DAIRY FARMING 



Qhi 



GH1 



D.E.P., 

 iii., 491-8. 

 Ghi. 



Definite Degree 

 of Heating. 



Under-cooking. 



Decanting. 



Old Ghi. 



Classic Times. 



211,516 lb., valued at Rs. 2,43,439; in 1903-4, 277,112 lb., valued at 

 Rs. 3,16,536; in 1905-6, 782,738 lb., valued at Rs. 3,12,510; and in 

 1906-7, 244,577 lb., valued at Rs. 2,66,636. To what extent this may be 

 margarine is not at present known. The EXPORTS of Indian butter 

 appear to have only begun to be separately returned in official statistics 

 about the year 1890-1, when 1,118 lb., valued at Rs. 472, were sent 

 to China and the Straits Settlements. In 1895-6 the exports were 

 152,462 lb., valued at Rs. 94,780; in 1905-6 they were 307,785 lb., 

 valued at Rs. 2,16,614 ; and in 1906-7, 298,344 lb., valued at Rs. 2,09,292. 

 It would thus appear that the export traffic is steadily improving. It 

 goes almost exclusively from Bombay, and the countries that take the 

 greater proportion of the Indian butter are Ceylon and Aden, and after 

 these British East Africa, followed by the United Kingdom. This 

 improved export trade is apparently the direct result of the recent 

 endeavour to establish dairy farming on modern lines. 



[Cf. Ovington, Voy. to Suratt, 1689, 324; Terry, Voy. E. Ind. (ed. 1777), 133, 

 198 ; Paulus Mgineta (Adams, transl.), 1847, iii., 74-6 ; Sen, I.e. 56-7 ; Banerjei, I.e. 

 129-30 ; Mollison, I.e. 59-63 ; Fleischmann, I.e. 106-99 ; Meagher and Vaughan, 

 I.e. 93-108 ; Imp. Qaz., Z.c.] 



4. QHI (GHEE) OR CLARIFIED BUTTER.~ManipuIation.-It may 

 be said that the three great products of milk in India are Mir, dahi and 

 ghi. The first two have already been disposed of. It is perhaps hardly 

 necessary to describe the preparation of ghi (neyi] in great detail, since so 

 much has already been said that has a direct bearing on the subject. Ghi 

 is clarified butter. That is to say the butter is heated for about twelve 

 hours or until the greater part of its moisture is evaporated. An oil is 

 at the same time formed that rises to the surface, and the refuse (mostly 

 casein) forms below as a sediment. Too much heating is said, however, 

 to cause the ghi to assume an acid taste, while imperfect heating renders it 

 liable to putrefaction. Great skill is thus required, but the ghi sold in the 

 market has usually been undercooked owing to the loss in weight which 

 takes place when fully cooked. Butter loses about 25 per cent, in the pro- 

 cess of clarification. The yield of ghi from the butter of the buffalo is 

 higher than from that of the cow. The boiling butter is allowed to be 

 partially cooled, when the </Atmaybe decanted from the top of the sediment. 

 The ordinary ghi of the bazars is principally derived from buffalo milk. 

 One quart of buffalo milk yields about 3 oz. of ghi, while the same quantity 

 of cow milk may only afford about half that quantity, or with extra fine 

 qualities, three-quarters of the ghi mentioned. Ghi from goat milk is very 

 inferior owing to the disagreeable odour it possesses, while that of sheep 

 milk is often spoken of as superior even to buffalo butter. 



Old and New Ghi. So much has been written on the subject of 

 clarified butter or ghi that a special volume might have to be written 

 before even the more important historic and trade facts had been exempli- 

 fied satisfactorily. Ghi is mentioned in some of the most ancient of the 

 classic works of the Hindus. It is the ghrita of Sanskrit authors, and 

 according to ancient medical opinion the ghi of cow milk is superior to that 

 of buffalo or goat. As manifesting the antiquity of the knowledge in this 

 article, it may be mentioned that in the Periplus(SO A.D., McCrindle, transl., 

 12, 113) ghi is spoken of as exported from India. It may thus be said to 

 have been closely associated with the life and social customs of the Aryan 

 races, but curiously enough has never been of much value with the people 

 of Mongolian blood. Here and there all over India, especially along its 



478 



