It's the beta carotene that gives cow butter its yellow color. My goat butter and butter products are very pale in comparison. The color variations you see in this series of photos are due to whether or not the camera auto-flash engaged.

The simmering butter is stirred gently until the foam dissipates and the milk solids form and float on the surface of the simmering butter. Turn the heat down to medium-low.

As the foam (fine bubbles) disappears, the milk solids begin to rise and float.

For clarified butter, you can skim the milk solids and then strain the melted butter through cheesecloth. For ghee, simply stop stirring and continue to watch. Soon it looks like this...

The milk solids sink to the bottom of the pan.

If you look carefully, you see surface bubbles, but
also the milk solids lying on the bottom of the pot.

Now the milk solids are allowed to brown until the butter starts to foam a second time.

When the butter starts to foam again, the ghee is done.

Then it's removed from the heat and strained.

I use a fine strainer, but several layers of
cheesecloth would improve the product.

Some people actually discard the browned milk solids, but I would at least feed them to the chickens! Others recommend them as a popcorn topping, and they'd be good in an au gratin topping too. I've eaten them myself because they're too tasty to waste.

I spent too much time fiddling with the camera, so my scrapings are a little
dark. Usually, they are more of a golden brown, but at least they didn't burn(!)

The jars are then lidded and placed on a pantry shelf for storage.

Maybe a little difference in color depending on the browning of the milk solids.

The ghee on the right is the batch made in the photos. The jar on the left has been stored in the pantry since April. It's my test batch for non-refrigerated storage.

The other day, I made some from unsalted cow butter because I was curious about the color. Here's how the two compare ...

Cow ghee on the left, goat ghee on the right.

For the uninitiated, I'm pretty sure the one on the left looks more appealing.

A pound of butter yields about a pint of ghee. It can be used the same way butter is, and since it doesn't smoke when heated, is excellent for sauteing. Plus, it frees up room in the freezer. 😺

Any ghee or clarified butter fans out there? What's your favorite use for it? Recipes?

And here we go again, another shameless plug for one of my little how-to eBooks. This time for the revised edition of How To Get Cream From Goats's Milk: make your own butter, whipped cream, ice cream, and more. It now contains more photos, more information, and updated links. It includes how to make clarified butter and ghee!

For more information or where to buy, click here. 

Learning How To Make Ghee © November 2020

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com

Goat Sized Butter Churn

Back in my back-to-the-land days I had a hand-crank butter churn. It was one of those small ones - a square gallon jar with a crank on top. I kept it for a long time in hopes that I'd someday have a cow for cream and butter. Along the way it got given away, something I've somewhat regretted. Of course, getting a gallons-worth of cream from goats is hardly feasible with the number of goats I keep. I've not minded my shake-a-jar method but I've still wished I had a butter churn.

You can imagine how delighted I was to find this one on Amazon. Made in France, it will hold 17 to 27 ounces of cream. At the time it was $87 so I added it to my wish list where it remained for some time. When the price went up I regretted not getting it sooner, but oh well. It continued to sit on my wish list.

The other day I was ordering something from Amazon and noticed that there was a "used - like new" one of these listed for $64. I jumped on it!

The amazing thing was that it wasn't used at all, it came wrapped and packaged like brand new.

Although I'm getting less than a quart of milk per day, I've been hand skimming my milk all along and storing the cream in the freezer. To try out my new churn I defrosted three cups (24 ounces). I let the cream sit out until it reached (approximately) the recommended 65° F (18° C), and then started churning. Within less than eight minutes ...

I do love proper low-tech tools.

Kidding starts next month here, and I am very much looking forward to trying Kinder milk. Kinders give such a high percentage of butterfat (about 7%), that between my new cream separator and butter churn, I should have a good supply of butter for both table use and cooking, plus buttermilk for baking and cheese making. I am so looking forward to that.

Goat Sized Butter Churn © February 2015
by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com

Crossed Off My Wish List - Cream Separator!

Manual cream separator

I honestly never thought I'd have one of these. I've looked at them from time to time, but the typical price range for a manual cream separator is $600 to $1600. Recently, I found some on eBay in the $150 to $250 range, but these are made of aluminum and plastic and I doubt their durability.

Then the cream separator featured in this blog, Riddle Family Farm came available. Debby asked if I was interested and how could I not say yes!

It is a Kamdhenu, made in India and is extremely heavy, and heavy duty. The hopper (milk tank) will hold a gallon and a half of milk. The manual is written in (I assume) Hindi with an English translation. An additional detailed xeroxed handout in English came with it, which should help. I need to read through these carefully and oil properly before I give it a try.

Giving it a try will likely have to wait until spring. I'm only getting about a quart of milk a day now and most of that is going to feed my milk kefir grains and the pigs.

Once I think I halfway know what I'm doing I'll do another blog post about it. Until then, I'm just happy to have it.

Crossed Off My Wish List - Cream Separator! © January 2015
by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

Goats' Milk Butter For Two

Remember this photo from "Ziggy Milk, Ziggy Butter, Ziggy Mozz"?

Goat butter on freshly baked pumpkin muffin

Farmer Barb (Life Rock Farm) and Brenda (A Separate Path), were interested in how I make my butter, so in this post I'll show you my method. I'll also share everything I've learned about the process, both through research and experience.

First, a little about raw goats' milk.

You may have read that cream cannot be obtained from goats milk because it is naturally homogenized. Is that true? In my experience, no, this is not true. Cream does indeed rise on goats' milk and can be skimmed. Why then, do folks (even goat owners) sometimes say it's naturally homogenized? There may be several reasons.

The fat globules in goats' milk are smaller than those in cows' milk. This is one of the reasons why goats' milk is more easily digested than cows' milk. (This has nothing to do with lactose intolerance, which is the inability to digest lactose, a milk sugar). Being smaller, the fat globules are slower to rise, but also, those in goats' milk apparently do not cling together as readily as the fat globules in cows milk. I find it has to sit in the fridge for several days to really get enough to skim. Those who use their goats milk within 24 hours, likely won't see a cream line, which may contribute to the idea of natural homogenization.

Regarding freshness, depending on cleanliness and how quickly it's cooled, raw milk will stay fresh for longer than you'd think, like a couple of weeks. This brings up another point about raw milk, it doesn't actually spoil, it sours. When pasteurized milk goes bad, it putrefies. Anyone who has sniffed a jug of old store bought milk knows what I mean. Raw milk on the other hand, will smell sour.

Many an old time recipe calls for sour milk and saleratus (baking soda) to leaven baked goods. The reaction of an acid (sour milk), combined with a base (baking soda), creates carbon dioxide bubbles, which cause the batter to rise. On the one occasion I had milk that soured, I saved it for baking. Soured, it keeps for months and makes absolutely heavenly chocolate cake. It can also be fed to chickens and pigs.

Another reason for the idea of natural homogenization, may be the breed of the goat. Some breeds produce more butterfat than others. Individuals may vary, but in general, Nigerian Dwarfs and Kinders produce the highest amounts of butterfat, 6 - 7% plus. Nubians come in next, with 4 - 5%, followed by LaManchas with 4+%. Most other breeds produce less than 4%. Butterfat is what gives richness to the milk, plus rises to the top as cream. Lower butterfat will mean less, and perhaps negligible cream.

Making Butter

I have small goats, small amounts, and small needs. At this time in the season, I'm getting about a quart of milk per day. This is strained into wide mouth canning jars. I find the wider mouthed jars easier to skim the cream. After the milk sits in the fridge for about 3 to 5 days, I use a slotted spoon to skim off the cream. It is thick and rich.

Hand skimming cream from raw goats milk. We get plenty of
cream for whipped cream and butter, for just the two of us.

I skim all my milk except what I'm saving to make hard cheese. Last year I learned that skim milk cheese in nowhere near as tasty as whole milk cheese. Mozzarella, on the other hand, is fine with my skimmed milk. Hand skimming doesn't get every drop, but that's okay. I get enough for what I need, and it leaves some for richer milk, yogurt, and mozzarella. If I wanted all the cream or had more milk to deal with, I'd likely consider a cream separator. These can be purchased in either electric or manual models, but cost hundreds of dollars. That doesn't make sense for us at this time.

I put the cream into wide mouth pint jars and store in the freezer.

Pint jars of cream are stored in the freezer

I keep adding until the jar is full. When I need to make butter, I take one of the jars from the freezer and let it thaw on the countertop. It needs to be about room temperature to make butter most efficiently. Colder, and it takes longer. We like ours from sweet cream, but some people prefer it cultured. More info on that, here.

To churn, I pour the cream into a quart jar with a tight lid. This gives plenty of room for the cream to slosh around. I just shake the jar by hand. With only a pint of cream, it doesn't take too long, the batch you see below took 6 minutes.

Butter in a wide mouth quart canning jar.

At one time I had a gallon size butter churn. Because I hadn't used it for years, it was given away during one of my many moves <sigh>. It would actually be too big for the amounts I make now, but I still wish I had it anyway. An alternative would be in a blender.

Washing the butter and working out the buttermilk

The next step is washing the butter. Because the cream was room temperature, the butter is soft and I find working it in cold water easiest. During summer months our city tap water is not very cold, so I put a pitcher of water in the fridge to use for this step. By pressing or kneading the butter with a scraper, all the buttermilk is worked out and it will keep for quite awhile. How long I couldn't say for sure because we use ours up in several weeks. Butter can be frozen, also clarified (ghee) to increase shelf life. I also saw a Butter Keeper that has me curious.

Once is rinsed and drained, I work in a little salt, and pack it into an small lidded crock given to me by my grandmother.

If I had butter molds, I would likely use those for table butter.

Goat butter is white, because goat milk contains no beta-carotene. It is absolutely delicious though, so I never give the color a thought.

There are quite a few links in the post, but here are a few more if you're interesting:

• Butterfat Goat Facts at Easy Living the Hard Way
• The Chemistry of Cream, Healthnews-NZ
• Dairy Goat Milk Composition, GoatWorld
• Vitamins in milk: goat compared to cow, Everything Goat Milk

You can have a fingertip-ready copy of this information and a whole lot more in my eBook, How To Get Cream from Goats' Milk: make your own butter, whipped cream, ice cream, & more. Follow the link for a complete listing of chapters plus where to get your copy.

Goats' Milk Butter For Two © Sept. 2012 

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

Goat Butter

One of the things I've been doing with our goat's milk (besides yogurt, yogurt cheese, hard cheese, mozzarella, and ricotta), has been to save the cream. I know some folks claim there is cream in goat's milk, and I sometimes read that it's naturally homogenized. This puzzles me, because I definitely get cream from my goats' milk.

Creamline marked on 1/2 gallon jars of goats milk

Perhaps folks who say this have goats that give milk with low butterfat? Or perhaps they're referring to the fact that the cream takes longer to separate from goat's than cow's milk? It's true that it does take longer, but I don't think of that as being naturally homogenized. To me, homogenization is permanent. I've never bought homogenized milk that separated back into milk and cream over time.

A lot of what I'm writing here is based mostly on my own experience and observations. What I can tell you is that after about 24 hours, I'm able to use a slotted spoon to scoop off a fairly solid layer of cream...

Spoon skimming the cream

I call this my first skimmings. This is the stuff I used to make whipped cream for strawberry short cake last May. Since then, I've been putting it into a quart jar which I keep in the freezer. To that I add the second skimmings, i.e. the more liquidy cream that I skim after the milk has sat a day or two longer. The idea is to save it in the freezer until the jar is full, then defrost it to make butter.

Really, the composition of milk is more than just milk and cream. According to Ricki Carroll's Home Cheese Making,  goat's milk is composed of

87.5% water & minerals
12.5% solids, which include:
     0.7% albuminous protein
     3% casein
     4% lactose
     4.2% butterfat
     0.6% salts

This is about the same butterfat content as cow's milk. Since the total quantity per milking is quite a bit less for a goat than a cow, the amount of cream per milking is quite a bit less as well. Which is why I have to save it up.

For my first butter, I decided to try the shake-the-jar method. I used a half-gallon jar for my quart of heavy cream. It worked, though not without quite a bit of elbow grease. (I'm thinking I might try Food Renegade's blender butter method next time.) I was surprised that I got as much as I did...

Freshly washed goat butter

Looks more like vanilla ice cream, doesn't it? That's because goat milk contains no beta-carotene, which gives cow cheese and butter a pale yellow color. My goat butter is a creamy off-white, though it would be possible to color it with something like annatto, a plant extract which is often used to color things like cheese and margarine.

I poured off the buttermilk to use in baking, rinsed, and then kneaded the butter in ice water with a bowl scraper. This worked out as much buttermilk as I could. This will help preserve it longer, because it's the buttermilk that will sour first.

My goal will be to keep us in butter all year long. At least for table use, as I'm not sure if I can get enough for baking. How did it taste? Absolutely divine.

Be sure to check out my updated post: Goat's Milk Butter For Two

Goat Butter © August 2011

by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/