From curd fermentation (Commercial ghee (cream-based): None)

Present + better preserved (Commercial ghee (cream-based): Present)

Rich, nutty, aromatic (Commercial ghee (cream-based): Mild, neutral)

3+ days (Commercial ghee (cream-based): 2-3 hours)

Higher - because it takes more (Commercial ghee (cream-based): Low)

What is the bilona method?

Q: Butyric acid (gut health)

Higher (Commercial ghee (cream-based): Lower)

The bilona method is the traditional Indian process for making ghee that starts from whole milk — not from cream. At Just Pure, this milk comes from Desi cows, sourced through our 1500+ farmer members in Hisar, Haryana. The milk is first fermented into curd overnight using a natural starter. The curd is then churned using a wooden bilona — a double-headed churner that moves clockwise and anticlockwise — until the raw white butter (makkhan) separates.

This raw butter is then simmered slowly over a low flame until the milk solids separate and the golden ghee clarifies. The entire process, from milk to sealed jar, takes a minimum of three days.

Commercial ghee skips the fermentation step entirely. It starts from cream, centrifuges out the butter, and heats it quickly. The result is a different product — not a worse one in terms of taste, but fundamentally different in its nutritional composition.

How Pure Bilona Ghee Is Made

Cows Hand Milked

Fresh Milk Collected

Slow Firewood Boil

Curd Set in Clay Pots

Bilona Churning

Slow Heat Makkhan Clarification

Ghee

Why the Bilona Method Produces Better Ghee

The fermentation step is the key difference. When curd is made, lactic acid bacteria transform the milk. When that curd is then churned, the resulting butter carries the benefits of that fermentation. Commercial ghee — made from cream — skips fermentation entirely and therefore cannot have the same nutritional profile.

It is also why a jar costs what it does: one kilo of bilona ghee takes 15 to 20 litres of milk, set as curd overnight and churned the slow way, against a fraction of that for the cream-and-centrifuge route.

What you get Commercial ghee (cream-based) JustPure bilona ghee

Butyric acid (gut health) Lower Higher

Probiotic origin None From curd fermentation

Fat-soluble vitamins Present Present + better preserved

Aroma Mild, neutral Rich, nutty, aromatic

Time taken 2-3 hours 3+ days

Cost to produce Low Higher - because it takes more

Why fermentation changes the fat

Churning curd rather than cream is the whole argument for the slow method. Fermentation leaves the butter richer in butyric acid — the short-chain fat the cells lining your gut actually run on — and it is the step commercial ghee skips to save two days.

BUTYRIC ACID / 100G

15–20L

MILK PER LITRE OF GHEE

Shop the ghee

What gets left out

Most of it does not make the jar

Every claim on this page is really about what we remove. This is what narrows between the field and your kitchen.

1500+ farmer members
Every litre is traceable to the farm it came from.
Desi cows only no crossbreed milk
A2 milk from indigenous breeds, or it does not enter the dairy.
Every batch lab-tested
A batch that misses a mark does not get bottled.
1 litre of bilona ghee
From 15 to 20 litres of milk, over three days.

That is why one litre takes three days and 15 to 20 litres of milk.

Kitchen

Now put it to work

Six ways we actually use it at home. Nothing fussy - and each one says why it works, not just what to do.

5 minServes 4Cow ghee

Everyday tadka

The tempering that finishes almost every dal in an Indian kitchen.

Read the recipe Close

You need

1 tbsp A2 cow ghee
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 dried red chillies
1 pinch asafoetida
6 curry leaves

Method

Warm the ghee in a small pan on medium heat until it thins and smells nutty.
Add cumin and let it sizzle about ten seconds, until it darkens a shade.
Add the chillies, asafoetida and curry leaves. They will crackle - that is the point.
Pour the whole thing over hot dal and cover for a minute before serving.

Why it works: Ghee carries flavour that water cannot. The spices dissolve into the fat, so every spoonful of dal tastes of them rather than just the last bite.

2 minPer rotiCow ghee

Ghee roti, the way it should be

Brushed on hot, not cold. That single detail is the whole difference.

Read the recipe Close

You need

1 fresh roti
1 tsp A2 cow ghee

Method

Take the roti off the tawa while it is still steaming.
Spread the ghee across it immediately - it should melt on contact, not sit in a lump.
Fold once and eat within a minute or two.

Why it works: A hot roti opens up and drinks the ghee into the crumb. On a cooled roti it stays on the surface and turns greasy instead of soft.

35 minServes 3Cow ghee

Sunday khichdi

The meal you make when nobody wants to cook and everybody wants to eat.

Read the recipe Close

You need

1 cup rice
1/2 cup moong dal
2 tbsp A2 cow ghee
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 inch ginger
salt
4 cups water

Method

Rinse rice and dal together until the water runs clear.
Heat 1 tbsp ghee in a pressure cooker, add cumin and grated ginger, wait for the smell.
Add rice, dal, turmeric, salt and water. Three whistles, then let the pressure drop on its own.
Stir in the second spoon of ghee at the table, not in the kitchen.

Why it works: The second spoon is not a garnish. Ghee added off the heat keeps its aroma, which is the part that cooks away when you add it all at the start.

6 minServes 1Lakadong haldi

Haldi doodh that actually works

Turmeric needs fat and black pepper to be absorbed at all. Most recipes skip both.

Read the recipe Close

You need

1 cup milk
1/2 tsp Lakadong haldi
1/4 tsp A2 cow ghee
1 pinch black pepper
honey

Method

Warm the milk on low - do not boil it hard.
Whisk in the turmeric and the pinch of pepper.
Add the ghee and let it melt through. Simmer three minutes.
Take it off the heat and add honey once it has cooled enough to drink.

Why it works: Curcumin is fat-soluble and barely absorbed on its own. The ghee carries it and the piperine in black pepper raises absorption sharply. Without both, most of it passes straight through.

3 minServes 1Moringa powder

Moringa in the morning

Green, grassy, and best hidden in something you already drink.

Read the recipe Close

You need

1 tsp moringa powder
1 banana
1 cup milk or curd
1 tsp honey
4 soaked almonds

Method

Blend everything until there is no grit left at the bottom.
Drink it within ten minutes, before it separates.
If it tastes too green, more banana - not more honey.

Why it works: Moringa is shade-dried, so it keeps the colour and the vitamin C that heat-drying destroys. That is also why it tastes of leaves rather than of nothing.

10 minMakes 1 jarLal mirch blend

Lal mirch oil for the fridge

One jar, and every plate for the next month has something to say.

Read the recipe Close

You need

3 tbsp lal mirch blend
1/2 cup A2 cow ghee
4 garlic cloves sliced thin
1 tsp salt

Method

Melt the ghee on the lowest heat your stove will hold.
Add the garlic and let it go pale gold - not brown, or the whole jar turns bitter.
Take the pan off the heat, wait thirty seconds, then stir in the chilli and salt.
Cool completely and jar it. It keeps a month in the fridge.

Why it works: Chilli added off the heat blooms without scorching. Straight into hot fat it burns in seconds, and burnt chilli is a taste you cannot cook back out.

What is the bilona method?