Ghee has no single melting point. It is a mixture of many different fats, and they melt over a range: in a laboratory scan of cow ghee the less stable crystal forms melted between 15 and 25 °C and the most stable above 35 °C. One study's single-figure measurements put cow ghee at about 32 °C and buffalo ghee at about 34 °C. Because that range overlaps everyday room temperatures, the same jar can be liquid on a hot day and solid on a cold one.
Melting is a physical change, not a chemical one: ghee that has melted and set again is the same fat.
At a glance
- A 2020 laboratory study found cow ghee crystals melting between 15 and 25 °C and the most stable ones above 35 °C.
- A study in the Asian Journal of Dairy and Food Research measured a melting point of 33.64 °C for buffalo ghee and 32.20 °C for cow ghee.
- The National Dairy Development Board reports 8.7 g of high-melting triglycerides per 100 g in buffalo ghee against 4.9 g in cow ghee, and calls buffalo ghee distinctly harder.
- FSSAI's ghee standard allows 22 to 38 per cent palmitic acid, which melts at about 62 °C when pure on PubChem's figures, and 19 to 32 per cent oleic acid, which melts at 13 to 16 °C.
- FSSAI's ghee standard sets no melting-point test; every parameter it lists is a laboratory measurement.
What is the melting point of ghee?
It is a range, not a number. Ghee starts to melt from about 15 °C, and its most stable crystals melt only above 35 °C. A 2020 calorimeter study saw the first crystals melt between 15 and 25 °C and the last above 35 °C; a separate study's single figures came to 32 to 34 °C.
In that study, by Lamsal and colleagues at Tribhuvan University in Nepal, the researchers made ghee from the milk of local Pahadi, Jersey and Holstein cows reared on the same farm and compared it with a commercial ghee. Their method, differential scanning calorimetry, shows each melting event as a peak. They found two melting domains, each a succession of several peaks rather than one: the α and β′ crystal forms melted between 15 and 25 °C, β′ turned into β around 30 °C, and β melted above 35 °C.
They also calculated the solid fat at each temperature. At about 37 °C, body temperature, Jersey cow ghee still held 10.6 per cent solid fat, the least of their ghee samples, so every ghee they tested was still partly solid at body temperature.
Why doesn't ghee have a single melting point?
Because ghee is not one substance. A pure compound melts at one temperature; ghee is a blend of many triglycerides, each made of three fatty acids of different lengths and shapes. Each kind of triglyceride melts at its own temperature, so the jar softens step by step as the lower-melting fats give way first.
The National Dairy Development Board's bulletin on ghee manufacture lists long-chain, short-chain, tri-saturated, unsaturated and high-melting triglycerides in ghee. Lamsal and colleagues add a second reason. The same fat can crystallise in more than one form, a property called polymorphism, and the forms melt at different temperatures. The forms present depend on how the fat was handled, which is why the researchers first heated each sample to 80 °C to erase its thermal history.
The same chemistry explains the grain in danedar ghee: the higher-melting glycerides crystallise into grains while the rest stays soft around them, which is covered in what makes ghee danedar.
Which fats in ghee melt first, and which last?
In pure form, long saturated fatty acids melt highest and short or unsaturated ones lowest. Pure palmitic and stearic acid, which together make up 30 to 57 per cent of ghee's fatty acids under FSSAI's limits, melt above 60 °C. Oleic acid, ghee's main unsaturated fatty acid, melts below 17 °C. Butyric acid melts below freezing.
The table sets FSSAI's ranges beside each pure acid's melting point from PubChem, the US National Library of Medicine's chemistry database. The pure acids show direction, not ghee's own figure: in ghee they are bound into triglycerides, whose melting depends on the combination each carries.
| Fatty acid | Share of ghee's fatty acids (FSSAI) | Melting point of the pure acid (PubChem) |
|---|---|---|
| Butyric (C4:0) | 1 to 5 per cent | About −8 to −5 °C |
| Capric (C10:0) | 0.8 to 5 per cent | About 32 °C |
| Lauric (C12:0) | 1.5 to 4 per cent | About 44 °C |
| Myristic (C14:0) | 6 to 13 per cent | About 54 °C |
| Palmitic (C16:0) | 22 to 38 per cent | About 62 °C |
| Stearic (C18:0) | 8 to 19 per cent | About 69 °C |
| Oleic (C18:1) | 19 to 32 per cent | About 13 to 16 °C |
| Linoleic (C18:2) | 0.5 to 3.5 per cent | About −9 to −7 °C |
Two patterns stand out. Among saturated acids, melting point climbs with chain length, from butyric's four carbons to stearic's eighteen. Among the 18-carbon acids, each double bond lowers it sharply: stearic, with none, melts at about 69 °C; oleic, with one, at 13 to 16 °C; linoleic, with two, at about −9 to −7 °C. A ghee richer in palmitic and stearic acid sets harder, as the next section shows. (The 30 to 57 per cent total above is 22 plus 8 and 38 plus 19.)
Does buffalo ghee melt at a higher temperature than cow ghee?
Yes, slightly. In a dairy-college study published in the Asian Journal of Dairy and Food Research, buffalo ghee melted at 33.64 °C and cow ghee at 32.20 °C, a difference the authors report as significant. That is a gap of 1.44 °C. Buffalo ghee carries more of the high-melting fats, so it is firmer at the same temperature.
The study, by Changade, Tambat and Kanoje, examined ghee made from high-acid milk, so its figures describe those samples rather than every ghee, and its abstract gives single melting points, not the full range. The National Dairy Development Board gives the reason for the difference: buffalo ghee averages 8.7 g of high-melting triglycerides per 100 g against 4.9 g in cow ghee, because it has larger proportions of the long-chain saturated palmitic and stearic acids, and so it is "distinctly harder". The other differences between the two, from colour to yield, are in cow ghee vs buffalo ghee.
Why is ghee liquid in summer and solid in winter?
Because room temperatures move in and out of ghee's melting range. On a hot day much of the fat has melted and the jar is liquid or slushy. In a cold room, below about 15 °C, most of it is below and the jar sets firm. The ghee has not changed; the room has.
The National Dairy Development Board says the liquid portion of ghee varies with storage temperature, container shape and size, repeated heating and agitation, and handling, among other factors. Ghee left at room temperature crystallises into three layers: an oily fraction, a granular semi-solid at the bottom, and hard flakes on the surface and sides. The bulletin also cites a finding that holding ghee at 20 °C or below immediately after making prevents this layering, even if it is later kept warmer.
In practice:
- A jar that is half liquid is simply inside its melting range; NDDB describes this layering as what ghee does at room temperature.
- To melt a solid jar completely, warm it above body temperature, for example by standing it in warm water; in the 2020 study every sample still held some solid fat at about 37 °C.
- Colour changing with the season is a separate question from texture; see why ghee colour changes with the season.
Can melting point tell you whether ghee is pure?
No. Ghee has no single melting point to test against, the measured gap between cow and buffalo ghee is under 2 °C, and storage history shifts how a jar sets. FSSAI's standard for ghee does not include a melting point at all.
The standard, in regulation 2.1.8 of the Food Products Standards, lists moisture, milk fat content, the butyro-refractometer reading at 40 °C, the Reichert Meissl and Polenske values, free fatty acids, the Baudouin test, the iodine and saponification values, the absence of β-sitosterol, and the fatty acid composition in the table above. Each of these is a laboratory measurement. Whether ghee melts in the hand or sets in the fridge is not among them.
Is melting point the same as smoke point?
No. Melting point is where solid ghee turns liquid, from about 15 °C to somewhat above 35 °C. Smoke point is the much higher temperature at which heated fat begins to give off visible smoke.
Ghee is itself made far above its melting range: the NDDB bulletin gives a final heating temperature of about 114 °C in the creamery-butter method, and Lamsal and colleagues simmered their butter at 115 °C. What the smoke point figure is, and when it matters for cooking, is in ghee smoke point and cooking.
The short version
Ghee does not melt at one temperature, because it is a mixture of many triglycerides that can crystallise in several forms. Laboratory work on cow ghee shows melting from about 15 °C to above 35 °C, and one study's single figures are about 32 °C for cow and 33.6 °C for buffalo ghee, which is firmer because it carries more high-melting fat. Whether your jar is liquid, grainy or solid depends largely on storage temperature and how the ghee was cooled and handled. It is not a purity test, and it is not the smoke point.
Sources
Further reading behind the figures above. Himdhara's own numbers — yields, batch results — come from our production records and the batch reports on the lab reports page.
- Lamsal, B., Bhandari, T. R., Panta, P., Saiter, J. M., Pokhrel, S., Katuwal, T. B. and Adhikari, R. (2020). Preparation and physicochemical characterization of ghee and mūrcchita ghṛta. Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine.
- Changade, S. P., Tambat, R. V. and Kanoje, R. R. (2006). Physical properties of ghee prepared from high acidic milk-II. Asian Journal of Dairy and Food Research.
- National Dairy Development Board (2020). Technology of Ghee manufacturing. Technews, Issue No. 99.
- Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (2025). Chapter 2.1: Dairy Products and Analogues (2.1.8 Standard for Milk Fat Products). Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011.
- US National Library of Medicine. PubChem compound records for butyric acid, capric acid, lauric acid, myristic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, oleic acid and linoleic acid (Melting Point). PubChem.