Comparing Ghee Production Methods: Which One is Right for You?

Ghee is one of India’s most valued dairy products, and the method used to produce it directly affects its flavour, shelf life, and overall quality. From the age-old technique practised in rural kitchens to fully automated industrial systems, there are five recognised methods of ghee making – each suited to different scales of production, budgets, and quality targets. Understanding how these methods compare helps producers and dairy professionals pick the right process for their specific needs.

The five recognised methods of ghee making 🔗

Across the dairy industry, ghee production is classified into five distinct methods: the indigenous (desi) method, the direct cream method, the creamery butter method, the pre-stratification method, and the continuous method. While all five follow the same basic principle – concentrating milk fat, clarifying it through heat, and separating the residue – they differ significantly in equipment, energy use, fat recovery, and product characteristics. The choice of a particular method depends mainly on the scale of production and available resources.

Indigenous (desi) method 🔗

The indigenous method is the oldest and most widely practised technique, accounting for roughly 80% of all ghee produced in India. It is deeply rooted in rural households and has been passed down through generations.

How it works 🔗

This method follows two common routes. In the first, raw or heated milk is fermented into dahi (curd) using a previous day’s culture, and the curd is then churned – traditionally with a wooden hand churn – to obtain makkhan (butter). In the second route, malai (clotted cream) is skimmed from boiled milk and churned into butter. The accumulated makkhan is then heated slowly in an earthen or metal pot. During heating, the scum is removed with a perforated ladle, and the process continues until clear golden fat is obtained.

Advantages 🔗

The biggest advantage of this method is its simplicity. It requires minimal equipment and no sophisticated infrastructure, making it accessible to virtually any household. Ghee produced this way often has a distinctive flavour prized in traditional cooking and religious ceremonies, thanks to the aromatic compounds formed during the fermentation of dahi and its fractionation into makkhan.

Disadvantages 🔗

However, the method comes with several significant drawbacks. Fat recovery is the lowest among all methods, typically in the range of 80-85%. The quality of the final product is highly inconsistent in terms of both chemical and sensory properties. Acidity tends to be high, which reduces the keeping quality. Temperature control is difficult, storage is often done in unsuitable containers, and the process is far too labour-intensive for large-scale production. For these reasons, organized dairies do not adopt this method.

Direct cream method 🔗

The direct cream method represents a step up in efficiency and is commonly used by smaller dairies that have access to centrifugal cream separators but want to skip the butter-making stage entirely.

How it works 🔗

Cream is separated from milk using a centrifugal separator, yielding cream with about 35-40% fat. This cream is then heated directly in a steam-jacketed ghee kettle fitted with an agitator, steam control valve, and temperature gauges. The temperature is raised gradually to about 110-120°C, with intermittent stirring to prevent scorching. The process is complete when a brownish froth appears and the ghee residue turns golden yellow or light brown. The ghee is then cooled to about 60°C and filtered or passed through a centrifugal oil separator.

Advantages 🔗

Since butter-making is eliminated, this method requires no churning equipment, no butter storage, and no refrigeration facilities – resulting in lower initial investment. Fat recovery is higher than the indigenous method, typically in the 90-95% range. The keeping quality of the resulting ghee is also better, and this method produces ghee with a longer shelf life compared to the creamery butter method.

Disadvantages 🔗

The main drawback is higher energy consumption. Because cream contains more moisture than butter, it takes longer heating to evaporate all the water. If medium-fat cream (~40%) is used, the process yields more ghee residue and consumes more fuel. Using high-fat cream (60-75%) or washing the cream with warm water helps reduce these losses. Additionally, a high content of serum solids in the cream can produce an overly caramelised flavour in the finished product, which may not always be desirable.

Creamery butter method 🔗

The creamery butter method is the standard process adopted by most organised dairies in India. It uses unsalted creamery butter (also called white butter) as the starting material, making it well-suited for consistent, large-volume production.

How it works 🔗

Unsalted butter is first melted in a butter melter at about 60-80°C, then pumped into a ghee boiler. Inside the boiler, the moisture is evaporated under controlled steam heating while the product is stirred continuously. The temperature is raised gradually to around 114±2°C. During the process, scum that forms on the surface is removed periodically with a perforated ladle. The endpoint is signalled by the disappearance of effervescence, appearance of fine air bubbles, and browning of the curd particles. At this point, the characteristic ghee aroma develops. The ghee is then filtered through an oil filter and transferred to a settling tank for packaging.

Advantages 🔗

This method offers several key benefits. Since butter has lower moisture content than cream, less energy is needed for evaporation. Fat recovery ranges from 88-92%, and the quality of the product is highly consistent – an important factor for brands selling under AGMARK certification. The process also gives manufacturers better control over flavour and colour by adjusting the final clarification temperature. The availability of standardised butter from reliable suppliers adds another layer of predictability.

Disadvantages 🔗

Compared to the direct cream method, the creamery butter method involves an additional step – the production or procurement of butter – which adds to the overall processing time and cost. Extensive frothing during the initial heating of butter must be carefully managed to avoid boil-over losses. Despite these considerations, the method remains the most popular choice for commercial dairy operations in India.

Pre-stratification method 🔗

The pre-stratification method is a modification of the creamery butter method that significantly improves fuel economy and produces ghee with lower acidity.

How it works 🔗

In this process, melted butter is heated to about 80°C and then held undisturbed in a pre-stratification tank for several hours. During this standing period, the mass naturally separates into three distinct layers based on density differences: denatured protein particles and impurities collect at the top, clear fat occupies the middle, and buttermilk serum – containing most of the moisture and solids-not-fat – settles at the bottom. The serum layer is drained from the bottom, removing roughly 74% of the water present in the original white butter. The remaining mixture of scum, fat, and curd is then pumped to a ghee boiler for final heating at 110-120°C, where flavour and colour develop as in the standard creamery butter method.

Advantages 🔗

The most notable benefit is the substantial saving in fuel consumption. Since a large proportion of the moisture is removed physically (by draining) rather than thermally (by evaporation), the ghee boiler has much less work to do. Fat recovery is comparable to the creamery butter method at around 92%. The resulting ghee also tends to have lower free fatty acid levels, which means better keeping quality. According to the NIFTEM reading material on ghee production under the PMFME scheme, the fuel consumption for this method is around 400 kcal per kg of ghee – significantly less than the 525 kcal needed for the standard creamery butter method.

Disadvantages 🔗

The process requires additional equipment (the stratification tank) and a longer overall processing time because the butter must be held undisturbed for several hours. This makes it somewhat less flexible for dairies that need to process ghee quickly. However, for operations where energy cost is a major concern, the trade-off is well worth it.

Continuous method 🔗

The continuous method is the most technologically advanced system for ghee production, designed to operate without interruption and handle large volumes efficiently. Two prominent continuous processes have been developed in India – one by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) in Anand, Gujarat, and another by the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) in Karnal, Haryana.

How it works 🔗

In the NDDB process, milk is first separated into cream (~40% fat) using a centrifugal separator. The cream then passes through a clarifixator and a concentrator, where the oil-in-water emulsion is mechanically broken and fat is concentrated using centrifugal force. The concentrated fat (95-99% fat) is then passed through a scraped surface heat exchanger (SSHE) for final heating at about 110-115°C, which develops the characteristic ghee flavour. Moisture is removed via a vapour separator, and the ghee residue is taken out by an oil clarifier before cooling. The NDRI process follows a similar principle with a 3-stage pressurised, swept-surface separator system.

Advantages 🔗

This method offers the lowest energy consumption among all ghee-making processes – approximately 325 kcal per kg of ghee – because heat is used only for flavour development, not for bulk moisture removal. It enables round-the-clock production with minimal manual intervention, delivers highly uniform product quality, and preserves fat-soluble vitamins better than conventional batch methods. Several large Indian dairy plants, including Mother Dairy (Gandhinagar), Panchamrut Dairy (Godhra), and Nestle (Moga), already use this technology.

Disadvantages 🔗

The primary limitation is the high capital investment required for the specialised equipment – clarifixators, concentrators, SSHEs, and vapour separators. This makes the method economically viable only for large-scale dairies with high throughput. Maintenance of the equipment also requires skilled technical personnel.

Comparing the methods at a glance 🔗

When comparing all five methods side by side, a few key parameters stand out. In terms of fat recovery, the indigenous method recovers only about 80-85% of the available fat, whereas the direct cream method achieves 90-95%, and the creamery butter, pre-stratification, and continuous methods all recover around 88-92%. Energy consumption is highest in the indigenous and direct cream methods (1300-1700 kcal/kg) and lowest in the continuous method (around 325 kcal/kg). For product quality consistency, the creamery butter and continuous methods perform best, while the indigenous method is the least consistent. Capital investment scales from nearly zero for the indigenous method to very high for the continuous method.

Which method should you choose? 🔗

The right method depends entirely on your production context. For household or very small-scale production, the indigenous method is still practical – especially if you value traditional flavour above efficiency. Small dairies that want to avoid butter-making can opt for the direct cream method, keeping in mind its higher energy demand. The creamery butter method is the reliable workhorse for most organised dairies, offering a good balance of quality, consistency, and cost. If fuel cost is a major concern, the pre-stratification method delivers meaningful savings without requiring drastically different equipment. And for large industrial dairies aiming at high-volume, export-quality production, the continuous method is the clear choice – provided the capital investment is feasible.

Ultimately, no single method is universally “best.” Each represents a different point on the spectrum of simplicity versus efficiency, tradition versus technology, and small-batch artisan quality versus industrial-scale consistency.

What do you think? If you were setting up a mid-scale dairy operation today, which ghee production method would you prioritise – and would you lean toward energy savings or flavour authenticity?

References

1. https://ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in/ftp04/chapter/technology-of-ghee-making-direct-cream-creamery-butter-continuous-method/
2. http://dairy-technology.blogspot.com/2014/01/methods-of-manufacture-of-ghee.html
3. https://urbanasuperfoods.com/blogs/nutrition/different-types-of-ghee-making-process
4. https://niftem.ac.in/newsite/pmfme/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Ghee-Writeup.pdf