There is nothing better than butter!

While traveling to Israel and back, I kept myself sane by reading Julie Powell’s charming book “Julie&Julia, My year of cooking dangerously” a real story of a woman that gets tired from her boring life and decides to learn how to cook from Julia Child’s book “Mastering The Art of French Cooking”. She cooked for a year while blogging about her amazing experiments. The movie Julie& Julia that was inspired from her book, is one of the best I’ve seen lately.
Anyway, Julia Child, used heaps of butter in her recipes, as butter is one of the French Cuisine foundations. Interestingly enough it’s very healthy (and tasty), though there is a whole debate about it.
Sometimes when I try to explain to people that butter is a good food I have the feeling I need to duck before they’ll stone me with little wrapped plastic food, also known as margarine.

“Butter? You tell us we can eat butter?” I can hear them talking in an irritated manner, “have you ever heard of the word “Cholesterol?” well I have, but of course I’ve got another theory about that.

So I butter a good or a bad food (oil)?
The Ayurvedic medicine (the traditional Hindu system of medicine, which is based on the idea of balance in bodily systems and uses diet, herbal treatment, and yogic breathing.) uses Ghee (clarified butter) as a medicine and Ghee is the cooking oil that s used in India.
Samneh is a similar sort of clarified butter which is being used or cooking and medicinal purposes in Yemen Egypt and Ethiopia.
So why not learn from other cultures, that surprisingly enough don’t suffer from high cholesterol, though their diet is based on (clarified) butter?!
Well, the whole scientific side will soon be dealt with, because first I am about to tell you how much Butter is important, especially for people who live in cold places, or people that suffer from cold.
And yes I’m talking about cold feet people who wear socks to bed, hug warm bottles, or sleep with electrical blankets on level 3 all night, and wake up melting from scorching heat.
So butter was invented mostly for you guys, as butter is oil, and the Chinese consider it to be a “Warming food” along with Kumara, walnuts, sorghum, lamb, leeks, onions, cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, black pepper and much more.

So the butter warms up your body and helps you defeat the cold of winter in a nice and tasty way. And because Butter is usually consumed with some good bread, here goes the winter blues down the drain.
But that’s not all, because here is the scientific part written by Dr Mary Eng, a nutritionist, biochemist, consultant and clinician.
Her brochure about fats and oils was published on the Weston A Price foundation website. Read what they say about. It is an eye opener.
Well, I don’t agree with it all, as I have a slightly different understanding about milk, which I strongly believe is calves food and not people food. But butter, is as I see it, a very important food we should not trade for plastic food.

my Ghee recipe
Ingredients-
Non-salted butter
How to-
Take a heavy bottomed vessel. Place the butter sticks in it, and on medium heat melt them. When the butter starts to melt reduce the flame to low Next the butter will begin to develop foam at the top.
Simmer on low heat, uncovered and undisturbed, for 30 to 45 minutes, until milk-solids on the bottom of the vessel turn from white to beige-brown, and butter on top becomes transparent like clear water. This is the signal to turn off the heat. Never use high-heat to make ghee. At this stage milk-solids separate into 3 layers. Foaming milk-solids on top, clarified butter in the middle, protein milk-solids on the bottom. After turning off the heat, do not cover with lid. Let the ghee stand for ten minutes. Remove any crust that rises to the surface with a spoon. Strain; discard the milk solids at the bottom of the vessel by using a coffee filter or muslin cloth. Or simply ladle off the ghee into a dry jar. Let it reach to room temperature. Then cover with a lid.
Ghee can be stored for extended periods without refrigeration, provided it is kept in an airtight container to prevent oxidation and remains moisture-free.