The other day we were in . . where else . . Aldi, and they had jars of ghee. The pint jars were $6.99. Believe it or not, I have never used ghee, nor, as far as I know, I’ve never tasted anything made with it. A lot of Indian dishes use ghee but I haven’t eaten a whole lot of Indian food so I can’t say for sure that I’ve ever had ghee or not had ghee. As soon as Vince saw the price, he began saying “What is ghee? What does it taste like? Why do you need it? I don’t know. I don’t know and . . I don’t know! But I intended to find out.
Ghee from Aldi
I’m a little confused because the jar says “Ghee Clarified Butter” but ghee and clarified butter are different. This article explains about the difference. It may be that they put the “clarified butter” part on there because many people in the U.S. may not know what ghee is.
I began searching the internet for ghee. What is it? What makes it better than butter or oil? How do I make it?
Not surprising, the first thing that popped up on Google was Pioneer Woman’s post on ghee. That woman knows everything about cooking! She probably knows everything about everything!
According to this website, there are some health benefits to using ghee vs. other oils. I rarely believe everything I hear (or read) so do your own research.
I was off to the races . . I was ready to make my own. Why buy anything when you can make it yourself, right?
Butter
If you’re going to experiment, might as well experiment with two different brands. Don’t ask me what psst butter is . . I bought it on sale somewhere. Never used it before. The KerryGold I buy at Aldi for $2.65 (I think) for 8 oz.
I used four packs, or two pounds so I used $10.60 worth of the KerryGold butter. I also used a no name brand of butter that I bought on sale but have no idea what I paid for it. I used it just to compare and see if the taste/texture was different.
Ghee
The ghee was still very warm when the photo was taken. In Pioneer Woman’s pictures, hers was the same color and then it turned yellow. I’m anxious to see what color it is when it cools down.
From each batch, I got 1 pound, 6 ounces per 2 pounds. There was a 1.5 pint jar and a half pint jar of each. I had already given one of the half pint jars to a friend before taking the picture.
Since I have no idea how much I paid for the psst butter, I’ll just talk about the cost of the KerryGold. For 24 ounces of ghee, I paid $10.60 (for the butter), or .442 cents/ounce.
The Aldi ghee, which is also made from milk from grass fed cows, was $6.99 for 13 ounces so it was .538 per ounce. Therefore, even using the KerryGold butter, the homemade was less expensive. For 13 ounces, the homemade would be $5.75. Really, the cost isn’t that much difference. $6.99 or $5.75. I get a jar that I can re-use with the Aldi ghee. But, that’s the first time I’ve ever seen it in Aldi. Who knows if they’ll have it again any time soon.
Leftovers
When making it yourself, the first stuff you scoop off the top is whey (the two jars with the yellow stuff in the bottom). That tastes pretty much just like butter. PW says add it to your mashed potatoes. Now I want mashed potatoes!
The brown stuff in the front jar is the browned milk proteins that were strained out. I’ve read that these can be sprinkled over steamed veggies. I used salted butter, because that’s all I had and these are tasty but *very* salty. I’m not sure if they would be less salty if I had used unsalted butter. I don’t often see the unsalted version of KerryGold.
This is how it all looked this morning.
Ghee
The jar in the middle is the storebought from Aldi. The jar on the right is the one made from KerryGold’s butter made from grass fed beef. The one on the left is from the Pssst! butter. I think I’ll stick with the KerryGold butter . . for everything. I love that stuff.
The funny thing is . . the ghee took about 10 minutes to make and this blog post has taken me an hour to write! 🙂
I will definitely be making ghee again.
daneesey says
I was totally serious when I said I’d just learned about ghee this week. Here’s a link to what I found: https://blog.bulletproof.com/how-to-make-ghee/ I’m going to have to visit the Pioneer Woman’s website and check out her’s, too. Funniest thing? Cooking time vs. blog post writing time!! LOL! 🙂
Judy Laquidara says
Don’t feel like the lone ranger. I bought that jar at Aldi last week. I had heard of it but had never used it til I made it yesterday.
Tina in NJ says
We took a tour of Ireland last summer and fell in love with their butter. We don’t use much butter, but it’s usually Kerrigold when we do. Tastes great with their blaas (white flour rolls).
Liz says
My doctor wants me to do the Whole 30 diet (30 days on a bland diet) after which you slowly add foods back into your meals to determine what is impacting you. Dairy is not allowed but ghee is ok for the 30 days. I noticed that I have a lot of butter in the freezer – it might be time to make some ghee or at least clarified butter or perhaps both.
Donna D says
The p$$t butter is a Kroger brand. I recently bought some but haven’t tried it.
Sherrill Pecere says
Are you using the ghee in your Kada or whatever that stuff was? I’ve heard all kinds of good things about Kerrygold but the price holds me back. Psst is a brand I see in Kroger and maybe elsewhere.
Dar in MO says
The only reference I’ve ever heard and seen is from the Martha (Stewart) Bakes show on PBS. She uses it quite often when making delicious cakes and other desserts. I knew it was used in place of butter, but not the particulars. Interesting testing you did. Thanks.
Penny says
Our local chain market just started carrying Ghee but it is not pretty like any of your 3 jars. It looks more like a heavy vegetable oil ~ not appetizing! What or how will you be using ghee?