Preparation and physicochemical characterization of ghee and mūrcchita ghŗ̥ta

BACKGROUND: Ghŗ̥ta mūrcchana is a process of pre-treatment recommended in Ayurveda to purify ghee before it can be used for siddha ghŗ̥ta which is claimed to improve the properties of the ghee in general and that of the prepared siddha ghŗ̥ta. OBJECTIVE: This work is aimed at studying the physiochemical properties of ghee and mūrcchita ghŗ̥ta in order to understand the impact of ghŗ̥ta mūrcchana process. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ghee and mūrcchita ghŗ̥ta were prepared from the milk of local Pahadi, Jersey and Holstein cows. The samples were characterized by FTIR spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and free fatty acid measurements. RESULTS: Among the samples studied, the Holstein cow ghee was found to contain the least amount of free acid (1.34%) whereas ghŗ̥ta mūrcchana process led to further decrease in the free acid content polymorphism was observed in the samples as evidenced by multiple melting points. In most cases, mūrcchita ghŗ̥ta was found to contain less solid fat than the corresponding ghee implying that the high melting compound was converted to low melting one during the process. CONCLUSION: The observed lowering of free fatty acid and solid fat contents in the ghee samples may provide a possible validation to the performance enhancement of the ghŗ̥ta mūrcchana process.