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36 Valorization of By-Products of Milk Fat Processing

36.4.2.3

Ghee-Residue-Based Flavor Enhancer

Ghee residue is a rich source of flavoring compounds characteristically associated

with ghee flavor. Hence, limited quantity of ghee residue may be used as a flavor

enhancer while preparing ghee from unripened cream.

36.4.2.4

Indian Traditional Sweetmeat

The rich flavor and grainy texture of ghee residue may be used to improve the

acceptability of Indian sweetmeats prepared by heat desiccation of milk solids. For

example, Burfi, a popular traditional Indian dairy product, was prepared by the

incorporation of ghee residue (which was treated with 0.5% sodium bicarbonate

for half an hour) and blended with khoa and chocolate powder [35]. The product

had a pleasant flavor due to the ghee residue, and it recorded excellent consumer

acceptability.

36.4.3

Ghee Residue as Animal Feed

Due to the rich nutrient profile of ghee residue, especially in terms of the crude pro-

tein content, one of the common avenues to which this valuable by-product has been

currently valorized is in the form of animal feed supplement. Ghee residue can be

incorporated as a supplement in the diet of the animal/bird/fish feed as a replacer

of other common plant feed sources such as cereals (maize, rice), oil seed cake (soy-

bean/mustard/coconut meal), and vegetable oils. Since it is an animal source pro-

tein, the caution to be exercised in this attempt is with regard to the cholesterol

content of the bird meat and other/derived products.

Arumugam et al. [36] discussed the use of ghee residue as a nontoxic poultry feed.

However, a problem of higher liver weight was observed, possibly due to the higher

content of saturated fatty acids. It was suggested that it could be balanced using

methionine supplementation. Singh et al. [37] showed that ghee residue (up to 20%)

can be incorporated in the fish feed for Labeo rohita. The economical use of ghee

residue to supplement piggery feed is also discussed by Selvamani et al. [38].

36.4.4

Ghee Residue as Source of Phospholipids

Ghee residue constitutes <10% of phospholipids, and it is highly influenced by the

method of preparation of ghee. During the preparation of ghee, only a minor fraction

of phospholipids from the milk fat is released to the ghee, while most fractions of this

important component are retained in the ghee residue due to its polar nature. The

phospholipid fraction of ghee residue is inversely related to the intensity and dura-

tion of period of heating during ghee clarification. In fact, more intense the heat

treatment, greater is the transfer of phospholipids from the residue to ghee phase.

This effect is well reflected in the varying amounts of phospholipids in the ghee

residue obtained by creamery butter method (17.39%), desi butter method (4.95%),

and direct cream approach (1.57%). In any case, these levels are definitely much

greater than in ghee itself, where the value typically ranges between 0.004% and

–0.08% [39, 40].