Ghee in cooking

Ghee is the purest form of fat available that has high saturated fats like butter. It has a distinctly unique fragrance and taste that cannot be substituted.  Ghee is widely used in India and is valued in Ayurvedic medicine. It was first mention in historical Indian texts since 8th century BC.

Ghee is excellent cooking oil because it is high in saturated fat, fats that do not oxidize when heated to normal cooking temperatures. It’s commonly used for frying, in desserts, smeared on top of roti, or added to any dish that needs a little lift. It is used in curries, paratas and dosais.

Certain foods like puris and samosas are deep fried in ghee. Basting chicken and pilau with ghee imparts a distinctive and characteristics flavour.

It is far superior in its properties and digestibility than any vegetable oil. Ghee is one of the most highly regarded cooking oils in the world for the unique flavor. It is also due to the association dairy products have with purity and every meal prepared for an occasion at home or for a large scale event will be cooked in ghee. Ghee solidifies into white soft solid that could be melted easily.
Ghee in cooking

Buttermilk in history

Throughout history, buttermilk has been held to be a sovereign cure for a wide range of maladies.

Some of the historical records depict the development of a dairy system in ancient India. It is well known in ancient Indian history that buttermilk and ghee were widely consumed milk products during Lord Krishna’s time, about 3000 BC.

The Irish drink large amounts of fresh milk, sour milk, clotted milk and buttermilk and they used milk to make cream, curds, cheese, butter and buttermilk.

In traditional Irish cooking, buttermilk was never far away. It leavened the daily soda bread and served as the ‘whet’ who a plate of plain potatoes and salt. When Irish migrated to North America, the continued to keep cows and enjoy buttermilk.

With the advent of centrifugal cream separators in the 19th century, butter making produced ‘sweet’ unfermented buttermilk. For more than 100 years, cooks of south United States have been using buttermilk to make custard-like or cheese-style pies.

In Southern Food, John Egerton notes that Farm and Home Magazine published a buttermilk pie recipe in 1882.

Today, buttermilk is a cultured milk product which means that it is made by combining bacteria and milk to grow a culture. It is made by adding a special bacterial culture to low-fat or non-fat milk so that it thickens and develops a tangy taste.

Buttermilk is still important ingredients in traditional cooking, a vital agent for flavoring, baking, and marinating.
Buttermilk in history