The best reason to have a jar of organic ghee in the home comes down to taste. Cooking meals using ghee instead of oil or butter makes a world of difference when cooking at high temperatures, such as when frying, roasting, grilling or slow-cooking.

Whilst it can be used interchangeably with conventional butter, ghee has a deep flavour and aroma profile that makes it indispensable, particularly when making Indian dishes such as dahls.

However, one common assertion about ghee is that it not only tastes better than butter or cooking oil, but also is better for your health, and it is worth examining to what extent this is true and in what ways.

Ghee can be better for people who have an intolerance to lactose or dairy that causes digestive issues, as the nature of clarification means that they have far less of either. 

However, as it is derived from butter, it is not entirely dairy-free, and people who have allergic reactions to dairy should avoid ghee as it may contain the protein casein and lactose, both derivatives of milk.

Ghee has slightly higher fat and calories than butter on a by-weight basis, although in practice the difference is negligible and depends heavily on how it is used in cooking.

Because it is more flavourful than butter, you can generally get away with cooking with far less of it to get to the same flavour, which means that the practice of cooking with ghee does mean you are using less fat than you would butter but this can vary by person.

It does have a much higher smoke point, meaning that less of it is wasted when cooking at high temperatures, such as when frying or sauteing vegetables.

When butter reaches its smoke point it tends to oxidise and form free radicals, as well as breaking down antioxidant phytonutrients.