Source

Maha Ghee is a single origin ghee produced at Muni Seva Ashram, a not-for-profit holistic center in western India where cows of the native Gir & Kankrej breed are looked after for their entire natural lives - welfare of animals being integral to the center's environmental and social welfare mission.

The fresh grass the cows feed on is grown on the organic farms where the "goshala" or cow sanctuary is located. The cows are not treated with any growth hormones and time-tested traditional means of treatment are the first recourse when the need for intervention arises. The farm-raised cows have pasture access all year round and are reared by professional herders in accordance with time-tested rearing practices for their wellbeing. What's also special about MahaGhee is that the cows are hand-milked after the calf has first been fed by its mother. 

The ghee is made using curds prepared directly from fresh whole milk by "spontaneous fermentation" process (not industrial-type, "standardized culturing" method). Ghee butter is derived from churning that is done by a solar-powered mixer in the kitchen facility that is located at the farms. The butter is slow-cooked down to ghee on a stove with a biogas fuel source. Nourishing, cooling buttermilk that is the only by-product of this traditional process is freely distributed at the center to visitors and residents.

What's more is that from the families that are the caretakers of the cows to the local women who make the ghee, all involved are endowed with an innate sensitivity and practical knowledge that was passed down to them through generations. For us then, we have a MahaGhee to share with you. Give it a try and feel the difference!

  

Legendary Gir, native to the region, with its distinctive features and mannerisms, makes up the majority of the cow population of the goshala


Don’t mess with us. We’re the bulls!
Morning feeding and milking done, it’s time for grazing and play in the organic farms, where the goshala is located
Green Ashram's founder, Anuben, initiated her social mission in 1978. "Our bottom line is joy. We are here to share our joy in the world", says Dr Vikram Patel who now leads the mission 		For Bhika, the cowherd, who lives in the goshala, it's more than just a job. "I look after them and they look after me," he says. He claims he's had no need for medical attention in years!
Goshala is in the village of Goraj, which literally translates to the "dust kicked up by the cow’s returning from the pastures"
The cows are hand milked twice a day, before sunrise and sunset
Dr Patel sees the cause of cow welfare being integral to the center’s social and environmental welfare programs
Containers are kept in a temperature controlled room until ghee is ready to be refilled into smaller containers for cooking or traditional medicinal purposes 		Goshala’s cows move about freely in their pen until its time for feeding or resting
Who says only humans are entitled to selfies?
Calves playing hide-n-seek with the cowherd in the airy, roomy compound
Bhika shares what the cows have taught him, while we sit on a bed of nutritious organic sugarcane husk that the cows leisurely graze on
The cream is slowly cooked, with stirring and checking by one of cooks who learnt how to make ghee from her mother
Green Ashram was founded on core values and principles also espoused by Mahatma Gandhi, who was a native of this region