Hello. What fats do you use when you cook?

Our first “never-without” of 2020 is clarified butter!

Clarified butter, or ghee, is a food used for over 5,000 years ago. Here we show you how to prepare it. Of course, you can buy it in the shops, but making it yourself is much more fun.

1) Buy some unsalted butter; usually, I prepare between 500 and 1,000 grams

2) Melt the butter in a saucepan on a low flame

3) As the butter turns opalescent, keep on a very low flame, without mixing it

4) Skim the foam from the top with a spoon every 15-20 seconds

5) When the melted butter becomes transparent (in about 50 seconds) turn the heat off and let it rest

6) Pour the transparent butter into jars, using a sieve to remove any solids (milk protein) & leaving any watery residue behind in the pan

Why should we use clarified butter?

Cooking at high temperatures is a stressful event for the majority of fats and oils. Clarified butter has a very high smoking point (the temperature at which a fat or oil begins to burn, releasing unhealthy radicals) making it a wonderful fat for cooking at very high temperatures.

Clarified butter is also full of saturated fats, the ones that our body doesn’t store but uses straight away in our metabolism. Plus, it’s rich in butyric acid, a short-chain fatty acid that helps healing and repair of the stomach lining.

Suggested daily quantity: 1-2 small spoonfuls every day is a great way to help our intestine and immune system.

Sabrina Severi

Biologist specialised in Nutrition Science

@sabrina_severi