You guys seem to be loving the ghee that we are selling on our store. The ghee is made from milk from native cows at iLink farms, Sivasailam, now in Tenkasi district, Tamil Nadu. The breeds are Gir, Sahiwal, Vechur and non-descript cows of Tirunelveli origins.

I never imagined it to get so popular, especially because of the price point we have decided on. The farmer was selling it at a much lower price locally, almost on par with the mass produced ghee you find in grocery shops and supermarkets. When i discovered their work, I urged him to price it higher because of the value his work is providing to the livestock, environment and society at large. We decided to help him market and sell this top quality ghee, on our store.

The reason for writing this blog is that the most common question i have received from people “Is the ghee that you are selling A2 ghee?”

What’s the fuss between A1 and A2 ghee?

Desi Cow Milk consists A2 beta caseins only. Whereas milk from Exotic and Hybrids contain both A1 and A2 beta caseins. I don’t like to call it A2 ghee because it is misleading for two reasons. Technically speaking, even non-Desi milk has A2 beta caseins – so it can also be called A2 milk, no? While it has been reported quite often in Indian media that A1 beta caseins has been linked to certain health conditions, modern research doesn’t seem to strongly suggest so.

More importantly, ghee doesn’t contain protein – it is almost pure fat. So, if at all the choice has to be between A1 vs. A2, it has to be for milk, curd, paneer, NOT ghee.

Besides, Ghee is much more than the nutrition present in it.

Here’s why you should buy Cultured Desi Ghee

As a thumb rule, more local the food:

• the healthier the body and the mind: because our ancestors have evolved consuming these foods, our bodies have learned to digest these much better. While it is true that humans adapt to changing conditions quickly, the speed at which we have brought changes to our food habits over the last few centuries is quite high.
• lesser the non-renewable resources needed to produce your food: For exotic breeds, most dairy farmers buy an enormous amount of grain to produce high amounts of milk. So, the high productivity comes at a huge cost to the environment. While there are also native livestock farmers, who feed high amount of grains to cows, you will not find such people often.
• lesser the transportation footprint of the food : when you choose to consume food produced geographically close to you, you are contributing to lower fossil fuel emissions.

Most of our patrons are from within the South Indian States. We would like to keep it this way. For people from far away, we recommend that you look for ethical farmers in your region to keep the ecological footprint of food low.

When you are paying for a produce, it is not only about nutrition. It is not merely a exchange or transaction between the farmer and the consumer, but also an interaction between both of their food philosophies. So, it is important that you get a complete picture of how your food is produced.

What makes a larger difference in nutrition and the economics of livestock rearing than beta caseins are the following :

• how the cows are reared : free range grazing versus cows tied day long fed with grains.
• how the progeny of the cows are born : natural reproduction where cows choose their mates within the herd versus artificial insemination with exotic breed gene stock
• how is the ghee made : Whether the ghee is from curd cream versus milk cream. Fermentation of milk into curd improves the digestibility of the nutrients.

We as well as iLink farms, Sivasailam choose the former in each of the above 3 strategies thereby pursuing more sustainable and ethical choices in producing ghee. You can buy ghee from us by visiting our online store. (We don’t have a physical store)

Our Online Organic Store – Vivasayee’s Life

Do we follow the Bilona Method?

I don’t think hand churning over machine churning makes that much of a difference in the nutrition of the ghee. Prabhu at iLink farms, Sivasailam machine churns the butter. So, technically, we are not following all the techniques of the popular Bilona method of producing ghee.

There is a entire spectrum of way of producing ghee between craft production of ghee to mass manufacturing in factories. While i appreciate those who follow the bilona method to the t, it is not possible for everyone making sustainable choices to take all the steps necessary. We believe that farmers should try to make as many changes as possible we believe is humanly possible towards sustainability without taking too much stress.

Regards

Sudhakar

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P.S. I also did a Instagram post a few months back on this matter