It started with research into epilepsy after her daughter had a grand mal seizure at school. Merrideth Telfer discovered that rendered butterfat, also known as ghee, is a pretty incredible substance, one used for centuries in Ayurvedic medicine. Ghee is now the cornerstone ingredient in her entire Oh ghee! product line, and Telfer is convinced it’s the greatest single ingredient around.
Below are excerpts from the Bend Don’t Break podcast recorded with Telfer. Hear the entire interview on the weekly podcast at bendsource.com.
Source Weekly: Let’s start at the beginning: What is ghee?
Merrideth Telfer: Ghee is basically pure butterfat. It’s rendered from butter. A lot of people consider it to be ultra-clarified butter or clarified butter but it’s a couple steps beyond that. We are taking out all the milk solids, the water, all the protein so there’s no lactose or whey or casein. We’re really just down to the pure butterfat which is truly what ghee is.
SW: Who thought of doing that to butter in the first place?
MT: It’s big in Middle Eastern cultures. I really don’t know why. I know the cow is considered sacred in India and milk goes bad and refrigeration is difficult and centuries ago it was even harder. Once you get milk or butter and you make ghee, it’s shelf stable forever.
SW: How did you get into making ghee?
MT: I was a partner in a Persian restaurant when I lived in Seattle and we used a lot of ghee in the cooking. I became familiar in that aspect and then I have a dairy allergy. Given that ghee doesn’t have any of the milk solids, so no lactose, no casein, no whey, it’s great for people with dairy allergies. I try recipes all the time, whether it’s pie crust or cookies or brownies or just using it in a sauce and I just substitute ghee out for butter one to one and it works perfectly.
SW: How do you get all the dairy, casein and whey out of it — what’s the process?
MT: We basically slow cook it in a very traditional Ayurvedic method. It’s chemistry. At 180 degrees the lactose starts to burn out and it sinks to the bottom; it’s what gives the ghee its nutty, decadent, rich flavor. And you just keep cooking it. The water evaporates out and then at 220, the casein starts to separate out. We’re constantly skimming things off the top; it’s about two hours of not taking your eye off of it. At 240 a lot more milk solids come out. The last thing to come out is the whey protein, and it doesn’t really start to separate out until 268 degrees. We’ll take it up to about 272 degrees to make sure all the whey is out and then we triple filter it. Then we basically have the golden ghee. It pours but then it solidifies at room temperature.
SW: Let’s talk about everything you’re doing with the ghee besides just making ghee you use in cooking and to eat.
MT: I started as a CBD company, using the ghee as a carrier fat. It’s a great carrier fat. Then we’ve grown into body care, skincare, candles.
SW: There was a life event that got you into the whole ghee/CBD thing in the first place.
MT: Yes. In 2016 my daughter was diagnosed with epilepsy. She had a massive grand mal seizure, almost five minutes long at school. It was definitely a life-changing event for me. I was fortunate that I had a friend whose dad was the head pediatric neurologist at OHSU [Oregon Health & Science University] and I met with him. I did all kinds of research on everything from the keto diet to cannabidiol CBD, for treatment for epilepsy. A couple things I found: CBD needs a carrier fat to be absorbed in your body. And a lot of carrier fats on the market had low absorption rates. So it was just about doing better. The unique thing with ghee is it’s a full spectrum of fatty acids so you just get a lot better absorption … and I think that’s why for centuries ghee has been used as a holistic fat for herb therapy and treatment. For my situation, I would use ghee instead of butter in all my baking and cooking at home and I was able to get the CBD into my daughter. I launched the company in 2019 after three years of research.
SW: It helped her?
MT: Yes, she drives, she’s a competitive gymnast and dancer. It’s helped her a lot. She’s on a mild form of medication only. We can’t make any health claims but yes, it’s helped her.
SW: But you’ve expanded beyond CBD products?
MT: Before Covid, the company was GheeBD, and we were doing solely CBD products. During Covid, I rebranded the company and started Oh ghee! and started doing more just ghee-based products. Now we do regular ghee, dog ghee, topical products, candles and in 2024 I’m going to experiment with soap. You can just do everything with it!
SW: Are you particular about the butter itself?
MT: Yes, we source from a small, local Oregon creamery. They do an organic butter sourced from pasture-raised, grass-fed cows. Ghee is so healthy for you so it’s important we start with a good-quality butter.
This article appears in Dec 13, 2023 – Dec 25, 2024.
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