The purest ghee you never knew of

It was Gokulashtami last Saturday I was on my way back from Pune and our car was slowed down several times by celebrating crowds of youth forming their joyous human pyramids to break a pot of yoghurt suspended high above the socalled dahi handiKrishna legendarily loved anything made from milk and routinely stole butter earning the affectionate sobriquet Maakhanchor So now Im looking at a calendar drawing of a Radha churning butter out of a pot while a plump blueskinned baby Krishna waddles nearby and Im wondering what the white liquid is milk or yoghurtIts a serious question Both milk and yoghurt will push up butter when sufficiently agitated So mdash what was being churned in the calendar picture Milk or yoghurtBack in days when we used to do as we were told I remember being instructed to churn yoghurt in a pot as though every child should know how that was done My mother would do that once or twice a month skimming off the snowwhite fat from the surface and keeping it fresh in water Since we owned neither fridge nor blender she did things the ancient wayWhen there was enough white butter shed melt it to ghee in a wok On low heat the butter would surrender its moisture and grow clear becoming thin liquid gold The milk proteins would sink to the bottom of the wok forming a fudgelike crust of caramelised milk casein that we would relish with sugar laterThe watery buttermilk that remained of the yoghurt after the churning would be spiced up with ginger chillies curry leaves and salt and served as a thirstquencherSo mdash how come its decades since Ive seen anyone churning yoghurt to get butter for making gheeHomemaker after homemaker I spoke to about making ghee at home had the same answer they skim off the fat from fullfat milk and when there is enough they melt it down to ghee over medium heat in a wokSome ferment the milk fat with a spoon of yoghurt which turns it into cultured yoghurt butter after some hours That melts down into a cultured ghee The one mother used to makeMy questions are like flies once they find me they keep thrumming around my head The more people spoke about ghee from milk fat the more I wanted to find out whatever happened to the good ol ghee from yoghurt fat Was there a difference between the two kinds of ghee Which was more nutritious Where can you buy it Ive been ferreting out the answers for a few months nowFirst the ghee you buy in shops mdash Amul Anik and their ilk mdash is made from milk fat Yoghurt doesnt enter the equation This ghee laden with milk fats is tasty but not therapeutic Expect to gain weightHowever when milk cream is taught manners with a spoonful of homemade yoghurt the result is yoghurt cream This cultured cream melted down into ghee will fill your house with a subtle nutty entirely irresistible aroma quite unlike milk butters heavy exhalationsThere are important differences between the two ghees The cultured ghee is nutty and more buttery Mixed with hot rice and rolled into balls it was all our childhoods needed A touch of sugar and the door to heaven would openMore interesting cultured ghee is virtually lactosefree mdash no more than 025 was detected when the ghee was batchtested in a laboratory Significantly the ghee from cultured yoghurt butter is the only one acceptable for therapeutical use as an ingredient in Ayurvedic medicines Studies are showing that it lowers cholesterol and helps lower weight as wellAll of which made me think of Coimbatore butter also known as Oothukuli butter the purest butter in India mdash at one time anyway The butterballs are harvested from nearby Oothukuli whose cows feed on superior grass and yield legendary milk Oothukulis yoghurt cream was cultured in wooden barrels and loaded on to trains for distribution across Tamil Nadu and beyondA few butterballs somehow reach Mumbai I was toldMy sleuthing led to P Ramalingam a small shop tucked away alongside Matungas vegetable market that has been selling Coimbatore butter since 1956 mdash and still does Walk down from Kings Circle towards the market but carry on straight even as the road curves left Ask for Ramalingam or Coimbatore butter You can buy the readymade ghee or the white butter ball in two sizes Go home and turn it into the best ghee on earthMelt it down slowly at home and enjoy every moment While the filtered ghee is cooling do what we used to do Scrape off the delectable crust at the bottom and eat it with a sprinkling of sugarHere viewed from there C Y Gopinath in Bangkok throws unique light and shadows on Mumbai the city that raised him You can reach him at cygopigmailcomSend your feedback tomailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paperCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates