Desi Cow Ghee

The cows belong to families across Rohru, Kotkhai and Jubbal — usually two or three per household, milked by hand, grazed on whatever the season offers.

The churning is done by the women of these villages, the same way it always has been. It's work that has never once been paid for properly until now.

• Bilona method — cultured curd, hand-churned, slow-simmered
• Grass-fed hill cows, no commercial feed
• Small batches, made to order rather than stockpiled

A spoon over hot rice or dal, stirred in right at the end.

Pour over siddu — the steamed Himachali bread it was practically invented for.

In warm milk before bed, the way every grandmother in these hills will tell you to.

Ghee has been the cooking fat of these hills for as long as there have been cows here — it keeps without refrigeration through a long winter, which mattered a great deal before electricity reached the valley.

It's a source of fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K, as all dairy fats are, and has a high smoke point which makes it steady for frying and tempering.