The method

The bilona process, step by step

Bilona ghee is made by culturing whole milk into curd, hand-churning that curd into butter, and clarifying the butter over a slow fire. The five steps below are the whole process — there is nothing else in the jar.

The methods

How bilona ghee is made

How bilona ghee is made

It takes about 30 litres of milk and roughly fourteen hours from milking to jarring. Industrial ghee reaches the same category in under an hour from separated cream.

  1. Badri cows grazing at altitude

    Step 1 of 5

    The herd grazes, then is milked

    Badri cows walk the slopes and eat wild forage — no compound feed. They are milked by hand in the village, and the milk is used the same day. It never enters a collection tanker.

    8,200 ft · same-day

  2. Milk setting into curd in an earthen pot

    Step 2 of 5

    Whole milk is set into curd overnight

    The milk is warmed to blood temperature, seeded with a native starter culture and left to set for eight to ten hours. This is the step industrial ghee skips entirely, and where most of the aroma is created.

    8–10 hours

  3. Hand-churning curd with a wooden bilona

    Step 3 of 5

    The curd is churned by hand before dawn

    A wooden bilona is pulled back and forth in both directions while the curd is still cold from the night. Butter separates and rises; the buttermilk is drawn off and goes back to the household.

    Both directions, by hand

  4. Butter clarifying slowly over a wood fire

    Step 4 of 5

    The butter clarifies over a wood fire

    Water evaporates and the milk solids sink and caramelise. Slow heat is the whole point — pushed too hard the solids scorch and the ghee turns bitter rather than nutty.

    Slow heat, wood-fired

  5. Finished ghee settling in a glass jar

    Step 5 of 5

    It settles, is jarred and is tested

    The ghee is strained, poured into glass while still warm and left to grain as it cools. A sample from every batch goes to an accredited laboratory before any jar is sold.

    One lab report per batch

Straight answer

Bilona ghee against commercial ghee

What is the difference between bilona ghee and regular ghee?

Bilona ghee is churned from cultured curd; most commercial ghee is boiled from mechanically separated cream. The method changes the yield, the aroma and the texture — and it is the reason the price differs.

Factor Bilona (Himdhara) Commercial ghee
Made from Cultured curd (dahi) Separated cream
Milk per litre of ghee About 30 litres About 20 to 23 litres
Churning Hand, wooden bilona Mechanical separator
Heat source Wood fire, slow Industrial steam, fast
Time from milking to jar About 14 hours Under an hour
Texture Grainy, varies by season Uniform and smooth
Batch traceability Batch code and lab report per jar Rarely published

We are describing method, not making health claims. Both products are ghee; one is simply made the slow way.

Himdhara A2 Himalayan Cow Bilona Ghee jar beside a wooden bowl of ghee, with the Himalayas behind
Infographic of the bilona method in five steps, from the grazing herd to the jarred and tested ghee
Himdhara A2 Cow Bilona Ghee jar beside a panel of benefits: gut balance, digestion, immunity, bones, skin and energy
Traditional bilona method: a wooden hand churner in a clay pot of curd beside a jar of Himdhara A2 Cow Bilona Ghee
Himdhara A2 Cow Bilona Ghee 250 ml jar, front label
Himdhara A2 Cow Bilona Ghee 250 ml jar, back label with nutrition information
Himdhara A2 Cow Bilona Ghee 250 ml jar on a wooden board with parathas and halwa
Himdhara A2 Cow Bilona Ghee 500 ml jar, front label
Himdhara A2 Cow Bilona Ghee 500 ml jar, back label with nutrition information
Himdhara A2 Cow Bilona Ghee 500 ml jar with a jute cloth lid, among fresh herbs and brass bowls
Himdhara A2 Cow Bilona Ghee 1 litre jar, front label
Himdhara A2 Cow Bilona Ghee 1 litre jar, back label with nutrition information
Himdhara A2 Cow Bilona Ghee 1 litre jar beside clay pots and a bowl of ghee
Himdhara A2 Cow Bilona Ghee pack of five, shown on the 1 litre jar with a Pack of 5 badge

Made this way · Batch HIM101

A2 Bilona Ghee

Grainy, deeply aromatic, and the colour of whatever the herd grazed that season.

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Full details and lab report

Download the full lab report (PDF)