Can you screw up homemade ghee?

[kaati]

I ran out of the Whole30 approved ghee that I had ordered at the start of the month and decided to make my own, following Nom Nom Paleo's instructions.  Then I used it to make a bunch of veggies, which were mixed with red curry ground beef with coconut milk and divided up for lunch for the week.  I've made this meal at least twice before, and had no issues, but this time I reacted badly to it.  The first time I ate it without some of the veggies and was fine.  The second and third times I had terrible heartburn, and yesterday my stomach hurt so badly I could hardly move and I was horribly nauseous.  I was trying to figure out what happened and thought that maybe I didn't get all of the milk proteins out of the butter, and that's what caused the issues.  Does anyone out there know if this could be true?  I ate something else for lunch today and so far I'm OK, so I think it has to be something in that meal.  It included grass-fed ground beef, red curry paste, coconut milk, bell peppers, carrot and parsnip puree with ghee, and green beans roasted in ghee.  Any ideas would be much appreciated!  Today is day 30 for me and it's kind of disappointing to end on a downer.

[amberino21]

i think it's highly likely that you can "stuff it up" - i didn't attempt making my own because i wasn't confident enough that i'd do a good enough job!

 

do you eat those vegies regularly - if not, could any of them have given you issues? perhaps the beef was bad?

[kaati]

Thanks for the reply. I eat those veggies all the time, and my husband felt fine after eating the meal so I'm guessing it wasn't the beef. Guess i'll have to wait for the dairy reintro to be sure. In the meantime, no ghee for me!

[GFChris]

Did you use a few layers of cheesecloth over a sieve to filter out the milk proteins? Prior to doing that, did you take as much milk proteins/foam off the top layer in the pan using a spoon?

[Susan W]

Here's how I make ghee. Not clarified butter so no need to skim the foam at the top. It will sink and turn a lovely brown at the bottom flavoring your ghee. I take one lb of grass fed butter. Organic Valley limited edition is my favorite but Kerrygold is excellent too. I put it in my heavy bottomed pot and stick it in the oven at 300f. In one hour, you will wonder who is making cookies. Mine is always ready in one hour and yen minutes. You want the milk solids to turn dark brown but not black. Then strain it through cheesecloth set in a fine mesh strainer. Discard the brown bits. One time, I ran out of cheesecloth and just used the cheesecloth. There were a few brown bits but they sank to the bottom of the jar. It was easy to avoid them but I was not on a W30 at the time. Best ghee ever!

[sunshine7362]

Hi Susan,

 

Can I still use the ghee I made if it is an amber color.  All the bits stayed at the bottom but it looks dark.  Don't know if I screwed it up.

 

Thanks,

Donna

[leslie706]

I'm not Susan, but I think I can answer this one. Yes, you can use it. So long as you aren't eating any of the "brown bits". I know this may sound gross, but I use a pillowcase to make my ghee.

What you've made isn't plain "ghee" anymore. It's basically brown butter ghee. 

[praxisproject]

Lots of people prefer it brown You're good to go!