VEDIC GHEE BY DEEP ROOTS
Ghee is a wonderful fat. It has been accorded a very prestigious position in Ayurveda and also in traditional Indian Food Culture. We have all grown up listening to our parents and grandparents telling us to eat ghee for a healthy life and even if we fall ill we are offered khichdi with ghee.
This culture of adding ghee to our diet for healthy life is not just a traditional practice but has got time tested deep logic and is passed from generations to generations
However this divine food has now fallen prey to the greed of the modern man. Now a days it is tough to find real ghee that can help us to be healthy.
DEEP ROOTS offer vedic ghee made exclusively from Indian desi cow milk produced at our farm. Cows are fed with green grass throughout the year along with some seasonal green fodder. Such high quality feed and fodder along with hygienic & clean shade at DEEP ROOTS farm ensure that we have nutrient rich raw milk to produce healthy desi ghee. Using traditional Indian process we convert natural raw milk into desi ghee. For this we first convert the whole milk (without separating cream) into dahi and then that dahi is churned in traditional way by wooden mathani (churner) to obtain makhan. By boiling makhan we get pure vedic ghee which has got richness of all nutrients of desi cow milk.
FACTORS DETERMINING QUALITY OF GHEE
Quality of ghee depends on these two important factors:
1. THE RAW MILK FROM WHICH GHEE IS MADE
According to Ayurveda made from Desi Cow Milk is the best ghee for human health. Are we getting such ghee in market today? One of the very popular brand sells its Ghee as “Gaaye ka desi ghee” note it- it is desi ghee made from cow milk but it is not a ghee made from Desi Cow Milk.
Commercial Ghee selling in market are produced by big dairy plants which collect raw milk from various small and unorganised farms. Such collected milk is mixture of buffalo milk and foreign cow like Jersey and HF milk (as no one like to keep desi cow because it give very less and low fat milk).
Moreover, the hygiene and nutritive quality of such collected milk is also poor. As in such unorganized farms cattle are kept & milked in unhygienic conditions, fed with low quality feed and even injected with steroids and hormones to increase milk quantity. Some middlemen even adulterate milk with starch, urea, detergent, water paints, oils, alkali and even chemicals like ammonium sulphate, hydrogen peroxide, sodium bicarbonate and boric acid. So the outcome is low quality and unhealthy milk from which they make ghee.
2. THE PROCESS USED TO MAKE GHEE
According to Ayurveda the best method to produce ghee is vedic process. In this process whole desi cow milk is converted into dahi and then churned in traditional way by wooden mathani to obtain makhan. By boiling makhan we get pure vedic ghee which has got essence of all nutrients of whole milk.
On the contrary, commercial ghee available in market are produced by dairies/ dairy plants using cream separation method. Under this process they separate cream(which is just fat part of milk) from poor quality raw milk. The milk left after separating cream, which contain other nutritious portion of milk, is used by dairy plant to make other dairy products. While the cream is boiled to get commercial Ghee. Therefore, Ghee made from this process lacks many nutritive portion of milk.
On top of all this ghee is one of the favourite food commodity for adulterers as it helps the traders to sell ghee at low price without compromising with profits. You may find very frequently in news that authorities found ghee with adulteration of vanaspati ghee, animal fat and even harmful chemicals to get texture, aroma and colour of real desi ghee.
Some people prepare ghee at home from malai, although it is better than commercial ghee available in market but it also has some drawbacks:
- Made from malai which you get from buffalo or Jersey/HF cow milk that comes at your home.
- Nutritive quality of milk is questionable as cattle are fed with poor quality feed and kept in unhygienic conditions.
- As malai is stored in refrigerator for at least 7-10 days, its quality gets affected and it smells bad when such malai is boiled to make ghee.
HEALTH BENEFITS OF GHEE
Ayurveda has mentioned numerous benefits of Ghee made from Desi Cow Milk for human health. Some of the important health benefits of ghee are:
- Keep heart healthy
- Increase intelligence and improve memory
- Improve digestion and immunity
- Effective in healing wounds, ulcers, rashes and burned skin
- Nourishes skin and strengthen hair
- Act as an ointment for bones
- Improve quality of Shukra Dhatu (male and female reproductive system)
- Effective in treating migraine, thyroid, cancer, and diabetes
One can get all these benefits of ghee provided that the ghee is made by correct process as mentioned in our Indian shaastra.
MYTHS VS FACTS OF GHEE
Many people in modern time have cornered ghee from their diet because of widespread health issues that have arisen since the introduction of commercial ghee and vanaspati ghee. But if you consume vedic ghee it will never harm your health. Below are few common myth associated with ghee and scientific counter facts to it:
Myth: Ghee cause obesity
Fact of Vedic Ghee: It is made up of SCFA (Short Chain Fatty Acids) it is lipolytic in nature. Thus it breaks down fat and will not cause obesity.
Myth: Ghee is saturated fat
Fact of Vedic Ghee: Yes, it is saturated fat but a unique one. It not just burns preferentially as fuel inside your body but actually helps mobilize fats from stubborn fat areas. Not like unhealthy saturated fat that you find in biscuits, cakes, pizza, etc.
Myth: Ghee will increase cholesterol
Fact of Vedic Ghee: Ghee is rich in HDL (High Density Lipoprotein), the “good” cholesterol and has absolutely no LDL (Low Density Lipoprotein), the “bad” cholesterol. HDL actually scrubs plaque from the arteries and facilitates excellent circulation.
Myth: Ghee is harmful for heart
Fact of Vedic Ghee: It is rich in antioxidant, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and fat soluble vitamins like A, E, D. So it has just what you need for healthy heart.
Myth: Ghee is not good for diabetic
Fact of Vedic Ghee: Food with high Glycemic Index (GI) causes steep increase in blood sugar level. Adding Ghee to such food reduces Glycemic Index (GI) of that food and thus checks the blood sugar level.