MARKET FOR GHEE

Waipa Post, Volume 51, Issue 3645, 19 July 1935, Page 6

MARKET FOR GHEE

INVESTIGATIONS PROCEEDING. PROFESSOR RIDDET’S OPINION. The prospects of developing a beneficial trade in ghee, made from New Zealand butterfat, for marketing in India and the East, seem, according to a communication Mr W. J. Broadfoct, M.P. for Wiaitomo, has received from the Minister cf Agriculture, to be rather problematical. Mr Macmillan writes that the difficulty is chiefly one of price, for ghee made from butterfat would have to compete with synthetic products made from vegetable oils. More could be known, he adds, about the manufacture of ghee, but some experimenting has been done by the Dairy Research Institute in this connection. Professor Riddet contributed a paper at the National Dairy Association conference in Palmerston North last week, and made reference to the Institute’s work along this line. Mr Macmillan forwards the following copy of the professor’s comments for general information. We quote:— “Considerable interest has been taken by some sections of the public in the possibility of diverting some of our butter to the manufacture of ghee and in development of trade with eastern countries in this product. Ghee is pure butterfat, with a characteristic colour, texture and flavour, and thereby differs materially from butterfat. The product widely used throughout India and the East is made, chiefly from the milk fat of the Indian buffalo and cow. This fat differs from that of cows in New Zealand in its whiter colour and firmer consistency. .In the manufacture of ghee, natives first make butter from ripened cream, which under Indian climatic conditions develops a characteristic flavour. Thereafter they remove the water from the butter by heat, filter off any traces of curd and run off the liquid ghee into bottles or the like in which it is sold. Thus the problem confronting the , New Zealand manufacturer is the production of a fat with a typical flavour and texture. This flavour is radically different from that we are striving for in the production of finest grade butter. Investigations -show that there is considerable difficulty in obtaining the desirable flavour but the most recent results are quite hopeful. It remains to be determined by submitting trial samples to interested countries whether the flavours obtained are entirely acceptable. The position is to some extent made difficult by differences in the types wanted in separate districts. As regards colour, there are again variations in demand. Some require the whitish colour characteristic of ghee, others want yellowish ghee, characteristic of Indian cow fat; but average New Zealand butterfat is much deeper in colour than any samples received from India.

“Trade prospects do not appear to be encouraging. Natural ghee has to compete with artificial vegetable ghee, which is sold at very low prices, but there is evidence that adulteration of natural ghee is widespread. There is no indication of a big demand for ghee of high price. Prices quoted by Eastern countries for pure ghee have mostly varied from about lOd to fully Is New Zealand currency per lb c.i.f. and e. Bearing in mind that lOOlbs butterfat make only approximately 811 b ghee, and that there is to be taken into consideration manufacturing, packing and freight cost, even though refrigeration is not necessary, it is obvious that the manufacture of ghee is not remunerative at present prices. Nevertheless the prospects of building up a trade in this product should not be overlooked in the event of it becoming necessary to dispose of surplus butter, or butter prices dropping to an abnormally low level. There is always the possibility of slowly developing a trade for a really high quality product amongst those who do not make price a first consideration.”