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04 Chapter 1
04 Chapter 1
The origin of ghee lies far beyond the recorded history. The
word Ghee originates from the Sanskrit “ghr ” means bright or to make
about the 3rd century B.C. contains numerous references to ghee and
Hindu rituals from weeding to the funeral find the use of ghee.
Ghee is the usual Indian name for the clarified butter fat
(anhydrous milk fat) and generally refers to the product made from cow
and buffalo milk. The invention of ghee could be the necessity of ancient
Indians to preserve the milk for longer time since the modem techniques
like refrigeration and pasteurization were not known in those days. Ghee
must have satisfied the requirement of ancient Indians since it has longer
shelf life due to absence of lactose and proteins with traces of moisture
which are formed during the fermentation of milk. These precursors are
Ghee prepared from cow milk has golden yellow colour due to
Ghee develops distinctive white granular crystals during slow cooling and
storage.
' In Indian diet ghee has got special importance mainly because of
its unique pleasant aroma and several medicinal properties, which are
Similar products like ghee are developed in some tropical and semi-
tropical countries. In the Middle East countries like Egypt, Israel and Iraq
in addition to cow and buffalo milk, the use of goat, sheep and camel
milk is common for the preparation of ghee like products. Such products
culinary purposes and rest of the quantities are used in confectionary and
for the pleasant aroma of ghee and is preferred to the raw vegetable oils
and other traditional cooking medium. Ghee always had a supreme status
in the hierarchy of Indian diet due to its pleasant caramelized flavour and
granular texture unlike butter oil, which has almost bland taste, and non-
have also played a role in giving the esteem place to ghee in the Indian
diet. As a table use it is usually served in the melted form and mixed with
rice and dal or lightly smeared on the chapatis or roties. It also serves as a
vehicle for shallow frying of vegetables, curries, paratas and dosas and
baking and roasting such as Pulav (palau), biryani and tandoori chicken
are first roasted in or brushed with a small quantity of ghee to impart the
flavour to the food. In addition to this lots of Indian sweet dishes based
D, E & K that are essential for the growth of the children 11. In ghee
changes by which an eye can adopt it self to dim light and hence its
main shortcoming caused by the diet which is low in fat can leads to
problems like poor resistance to stress, heat, cold, less capacity to work,
would all tend to occur. The nutrient from ghee and other food fats are
order to get the maximum nutrients from ghee we need to control the
mainly governed by its melting point. Since the melting point of ghee is
7
ranges from 25-45°C it get digested and absorbed faster in the system.
Except for fat in the form of milk which is partly precipitated in and
absorbed from the stomach itself, all other fats pass unchanged in to the
small intestine where they gets split by pancreatic lipase into fatty acids
and mono or diglycerides. The partial glycerides are altered and esterified
again with fatty acids present to give triglycerides, which are far different
than the fat originally ingested. Assisted by the bile salt, free fatty acids,
into fine droplets across the wall of the intestine and are collected in the
lymphotic vessels, which empty them in to the blood. When the fat
rapid. The liberated short chain fatty acids, instead of being re-esterified,
are absorbed from the intestine into the portal veins, which carries them
to the liver where they are quickly utilized as the sources of energy for
which still contain lower acids are emulsified and absorbed comparatively
faster after re-esterification. Fats like ghee, which are absorbed more
rapidly, are quick to furnish the body energy and appeared to be liberated
in more amount than that of other fats 16. Nhavi and Patwardhan showed
that peak absorption of ghee occurred in 2-3 hours against 3-5 hours for
8
sesame oil and 4 hours for Groundnut oil. Basu and Nath also reported
more rapid initial absorption of all, which tend to equalize at about 60%.
eventually all the common fats tend to be equally well digested. The
phosphorus in the body. In the absence of fat calcium will be lost through
Calcium is mainly required for the growth of the bone in young children
reported that cow ghee in the diet fed to rat resulted in higher absorption
vegetable oils, the exception being coconut oil, which led to drainage of
glycerol are esterified with three fatty acids. The major constituent of
ghee or milk fat is glyceride component, which accounts for nearly 98%
of its mass. Hence the types and nature of fatty acids presents in the
are soluble in fat and includes the compounds like vitamin A, D, E & K,
amount and some of them are very advantageous to the health of the
Ghee prepared from cow & buffalo milk have got different
acid composition. Ghee made from buffalo milk contains higher level of
long chain saturated fatty acids like palmitic & stearic acids than that of
cow ghee. The fatty acid composition of cow & buffalo ghee is presented
Chemically oils and fats are the triglycerides of fatty acids. Since
the glycerol molecules constitutes only 10%, it is the nature of the fatty
unique among natural fat that it contains a large number of fatty acids of
chain length lower than 12 carbon atoms and in consequence many of its
chemical structure and trading of the ghee22. Out of these the parameters
like Free Fatty Acids (FFA), Peroxide value, Richert - Meissl value,
milk fat 23‘26. Two other characteristics like Saponification value and the
of free fatty acids present in ghee calculated as oleic acid. The free fatty
free fatty acids gets dissolved in alcohol. The hot alcoholic mixture is
indicator. The acid value of ghee is roughly twice the percentage of free
of fat or ghee.
splited by treatment with dilute sulfuric acid. The volatile acids are
immediately steam distilled. The soluble volatile acids in the distillate are
solution. Ghee or butter like products contains mainly butyric & caproic
acid glycerides. Since the butyric acid is volatile and soluble in water
therefore the RM value of ghee is higher (26-32) than that of other fat as
acids like caprylic, capric and lauric acid. The principle behind the
thiosulphate solution.
16
saponifying the fat to soap of its fatty acids and glycerol and the reminder
fatty acids. Since ghee contains maximum number of lower fatty acids
i
(lower than Ci2) the saponification value of ighee is found high (225 -
230).
1
i
This is expressed as the ratio between the sign of the angle of
from air into ghee or fat. Since ghee is often semi solid or solid at
taken at 40°C. Both these reading are inter convertible with the help of
17
standard table. The refractive index increases with decrease in the chain
ghee prepared from cow and buffalo milk are presented in Table 1.328.
Table 1.3:
In the last three decades several reports have brought out on the presence,
carbonyls, lactones and free fatty acids. The reported carbonyls can be
flavour. Delta & gamma lactones (8 & y) from Cg to C10 and Cjg have
(GLC). The free fatty acids have also been reported to contribute to the
ghee flavour and the impact of levels of free fatty acids on the flavour
The review of the research done on ghee flavour since two decades
volatile compounds like carbonyls, lactones and fatty acids have been
like carbonyls, lactones & free fatty acids were studied as a group of
industrial methods like direct cream & creamery butter have not been
reported so far.
the isolation of flavour compounds from ghee (or any food) in their
these techniques the use of solvents & chemicals is avoided hence there is
volatile flavour compounds was done to the ppb levels using an internal
standard.
tools.
desi method whereas the creamery butter and direct cream methods are
used for ghee making by the modem dairies. Desi ghee, which is rich in
prepared by desi and industrial methods. The present work deals with
flavour. The details of four different methods broadly used in India for
ghee flavour has been studied extensively. Milk fat is the source of most
of the flavour compounds in ghee and other diary products as well. Milk
holding time and storage period30'31. The impact of ghee flavour on its
acceptability / marketing has been the main force behind the research
flavour compounds are carbonyls, free fatty acids and lactones. Among
unsaturated fatty acids of milk fat35. Free fatty acids are produced either