Clarified butter

[Jenise]

This is an idle question with nothing riding on the answer, it was just something I had time to think about yesterday as I poured 70 little cups of clarified butter to pass out to guests at my annual crab party now known as the Nakat Beach Crabtacular. Where does the cholesterol in butter reside? Is more of it in the solids or in the clear part? Or is there no or so little difference as to not matter?

That is an interesting question. I am guessing it's in the resulting liquid when one does the clarifying.

You've boiled off the water, the protein solids settle out, so that would leave you the saturated fat and cholesterol in the pure golden yummy liquid.

On a related issue, I've seen clarified butter for sale in ethnic grocery stores. Has anyone tried this? Is it horrible or not too bad?

I've had good and bad. It seems brand dependent. I wonder if it may also be a matter of how much the place moves? Ghee will last a long time without refrigeration, but I don't think it will last forever.

I'm pretty sure there's a bunch of cholesterol in those little cups, Jenise. Basically, clarified butter is anhydrous butter with milkfat solids removed also.

And there is a difference between clarified butter and ghee. Clarified butter (used in European and American cooking)is whole butter melted slowly and then fairly quickly separated, all done mechanically.

With ghee the butter is melted *very* slowly and the water evaporates naturally, so all you have left is the heavier and lighter milkfat solids. However, the heavy milkfat solids have caramelized somewhat and slightly colored the butter before being separated.

And who is worried about cholesterol these days? I thought everybody knew by now that was not any indicator of heart health.

[Jenise]

And who is worried about cholesterol these days? I thought everybody knew by now that was not any indicator of heart health.

Worried? Not me, I'm an "everything in moderation" type. I just had too much time to think as I poured all those little cups.

Cholesterol is fat-soluble, so one would expect it to be in the liquid portion when you clarify butter. But then again, cholesterol in the body is usually transported as part of a lipoprotein, and as such might end up in the milk solids rather than the butterfat. And anyway, I always thought that butter was "bad for you" not because of its direct cholesterol content but because it is almost entirely saturated fat, which allegedly promotes cholesterol buildup in the body.

-Paul W.