Bilona ghee versus industrial ghee
4 min readUpdated
Bilona ghee is made the traditional way: milk is set into curd, the curd is churned into butter, and the butter is slowly simmered into ghee. Industrial ghee is usually made by separating cream from milk and heating it directly, which is faster and cheaper but skips the curd stage that gives bilona ghee its cultured aroma.
The bilona method
In the bilona method the milk is warmed and set into curd with a starter culture. The curd is churned with a wooden churner, called a bilona or madhani, until butter separates. The butter, makhan, is then simmered slowly until the water cooks off and the ghee turns clear and golden.
The industrial method
Industrial ghee is usually made by separating cream from milk with a centrifuge and then heating the cream or the butter made from it. The process is quicker and needs less labour, which lowers the cost, but it skips the curd stage.
Flavour, yield and price
Because the curd ferments, bilona ghee carries a cultured, nutty aroma. It also needs much more milk and time, with roughly twenty-five to thirty litres of cow milk commonly cited for a kilogram of ghee, so it costs more. Buffalo and yak milk are richer in fat and give more ghee per litre.
How to judge any ghee
The method alone does not make ghee pure. Whichever way it was made, look for a clear batch laboratory report from an independent laboratory, a named producer and a batch number. These are shown on each Shuddha Ghee Nepal product page.