“Ghee is my dharma,” Lisa Ormenyessy says.
“I didn’t choose it; it chose me. It grounds me – like a big hug.”
That ghee (clarified butter) has been a life changer for Lisa, founder of OMGhee, comes through loud and clear.
It wasn’t always the case, though.
She admits that the first time she tried the gooey golden milk product that an entire culture considers a superfood, she screwed up her nose and went, ‘Ewwww’.
She’s learnt since then that it’s all about how the ghee is produced.
And so the ghee Lisa Ormenyessy makes is described as ‘premium, handmade, organic and biodynamic.’
The Adelaide-based Lisa was introduced to ghee by an Ayurvedic practitioner. She learnt to make it at home, as a way of reducing her excessive vata by including high-quality oils in her diet. (She had been handed down an autoimmune disorder diagnosis, Hashimoto’s disease.)
“My job as a business coach consultant was stressful,” Lisa recalls. “And yet, I’d stand in front of a pot making ghee, and it would become a pause for me… I became present with the butter. Other people meditate, I make ghee!”
She used it as a butter substitute – on toast, with vegemite, in baking, and to cook eggs, veggies, roast potatoes, even steak and schnitzels (“I find ghee doesn’t soak up the crumbs as much as butter or oil”), and of course, in her bulletproof coffee.
Lisa lists the health benefits for us here:
Ghee is lactose-free: The milk solids that are removed in the cooking process include casein and lactose, two common allergens.
Ghee helps lower cholesterol: It contains high concentrations of monounsaturated Omega-3s.
Ghee reduces inflammation: With its anti-inflammatory properties, ghee has been used to treat burns and swelling. The fatty acid butyrate is linked to immune system response for inflammation management.
Ghee helps gut maintenance: The butyric acid in it helps maintain the integrity of the gut lining.
Ghee boosts immunity: It contains high concentrations of monounsaturated Omega-3s and fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K.
Ghee helps increase the bio-availability of foods: It helps drive nutrients directly into the system
With the added benefits of a high smoking point, and a longer shelf life, Lisa concludes that ghee is ‘the better butter’.
“I began to evangelise it to my friends, and then it sort of became an obsession,” she recounts. “I’d stand in front of the butter aisle in the supermarket, look at various brands, and study ingredients, and wonder, how will these respond to heat? I wanted to buy them all!”
Was there much market research before she decided to launch it all as an enterprise?
“My head said I was crazy, but my heart wanted to do it. I just wanted to cook ghee. I did my numbers on the back of an envelope and figured I could make a living out of it.”
Putting a 20-year corporate career behind her, the ghee novice became a ghee connoisseur. OMGhee was born in Dec 2021.
The name is a dad joke, she reveals, laughing.
“My husband suggested it, and I liked it! It could mean excitement like ‘O-M-G’, but could also mean ‘Ohmmm’ ghee, like something sacred. I like to say the cook is sacred. The energy has to be just right – I’m a big believer in the energetics of it all.”
Part of said energetics also comes from the raw ingredients, and from the cooking process: Lisa likes her ghee handmade, with carefully sourced 100% biodynamic, organic butter from grass-fed cows.
“Good butter will surrender. It relaxes and is willing to be transformed. Others will spit and fight the process. There’s an alchemy that goes on.”
The transformation is internal as well. Lisa writes in her blog:
“In the unassuming space, standing over the stove, watching, listening, and smelling the glorious transformation of butter into ghee, I discovered my joy… Just like the butter surrenders itself to become precious, golden Ghee I want to remind you that in surrendering there is great magic and joy to be found.”
At OMGhee, Lisa takes 12-14 hours each time to make 300 jars, 275 ml each.
“I don’t stir, because the butter is good quality. But it is important to watch it – as soon as you turn your back, it froths up, like a two-year-old!”
Lisa’s ghee is currently sold at farmers’ markets, but you can purchase the jars online, and in retail shortly.
“An older Indian lady teared up when she said to me, your ghee is like the ghee my grandmother used to make. Then I started to cry, and we hugged!”
Introducing ghee to first-timers, Lisa serves it on a water cracker. (The most common reaction by first-timers, she reveals, is that it tastes like shortbread.)
She’s all about education too, and wants to bring a greater appreciation of ghee. “As a nation we just don’t eat enough good fats.”
To Indian audiences, Lisa advises, “Eat ghee where you can taste it – don’t, for example, cook your curry in it. Put it on your roti, on your dal, on rice. And importantly, learn to distinguish good ghee from regular ghee.”
For more info, ghee workshops, and to subscribe to receive a jar a month, head to https://omghee.com/
DISCLAIMER: The information in this article is not intended as medical or dietary advice
