On Sat, 1 Sep 2012 00:05:06 +0200, (Victor Sack)
wrote:

>Janet Bostwick > wrote:
>
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghee
>
>There is a lot of misinformation given in this thread. That Wikipedia
>article contains no direct misinformation, as far as I can tell, but it
>still misinforms by omission. For example, it omits the very important
>fact that ghee is made with water-buffalo milk just as often as with cow
>milk - it depends on the region. Also, ghee is very expensive in India
>and is mostly used by rich people. Here is a link to an old Shankar
>post where he mentions all of this and more. I'd regard any Shankar
>post on Indian food as about a hundred times more reliable than any
>Wikipedia article on the same subject. The fact that ghee is not just
>clarified butter is a given, anyway.
>
><http://groups.google.com/group/rec.food.cooking/msg/3100e8d8c57a9353>
>
>Victor
The original point I made was that cow's milk was just fine to use.
The info in the above link only makes common sense.
The way I see it is if you have water buffalo, you make water buffalo
ghee, if you have yak, you use yak, cows, you use cow. I suspect that
the origins were preservation of a surplus food . That it is now used
for flavor enrichment or high temp cooking or that only wealthy people
use it has nothing to do with how it can be made. Why send to Tibet
for milk if you have a perfectly good source of butterfat on hand?
Janet US