Ghee

[fungi601]

I thought I would through this out there for those of you that are looking for something that is healty and adds good flavor to stuff. I usualy carry some olive oil and bacon grease but I also like to carry some ghee. Its easy to make and has an excelent shelf life that doesnt need refrigeration. You can look up the health bennifits and how to make it on the internet..

[Tinker]

I took a plastic container of it on my Hundred Mile Wilderness hike. Better than olive oil on bread, not as good as whole butter, but it kept for the 6 days that the jar lasted (out of 8 days spent in the "wilderness"). Expensive, at least the stuff I bought was. For a four day section (or a thru with 4 days between resupply, which is typical, I could do without - olive oil is fine for bolstering the caloric content of prepackaged dinners).

[Kookork]

Ghee is a very common food in other parts of the world for hiking. Sheperds ( longlife hikers by nature) use ghee as their main course. In some 3 to 4 days hikes they just carry ghee and bread.
But there is a universal reciepe for ghee that I have not seen in North america to be used( i might be wrong though)

heat the ghee on your stove to be melted completely. Add just salt and black pepper to ghee and then eat it with bread. Ghee and butter are pound for pond the best foods for hikers caloriwise.

[Odd Man Out]

Ghee is great stuff. It will have about 24% more calories per gram than butter, because clarifying the butter removes water and protein. It is pretty much pure oil, so it will have the same calorie content as olive oil, corn oil, etc.. However it is not necessary for preservation as butter is not particularly perishable in the first place.

[Tinker]

When I experimented with Ghee, I didn't notice the cholesterol or saturated fat numbers, since I was mainly concerned with taste and perishability when I bought it.

Does anyone have any comparison with olive oil or margerine?

[WingedMonkey]

When I experimented with Ghee, I didn't notice the cholesterol or saturated fat numbers, since I was mainly concerned with taste and perishability when I bought it.

Does anyone have any comparison with olive oil or margerine?

There is no cholesterol in plant based oils.

[sarbar]

Ghee if made right is shelf stable for a year after making. Just don't double dip into the container.

As for cholesterol I prefer butter over the majority of margarine for sale. Many margarine's are still made with partially hydrogenated fats so be wary. I only use Earth Balance if I do use it, which isn't full of the bad stuff. But it isn't cheap.

What does matter though is saturated fats - both animal and plant fats can have them. Some are actually not bad for you though and can be beneficial but again, avoid anything that is PH or worse fully. That stuff is just plain evil!! It is as bad or worse for your health than animal cholesterol.

[Odd Man Out]

What does matter though is saturated fats - both animal and plant fats can have them. Some are actually not bad for you though and can be beneficial but again, avoid anything that is PH or worse fully. That stuff is just plain evil!! It is as bad or worse for your health than animal cholesterol.

Correct on the partially hydrogenated bit. The cholesterol in butter/ghee is not important. Your body makes way more cholesterol in a day than you eat in your diet. Eating margarine to avoid cholesterol is like jumping off a cliff to escape from a rabbit. But you are a bit off on the fully hydrogenated oils. If they are really fully hydrogenated then they are saturated fats and chemically no different from the natural fats. There may be some residual trans fats, but there should be less than the partially hydrogenated fats. So while I avoid both when possible, I am less concerned if the label says "fully hydrogenated".

[sarbar]

Fully hydrogenated is keyword for "crappy cheap oils". For example if buying Peanut Butter the best one can buy is made with nuts and maybe a sprinkle of salt/tiny bit of added oil. No added solid fast to make it shelf stable (ie. no mixing). Our bodies do NOT need this! This is bad bad bad for heart health. Same with shortening. Just use a heart healthy oil and call it a day. Thing is - most PB out there is full of crap we don't need.

The only truly saturated fats I use are virgin organic coconut and palm oils that are not heat treated - minimal processing.

Removing cholesterol from animal sources though is a proven way to cut your levels in half. I see meat and dairy products now as a treat, not an everyday thing. Yeah, I miss butter. Don't get me wrong. If I need "butter" I use Earth Balance bars (vegan, non-hydrogenated) but I adapted my cooking and baking to minimally processed oils instead. I also supplement our diets with flax, chia and hemp seeds and we take our Omega-3's as well. It cut both mine and my husband's counts in half in under 3 months.

[Odd Man Out]

Fully hydrogenated oils are unsaturated fats turned into saturated fats (and at the chemical level, pretty much the same as coconut and palm oil). Partially hydrogenated oils are unsaturated fats turned into trans fats. I am not saying either is good. It is just that the trans fats are worse.

[sarbar]

IMO a person gets what they pay for. If a person buys highly processed PB for $1 a jar...well that is what you get. $1 worth of crud.

[sbhikes]

What kind of plastic containers do you use to carry things like ghee or butter? I live in a place where even in November it can get warm during the day. Butter might melt. We have those ziploc screw-top plastic jars and they seem pretty light but how would they do with melted butter inside them? Leak everywhere? Any suggestions?

[sarbar]

Ghee should stay mostly solid btw, even in warm weather, if it was made right.

IMO, I carry stuff like that in the small 1/2 cup size Ziploc or Glad containers, then in a sandwich bag.

[oddbird]

I love ghee. I also enjoy it in my morning coffee. It gives a rich flavor, and adds fat.

[TNjed]

it seems to be just cooled brown butter, big deal, butter that tastes like nuts

[Wise Old Owl]

Ghee if made right is shelf stable for a year after making. Just don't double dip into the container.

As for cholesterol I prefer butter over the majority of margarine for sale. Many margarine's are still made with partially hydrogenated fats so be wary. I only use Earth Balance if I do use it, which isn't full of the bad stuff. But it isn't cheap.

What does matter though is saturated fats - both animal and plant fats can have them. Some are actually not bad for you though and can be beneficial but again, avoid anything that is PH or worse fully. That stuff is just plain evil!! It is as bad or worse for your health than animal cholesterol.

Sabar is on target and I am a little confused about Odd Man Out posting here.. Unsaturated is easy to identify- olive - canola and other seed oils are supposed to be better for you because they are not hydrogenated and forgive me.... not solid and they have their place. Butter has stood the test of time and leave veins supple ...Margarine is the nasty fat as it hardens veins and arteries. While fitting both men and an occasional women for suits and rental tuxes I could tell the difference in healthy fat - ice cream butter etc. And oops beer and solid - heart attack meats and sulfites in pork and Ruben sandwiches.

Bottom line - hard fats were introduced in the last fifty years killing more men with low fat and high carb diets in this century than the last three combined.Thais my take and I am sticking to it.

[Odd Man Out]

Sabar is on target and I am a little confused about Odd Man Out posting here..

There are three substances being discussed - unsaturated fats (natural, found in liquid oils), saturated fats (naturally occurring in solid fats/tropical oils, and artificially produced in FULLY hydrogenated oils) , and trans fats (artificially produced in PARTIALLY hydrogenated oils), with the disclaimer that most fat/oil samples are heterogeneous and have a mixture of saturated and unsaturated fats in various proportions. It is my understanding that trans fats are the worst of these. Of the other two, unsaturated are generally considered more healthy than saturated. This seems to be confirmed by the posts above where people are OK with eating palm oil, coconut oil, ghee, and butter, but prefer olive, canola, peanut oil etc...

I never said saturated fats were good. I agree on avoiding PH oils (trans fats). But I think it is a mistake to say that fully hydrogenated fats (saturated) are worse than partially hydrogenated fats (trans).

"avoid anything that is PH OR WORSE FULLY." (my emphasis).

[Tinker]

Sabar is on target and I am a little confused about Odd Man Out posting here.. Unsaturated is easy to identify- olive - canola and other seed oils are supposed to be better for you because they are not hydrogenated and forgive me.... not solid and they have their place. Butter has stood the test of time and leave veins supple ...Margarine is the nasty fat as it hardens veins and arteries. While fitting both men and an occasional women for suits and rental tuxes I could tell the difference in healthy fat - ice cream butter etc. And oops beer and solid - heart attack meats and sulfites in pork and Ruben sandwiches.

Bottom line - hard fats were introduced in the last fifty years killing more men with low fat and high carb diets in this century than the last three combined.Thais my take and I am sticking to it.

Hey! Reuben sandwiches??? NOW you're hitting a little close to home!!! That's my all-time favorite sandwich (and you're right - they are a health trainwreck!).

[Wise Old Owl]

OK - I see we are on the same page - I don't really think or make choices about this anymore - Canola, Olive, and other room temperature liquid oils are best,

Yet I still stick to small quantities of butter - not like a restaurant uses... Steaks, and Hellman's Mayo (mostly soybean oil) etc.


and have tossed all hydrogenated adulterated - margarine and other solid oils out - I just don't care

[Odd Man Out]

You're right. If you give up all HVO, then PH vs FH is a moot point.