If you’re wondering what to store when the zombie apocalypse comes then Ghee is one pantry staple, you are going to want to stock up on.
Preppers listen up! The shelf life of pure ghee is indefinite if stored correctly. For best results put it well-sealed, in a cool dark spot. Liken it to a cellared fine wine. You can store it for a long time, however, the flavour will change and develop over time.
In India ghee was often placed into clay containers and buried for future generations. 100-year-old ghee is used in spiritual practices and said to contain special properties. It is highly valued for its medicinal properties.
In your home, if your ghee has been made correctly, unadulterated and all moisture and milk solids removed, storing your ghee at the back of the pantry – for years – will suffice.
Opened Ghee
Once you have opened your Ghee you now how have air and moisture into the equation. You now no longer have just pure ghee. You now have ghee with air and moisture, and more often than not, a dirty utensil added in for good measure.
Once open the rules for storing your ghee change.
Consider your usage and what recipes you are making and how long it takes you to finish a jar.
You can choose to leave your opened jar of ghee out on the bench for easy spreading or alternatively you can place it in the fridge if you are an occassional user.
In our household a jar lasts a week (or less depending on the menu that week) hence leaving the jar on the bench for a week, or three, is not a problem.
Opened ghee (that has not had the vegemite knife in it) will last up to around three months on the kitchen bench.
If you’re using your ghee for the occasional curry and have several weeks before cooking with it again then we suggest storing your ghee in the fridge until you are ready to use it again. Not because the nature of the ghee is to go off, but more so because the use of a dirty utensil or unknown contaminants in the air cannot often be measured or controlled, and keeping it in the fridge will extend it's shelf life.
Personally, in our household we never store it in the fridge – and that goes for litres of the stuff, however as we have no control of what happens in your household. As with the storage of all food products, it is wise to err on the side of caution.
