Premium taste from a premium grass-fed cow butter ghee!
Ah, New Zealand. A country famous for, amongst other things, grass-fed dairy and meat products! Thanks to #MichaelPollan and others, grass-fed is one of our top aspirational buzzwords these days but in this case, it is truly the case. Milkio is based near Hamilton (Kirikiriroa), which is located on New Zealand's North Island, just south of Auckland. They pride themselves on meticulous commitment to producing some of the best grass-fed ghee on the planet and they have every right to do so. See below for the full review, but the take-away points for this one are that this is a premium ghee that works well for both sweet and savoury concoctions. Since we did a ghee rice cook-off to evaluate four different ghees, we could really appreciate the nuances and this one was the universal favourite!
What we also appreciate about Milkio is that they've gone after the international market quite prudently. Even with COVID disruptions, their products have remained consistently available here in the UAE and they've expanded to several geographic regions including China, Taiwan, Australia and, of course, New Zealand. We can't tell them how much we value being on their distribution list!
Milkio Organic Grass-Fed Cow Ghee Appreciation
Butter Break Down
Appreciation Date: 22/10/2020
Country of Origin: New Zealand
Point of Procurement: Lulu Hypermarket, Al Barsha, Dubai
Purchase State: Fresh; Room Temperature
Milk: Cow; Pasteurised (Ghee)
Salt Content: None
Milk Fat Content: 100% BABY!!!
Ingredients: Organic clarified butter (cow's milk fat).
Declared Possible Allergens: Milk.
Company Website: https://milkio.co.nz
Butter Evaluation
In which we discuss Milkio's Organic Grass-Fed Ghee.
This is a really good one. Not only is it our first New Zealand (and therefore Oceana) sampling but it's set the bar quite high for any subsequent submissions!
Since ghee is more stable than butter, it's usually more reliable but what impressed us the most was the quality of this product, even after being shipped half way across the world. Even now as I write this up, this ghee has been sitting in my cupboard for over a week and it's still as delightful as it was when we first cracked the seal.
Attention to detail and quality has paid off!
As you can see, this ghee is a rich orangey yellow, thanks to the quality of the milk fat in the original butter.
The bouquet of this one is almost pure toffee with clear butter notes. As we've since discovered, it works really well as a base in both savoury dishes or sweet ones like crêpes.
In terms of texture, this one was much more liquid at 'room' (24 degrees C) temperature than most other ghees we've experienced but we're going to attribute that to the cows' diet which is predominately grass and therefore would have an associated impact on the melting point and texture of the finished product. We like that aspect but one must be careful and make sure the children don't knock it over whilst 'helping'.
When it came to the actual ghee rice, this one cooked up beautifully. It interacted really well with the sugars in the rice, producing some textbook Maillard browning, giving some excellent flavour depth to the finished product. This one went quickly!
Final Rundown
This is definitely a premium ghee, if not one of our top ghees of 2020. What a pleasure to be able to get some of that New Zealand pasture and gentle sunshine here in Dubai! Rich, light, sweet and indulgent, if you can get your hands on it, do it.
Colour: Rich, optimistic, marigold yellow.
Aroma: Toffee.
Taste: Clean on the palate; subtle rich sweetness to finish.