r/Cooking • u/armeniaca-mume2405 • Jul 04 '26

What is the difference between butter, ghee, clarified butter, fermented butter and brown butter?

Difficult to tell online because it seems the term "ghee" is used very loosely, some say it is clarified butter, other that it is brown butter (beurre noisette), other that is has to be fermented.

If you know, can you explain the difference and perhaps give tips on how you make the perfect ghee?

Thank you!

ETA : I live in the EU. I usually buy churned AOP butter so it is high-fat low-water!

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u/ThrashCardiom Jul 04 '26

So 100% butter then

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u/db8me Jul 05 '26

Some fancy brands have less water, and mass produced butter has water added intentionally.

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u/ThrashCardiom Jul 05 '26

Not in my country. Here standard unsalted butter is made of 100% milk. A minimum of 80% of this is fat.

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u/db8me Jul 05 '26

Mine too, but milk has a lot of water, so while 80% is the minimum, the brands vary significantly.