Ghee, clearly.

Ghee begins as butter, but good ghee is much more than separated butterfat. Time and attentive heat cook away the moisture while the milk solids caramelise and give the fat its deep, nutty aroma. The solids are filtered out at the end, leaving the clear golden part. Clarified butter often stops at separation. Traditional ghee keeps going until the water is gone and that deeper flavour has arrived.

With the water and browned solids removed, ghee behaves differently from ordinary butter in the pan. It is happy at higher cooking temperatures, and one laboratory study observed smoking at about 250°C in the ghee it tested.

The word ghee comes through Hindi ghi from the Sanskrit ghrita. Its root is often connected with shining or brightness. That feels wonderfully fitting for something so clear, golden and luminous.

Properly finished ghee has had almost all of its moisture cooked away. That low moisture is a big part of why it keeps so well, and why Maha Ghee does not need refrigeration under normal pantry conditions.

Keep the lid closed, store the jar somewhere cool and dry, and use a clean, completely dry spoon. If water gets into the jar, its keeping quality changes. We also prefer not to move a jar in and out of the fridge, because temperature swings can create condensation.

Properly finished ghee is made for the pantry. If a product needs to live in the fridge, it may have been processed differently or may still carry more moisture than a traditionally finished jar. Maha Ghee is cooked for depth of flavour as well as keeping quality.