How to tell real bilona ghee from cream ghee

Walk into any shop and every jar says desi ghee. The word on the label does not tell you how it was made. The real difference is the road the milk takes before it becomes ghee.

Two roads to ghee

• Cream ghee: cream is separated from milk by machine and heated until it turns to ghee. Fast and cheap, and how most shelf ghee is made.
• Bilona ghee: whole milk is boiled, set into curd overnight, churned into makhan and buttermilk, and only the makhan is slow-cooked into ghee. It takes far more milk and many more hours.

What you can notice at home

• Aroma: bilona ghee carries a gentle, slightly tangy, nutty smell from the curd step. Warm a spoonful in a pan and the smell fills the kitchen.
• Texture: slow-cooled bilona ghee sets with a natural grain, called daana. It feels a little sandy between the fingers.
• Colour: cow ghee is naturally pale to golden yellow. Buffalo ghee is whiter.
• Price: bilona ghee needs roughly 25 to 30 litres of milk per kilo. If a jar costs about the same as cream ghee, ask how it was made.

What home tests cannot prove

You will find many "purity tests" online, like melting a spoonful or freezing it. They can hint at gross adulteration, but none of them can tell bilona from cream ghee, or prove a jar is pure. Only a lab report on that batch can do that.

Ask the maker how their ghee is made and where the milk comes from. A maker who does it the long way will happily tell you, step by step.