Step 1: Making Yogurt from Cream:

This step is good to start the evening before you plan to make ghee. Start with fresh, organic cream.

Two or three pints of heavy whipping cream should make enough ghee for a family of three or four people for a week.

The first step is to heat the cream. Use a large pot, with high sides to prevent the cream from boiling over.

As soon as the cream boils, remove it from the heat to cool. To speed up the cooling process, you can fill the sink with cool water and set the pot in the water.

When it is luke-warm, or wrist-temperature (body temperature), pour it into containers for making yogurt. If you have a yogurt maker, you should put starter (fresh, plain yogurt) in the bottom of each jar.

If you do not have a yogurt maker, you can use drinking glasses. Put the starter in the glasses, pour the luke-warm cream into the glasses and place them in a frying pan.

Put all of them in the oven to sit overnight. You can also use a large glass or metal bowl instead of small glasses, if you prefer.

Don't turn the oven, but turn the light on if it is an electric oven.

Step 2: Making Cultured Butter:

When you get up in the morning, remove the cream yogurt from the oven or the yogurt maker.

Put all the jars or your large bowl of yogurt cream in the refrigerator for one and a half to two hours. The temperature of the yogurt will make a difference when you are churning the butter.

If the temperature of the cream yogurt is too warm, the butter will be very soft and it can be difficult to separate the buttermilk from the butter.

If the temperature is too cold (if you leave it in the refrigerator for many hours) the fat molecules will be very solid and won't stick to each other very well when you churn.

When the yogurt is at the ideal temperature, the churning should be complete in 5 to 10 minutes.

First the cream will whip, as you keep whipping, it will start turning a more yellow color. This is the butter starting to emerge.

At the end, the butter will separate completely from the buttermilk and will start sloshing around in the bowl.

When the butter and the buttermilk (takra) have completely separated, stop the mixer, clean the paddle and use a heavy duty wooden or other spatula to push the butter into a large mass.

Step 3: Making Ghee:

Put the butter into a pot and heat on low heat until all the water has boiled off and the protein has been toasted to a crispy brown color.

Slow heat is better than fast heat because the protein (or milk solids) tend to stick to the bottom of the pan and can easily burn.

Keep stirring the ghee from time to time throughout the cooking process to minimize sticking to the bottom and to ensure that the milk solids get thoroughly cooked.

You will notice that the ghee is now clear (which is why it is called clarified butter). If you stick a spoon into the ghee, you can see the bottom of it clearly. The color should be a rich golden color and the milk solids will be a dark, golden brown.

Be careful at this stage because it is very easy to burn the ghee. Basically, all of the water has boiled off at this stage and the heat from the stove no longer is being used to evaporate the water (which takes a lot of energy) and maintains the temperature at 100° C or 212° F.

Once the water has all evaporated, the temperature begins to climb very rapidly because all of the heat from the burner goes to increase the temperature instead of evaporate the water.

Keep the stove on the lowest possible setting at this point and watch it like a hawk. Transfer the ghee to a non-toxic ceramic pot (you may need to let it cool a bit to avoid breaking the ceramic).

Use a clean cheesecloth (non-bleached, organic cotton is best) to filter the ghee from the milk solids.

Fresh ghee made with this method described here and prescribed by the shastras should be golden in color and deliciously nutty in aroma. There should not be a burned smell either.