What is ghee?

Ghee is a clarified butter that has been used in the Indian sub-continent for millennia not just as for food, but in the wider cultural, religious and medicinal realms. It’s one of Ayurveda’s corner stones. What started out as a need to deal with cream going off has lead to one of the world’s most amazing superfoods. Typically Ghee was made in the home or in religious settings in small batches. It was the most common cooking fat available. Nut and seed oils were not common or readily available.

What should I use ghee for?

It is absolutely not just for curry! Ghee can be used in place of standard cooking oil in every scenario. From bulletproof coffees, frying salmon, roasting chicken and potatoes, frying pancakes, and as the oil in any dinnertime cooking, it deserves centre stage in your kitchen.

How is Happy Butter Ghee different?

We make our organic ghee in the traditional way, and while it’s now handmade in a small workshop kitchen, nothing else has really changed. It’s as close to what you would find in a home kitchen in rural India. We cook over flame, heating our organic butter slowly for 5-6 hours over direct heat. The air smells like butterscotch as we cook, because once the milk solids drop out of the butter we allow it to caramelise, which give the ghee a deeper flavour and a glorious, golden colour. We use real organic turmeric root in our turmeric ghee. Cooling is not rushed either – it occurs slowly at room temperature over 1-2 hours, producing an authentic slightly grainy texture.

Will ghee work with my special diet?

Suitable for Keto, Paleo, GAPS, FODMAP, Whole30, Banting and of course traditionally Ayurvedic diets as well as a cooking oil for everyday. All of our ghee is Casein and lactose free and abundant in vitamins A D E & K.

Is ghee good for you?

Ghee is made up mostly of saturated fat, this topic always stirs up healthy debate and as producers and not doctors or researchers we do not feel that we are in a position to preach on the health benefits. From personal experience we believe that using ghee in cooking has had a very beneficial effect on our own health. When you cook with ghee you only require a small amount and it can make a meal more satiating and therefore stay fuller for longer. The high smoke point means that there is no tainting or burning under 250º C unlike some nut and seed oils. Our ghee is made in a very clean and pure way

without chemicals and is tested for the presence of vitamins A, D, E and K and the absence of lactose and casein. Healthy fats are vital in the body for many important functions and modest quantities of ghee can be included as part of a varied and balanced diet.

What awards have we won?

The quality and taste of our ghee has been appreciated by the judges at Great Taste Awards, who awarded us two stars for our Organic Ghee in 2017 and 2 stars for our Organic Golden Turmeric Ghee in 2018. In 2017 we were successful in the Taste of the West awards where we won Champion of Dairy for our Golden Turmeric Ghee as well as Gold for both products. We won Gold again in 2018 for both our Ghee and Golden Turmeric Ghee. In 2019 we took a break from awards but are pleased to have again won gold for both products in 2020.

Our Ghee

We believe that Happy Butter Ghee is a cut above the others you will find. Here’s why:

· BATCH-MADE BY HAND

It’s handmade in small batches in our Devon kitchen workshop. No tanks and vast commercial kitchens here.

· CARAMELISED FOR FLAVOUR

We take the time to gently caramelise the milk solids to give rich, deep, nutty buttery notes.

· ORGANIC & GRASS-FED

We only use organic butter from farms whose grass-fed cows spend as much time as possible outdoors roaming green pastures.

· TRADITIONAL METHOD

We remove the milk solids the traditional way, by slowly heating the butter. This sounds obvious but some large ghee manufacturers do it by centrifuging!

· ORGANIC

We use only organic butter to make our ghee.

· PURE & UNPROCESSED

Ghee is a pure, natural fat, free of processing and preservatives. The opposite of ubiquitous industrially produced ‘vegetable oil’ that goes through chemical refining, bleaching and deodorising processes.

What people are saying about our ghee

“Grassy and fresh. This product gives a wonderfully buttery under-taste in dishes where butter would normally burn. Seriously delicious. Sets new standards for Ghee in this country” Sheila Dillon

"Natural and delicious, rich and versatile and from one of the loveliest areas of the UK" Melissa Hemsley

Real fudgy aroma, deep yellow buttery colour, visually hugely appealing. It has an appropriately grainy texture which melts perfectly in the mouth. This is deeply buttery, with a distinctly caramel and fudge flavour. Very clean. The lactic flavour is still there at the back of the taste. Delightful and without the funky back note of some ghees. This would be a very good ghee to cook with.

Deep golden, lightly set ghee with a remarkably 'clean' aroma. The set is slightly granular. The taste is that of a fudge or soft toffee... sometimes with ghee there is a distinct slightly 'dirty' farmyard flavour; this one is not so. The very cleaness is a big issue in judging this. Some would say it is too clean and wont impart any ghee qualities to the cooking; others and very much in this case....us, feel that the very purity is a massive plus point and will enhance the cooking process. There is enough of the nutty fudge to make this a great staple in any kitchen. 2020 Great Taste