Our very own desi ghee is fast finding it’s place in the new age weight reducing regimes. Yes, do not be surprised. Ghee is reclaiming it’s rightful place in our modern kitchens, as it had in our grandmother’s kitchen.
Ghee or in other words the clarified butter remained India’s culinary star for centuries till it was sidelined in the 1980s by vegetable oils because of its high saturated fat. The new oils were aggressively marketed as superior and heart-healthy.
But new researches has shown that saturated fats have no link to obesity, heart disease or early death.
In January 2015, the US dietary guidelines declared for the first time that total dietary fat and cholesterol intake are not a concern for healthy people. Now, on the back of some recent studies which maintain that it reduces fat and lower cholesterol, ghee too is making a big comeback in India. It is also making a splash abroad in alternative health circuits. Happyho also provide best tarot reading services in Noida and Delhi NCR India area.
Stout jars and tin cans of ghee now stand tall alongside the sleek bottles of olive oil at Indian specialty food stores like Modern Bazaar and Nature’s Basket. American supermarkets like Sprouts, Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s have also started stocking multiple types of ‘Indian ghee’. The latter offers ghee made by a family in New Jersey and promotes it as “liquid gold”.
The sales of top Indian ghee brands like Amul and Gowardhan have risen by nearly 30% over the last year. Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved has reported a Rs 1,000-crore turnover from its cow ghee which sells at Rs 450 per kg. Industry experts say the ghee has never been so much in demand.
“Our bodies need some fats to function and ghee is the best of the lot,” says macrobiotic nutritionist Shonali Sabherwal, who suggests one or two teaspoons of ghee on dal or rice for maximum benefits (instead of using it traditionally as a cooking medium).
The emphasis now is on ghee made from cow’s milk. Niche brands are selling organic ghee (from milk of cows that are fed organic fodder) and ‘desi cow ghee’ made from the milk of hunch-backed Indian cow breeds. Commercial ghee makers, on the other hand, use milk from buffaloes or hybrid/foreign breed cows
Lucknow-based Organic India, which makes ghee from the milk of “stress-free” cows, sells around 9,000 to 10,000 bottles a month.
Though these niche ghee brands sell at Rs 1,200 to Rs 2,000 per kg — some are even priced at Rs 6,000 per kg — there is no dearth of takers.
Non-resident Indians and foreign nationals too are ordering pure cow ghee from India these days.
