There is a question Shahji gets asked regularly, sometimes by buyers who have already purchased and sometimes by those who are still deciding: if bilona ghee is made the traditional way, why does it cost nearly twice what supermarket ghee does?
The answer is not marketing. It is a process that takes three days, uses 25 to 30 litres of fresh desi breed milk for every kilogram of finished ghee and cannot be meaningfully shortened without producing a different product. Walk through each stage and the price makes complete sense. More importantly, you understand exactly what you are buying - and what separates it from the ghee that has been made by the cream separator method and labelled traditional or A2 on the shelf next to it.
What Bilona Actually Means
Bilona is the name of the implement, not just the method. It is the traditional wooden churner - a long cylindrical wooden staff driven by a rope wrapped around it, pulled alternately from each end in a churning motion. The bilona, also called mathani in some regions, rotates at low speed inside an earthen or metal vessel containing curd. The friction is minimal. The temperature stays low. The fat globules in the curd slowly aggregate and rise.
The method is named after this tool because the tool is what makes the process distinctive. You could theoretically churn curd in an electric mixer and call it bilona ghee, but you would be producing a different product - higher temperature, higher mechanical stress on the fat, no slow aggregation. The wooden bilona churning at 10 to 15 rotations per minute is not incidental to the method. It is the method.
In Meerut, where Shahji has been making ghee since 1957, bilona churning was the only way ghee was made in the first half of the 20th century. Every dairy household had a bilona setup. The rhythmic sound of the bilona rope in the morning was as common as the sound of the tawa. Industrial cream separation arrived later and displaced this entirely at commercial scale - but not in every kitchen, and not at Shahji.
What Commercial Ghee Actually Involves
Understanding the bilona method is easiest when you first understand what it is not - which is the method used to make most ghee in India today.
Commercial ghee production starts not with whole milk but with cream. A centrifugal cream separator spins raw milk at high speed, separating the fat layer from the rest. The cream is collected. Everything else - the milk serum, the proteins, the water - goes elsewhere. There is no boiling of whole milk. There is no curd. There is no fermentation. The fat has been mechanically isolated from the start.
This cream is then either directly heated to produce ghee or first churned into butter using an industrial churn at high speed and then melted. Either way, the process from cream to finished ghee takes 20 to 40 minutes. The yield is approximately 18 to 22 litres of raw milk equivalent per kilogram of ghee, because the cream separator extracts fat efficiently from the milk without the losses that occur during curd-setting and bilona churning.
The result is a uniformly smooth, pale to light golden ghee with a clean, neutral aroma. It is technically ghee - clarified butter fat from milk. But the fermentation stage that bilona ghee goes through and the low-speed mechanical separation that produces its white makhan butter, never happened.
The Bilona Process - Every Step, Every Detail
Step 1 - Day 1
Fresh milk collected, boiled and cooled
Fresh whole milk from identified desi breed animals is collected in the morning. For Gir cow ghee, only Gir cow milk. For Sahiwal, only Sahiwal. For buffalo ghee, only Murrah buffalo milk. There is no pooling of breeds at Shahji - the batch integrity starts at the animal.
The milk is boiled immediately after collection. Boiling serves two purposes: it kills pathogens that could interfere with the fermentation in the next step and it denatures the whey proteins in a way that produces a better curd structure. Once boiled, the milk is set aside to cool naturally - not refrigerated, not force-cooled. The target temperature for the next step is 40 to 45°C: warm to the touch but not hot enough to kill the starter culture.
The exact cooling time depends on the season. In Meerut's summer, a large vessel of boiled milk cools to 40°C in roughly 2 to 3 hours. In winter, faster. Experienced dairy workers judge by touch - if you can hold your hand against the vessel comfortably, the temperature is right.
Breed note:
Buffalo milk is thicker and richer at this stage - visibly more viscous than cow milk. Gir cow milk has a slight golden tinge from beta-carotene. Sahiwal milk sits between the two in colour and consistency.
Step 2 - Day 1
Curd set overnight with a live starter
A small quantity of curd from the previous batch - the starter culture - is stirred into the cooled milk. The ratio is approximately one tablespoon of starter per litre of milk, though experienced dairy workers adjust by eye based on the season and the activity of the starter.
The vessel is covered with a cloth and left undisturbed in a warm corner of the dairy overnight. In summer this means 8 to 10 hours at ambient temperature. In winter, the vessel is sometimes wrapped or kept near a heat source to maintain the temperature window that the Lactobacillus bacteria in the starter need to work.
During this stage, the live bacteria convert lactose in the milk into lactic acid. The acid denatures the milk proteins - primarily casein - causing them to aggregate into the characteristic structure of curd. This is not a passive step. The bacteria are producing enzymes and compounds that will survive through churning and cooking and contribute to the finished ghee's aroma and flavour. This is the stage that commercial ghee production skips entirely and its absence is the single most significant difference between the two products.
What good curd looks like at this stage:
Firm but not rubbery, no surface liquid separation, clean sour smell with no off-notes. If the curd is too soft or has a bitter smell, the starter was too weak or the temperature too variable overnight. This batch will produce lower quality butter and the trained dairy worker will know it.
Step 3 - Day 2
Curd churned with the wooden bilona
The set curd is transferred to the churning vessel - traditionally an earthen pot, now often a steel vessel of equivalent shape. The bilona is inserted and the rope is wound around it. Two people sit opposite each other and pull the rope alternately, rotating the bilona back and forth at 10 to 15 rotations per minute. In modern small-scale dairies a motor-driven bilona rotation system is used, still at low speed.
Churning takes 30 to 60 minutes depending on the quantity of curd and the butterfat content of the milk. As the bilona turns, the fat globules in the curd - which were dispersed throughout the liquid during fermentation - gradually aggregate. Within 15 to 20 minutes of churning, small flecks of white butter begin to appear on the surface. These grow and merge into larger clumps. When the bulk of the fat has separated from the liquid, churning stops.
The white butter that floats on the surface is makhan. The liquid remaining beneath it is chaach - buttermilk. In traditional Meerut households, this chaach would be consumed immediately, often spiced with cumin and coriander. It is a genuine byproduct of the bilona process and does not exist in commercial ghee production.
What good curd looks like at this stage:
Firm but not rubbery, no surface liquid separation, clean sour smell with no off-notes. If the curd is too soft or has a bitter smell, the starter was too weak or the temperature too variable overnight. This batch will produce lower quality butter and the trained dairy worker will know it.
Step 4 - Day 2
White butter (makhan) separated and washed
The white makhan is scooped from the surface of the buttermilk by hand - this is still done by hand at Shahji's scale because it allows the dairy worker to feel the texture of the butter and assess quality in a way that mechanical separation cannot. The makhan is transferred to a separate vessel and washed with cold water two or three times to remove any remaining buttermilk. Buttermilk left in the makhan would produce off-flavours during cooking and reduce the shelf life of the finished ghee.
The washed makhan at this stage is white, soft and slightly sour from the fermentation. It has a fresh, clean dairy smell with a hint of the acidic character from the lactic acid bacteria. This is fundamentally different from the yellow commercial butter produced from cream - in colour, in origin and in the flavour compounds it contains.
Yield at this stage:
From 25 to 30 litres of Gir cow milk, approximately 1.5 to 2 kg of makhan is typically produced. Sahiwal cow milk yields slightly more per litre due to its higher butterfat. Buffalo milk yields more makhan by weight but the butter has different characteristics - denser, richer and with a different fat structure.
Step 5 - Day 2-3
Makhan slow-cooked into ghee
The washed makhan is placed in a heavy-bottomed vessel - cast iron or thick stainless steel - and heated on low flame. The process of converting butter into ghee is driven by three things happening simultaneously: the water evaporating from the butter, the milk proteins (casein and whey proteins) coagulating and separating from the fat and the Maillard reaction producing the flavour compounds responsible for the characteristic aroma of cooked ghee.
This stage takes 45 to 60 minutes and requires continuous low heat and periodic gentle stirring. The sequence of visual changes is reliable and is what an experienced dairy worker watches throughout:
- The butter melts and begins to foam. The foam is water vapour and milk protein froth. This is normal and is not skimmed - it will subside on its own.
- The foam subsides after 10 to 15 minutes. The liquid beneath is still cloudy with milk proteins.
- The milk solids gradually settle to the bottom of the vessel and begin to turn from white to light gold. The liquid above begins to clear.
- The solids turn deeper golden-brown and the liquid above becomes completely clear with a deep amber colour. This is the moment of readiness - the Maillard compounds are now fully developed and the water has evaporated.
- If the heat continues beyond this point, the solids begin to darken toward brown and eventually burn. Slightly overdone ghee has a bitter note. Well-made bilona ghee does not.
The golden-brown solids at the bottom of the vessel - the milk solid residue - are not waste. In Meerut dairy households these are collected, mixed with jaggery and eaten separately. They are called ghee ki chitti or ghee ke residue and are considered a reward for the person doing the cooking.
Step 6 - Day 3
Straining, cooling and natural granulation
The finished ghee is poured through a fine steel mesh strainer to remove the milk solids. The liquid that passes through is clear, deep amber and intensely aromatic. It is then poured into jars or a vessel to cool.
This cooling stage is where the characteristic texture of bilona ghee develops. As the temperature drops from around 100°C toward room temperature, specific fat triglycerides - particularly the short-chain fatty acid triglycerides that are more abundant in desi breed milk - begin to crystallise. If the ghee is cooled slowly at room temperature, these crystals form in a granular, textured pattern. If it is refrigerated or cooled rapidly, it can set smooth or with very fine grain.
Shahji ghee is always cooled at room temperature. The resulting texture - slightly grainy, crystalline - is what a buyer opening a jar of genuine bilona ghee should see and feel. Before each batch is dispatched, it is sent for the testing.
Why the ghee looks different in summer vs winter:
In Meerut's summer at 38 to 42°C, bilona ghee softens and can even become semi-liquid in very hot conditions. In winter at 10 to 15°C, it sets firmly with a more pronounced grain. Both are identical in quality. The texture change is a physical response to temperature, not a sign of quality variation between batches.
What Gets Lost When Steps Are Skipped
Every step in the bilona process contributes something specific to the finished product. Here is what changes when each is removed - which is useful both for understanding genuine bilona ghee and for evaluating ghee that claims the label.
Skip the whole milk and start from cream:Â The fermentation stage becomes impossible. You cannot set cream into curd in the same way as whole milk - the protein structure is different. Without fermentation, the flavour compounds produced by Lactobacillus bacteria are absent. The ghee will have a cleaner, more neutral flavour. It will not granulate in the characteristic bilona pattern. This is the most significant skip and is what defines commercial ghee.
Skip the overnight fermentation and churn fresh milk directly:Â You get very little butter out. Fresh unfermented milk does not yield makhan efficiently because the fat globules have not been conditioned by the acidification process to aggregate easily. Some producers attempt this with mechanically acidified milk - adding lactic acid rather than fermenting naturally - which produces an acceptable curd for churning but without the complex microbial activity of overnight fermentation.
Churn at high speed rather than bilona speed:Â The temperature rises. Fat begins to melt rather than aggregate. The resulting butter is greasy rather than firm. The low-speed bilona rotation is not tradition for tradition's sake - it is the mechanical condition that produces the quality of makhan the process requires.
Cook the butter at high heat rather than slow-simmering:Â The Maillard compounds develop too fast and unevenly. The milk solids burn before the water has fully evaporated. The ghee tastes slightly bitter and has a shorter aromatic profile. Slow cooking on low flame is what produces the rounded, complex aroma of genuine bilona ghee.
EXPERIENCE THE BILONA DIFFERENCE
Shahji A2 Bilona Ghee - Three Varieties
Gir Cow · Sahiwal Cow · Murrah Buffalo
How to Recognize Genuine Bilona Ghee
After understanding the process, the quality markers of genuine bilona ghee are self-explanatory - they are the direct sensory results of each stage.
Granular texture at cool temperatures: This is the most reliable indicator. The short-chain fatty acid triglycerides that crystallize during cooling are more abundant in desi breed milk fat processed through fermentation. If ghee is smooth at 20°C, the fermentation and bilona churning almost certainly did not happen. Check in November to February in North India - at 12 to 18°C the bilona ghee in your jar should be noticeably grainy.
A deep, rounded aroma:Â Bilona ghee heated in a pan for tadka should fill the kitchen with a strong, authentic aroma. The fermentation-derived compounds - diacetyl, acetoin, and other volatile organics produced by Lactobacillus - are responsible for this depth. Commercial ghee has a cleaner, simpler aroma. Neither is wrong to say, they are different products.
Golden to amber colour for cow ghee:Â The beta-carotene in desi cow milk gives genuine cow milk bilona ghee a warm golden colour that deepens toward amber in Sahiwal ghee. Gir cow ghee is lighter gold. Very pale ghee from a cow milk source is worth questioning. Buffalo ghee is naturally pale to white - this is not a sign of lower quality but of biology, since buffalo milk contains no beta-carotene.
A producer who can explain their process:Â Ask two questions: do you start from whole milk or cream? What is the source breed? A genuine bilona ghee producer answers both without hesitation. At Shahji, every batch is made from whole milk of a specific named breed.
Meerut, 1957 and the Bilona Tradition
When Late Shri Arjun Das Ahuja - Shahji - started the dairy in Meerut in 1957, the bilona method was not a differentiation strategy. It was simply how ghee was made. The cream separator had not yet displaced the traditional process at the household and small-commercial dairy scale in western UP. Every dairy in Meerut's milk belt operated the same way: fresh morning milk, curd set by evening, churned the next morning, cooked by afternoon.
What has changed since 1957 is that the cream separator method became the dominant commercial process and the bilona method became rare - which is why it now carries a premium and requires explanation. The method itself has not changed. The milk still comes from desi breed in Meerut. The curd is still set with live culture overnight. The churning is still done at low speed. The cooking is still on low flame until the milk solids turn the right shade of gold.
The third generation of the Ahuja family now runs Shahji Foods. The process is the same as 1957. The scale is larger, the documentation is better, and the NABL certificate exists as a layer of verification that 1957 did not require. But the bilona in the dairy is still a bilona.
The Short Version
The bilona method takes three days because it cannot meaningfully be shortened. Whole fresh milk is boiled and cooled. Curd is set overnight with live culture - this is the stage that defines the method and is absent from commercial production. The curd is churned with a wooden bilona at low speed until white butter rises. The butter is washed and slow-cooked on low heat until the milk solids turn golden and the fat clarifies completely. The ghee cools at room temperature and granulates naturally.
The higher price reflects 25 to 30 litres of desi breed milk per kilogram, three days of process time and the cost of a method that cannot be scaled to supermarket volumes without changing into something else. The granular texture, the deep aroma and the specific fatty acid profile are not marketing claims. They are the direct results of a process that works the way it has always worked.