The Alchemy of Full Fats
The Alchemy of Full Fats
Much of the basis of my work took form from the genesis of my understanding of what real fats can do to heal your brain, your gut, your skin, your hair and your mood. This is a love letter to Ghee.
What do you know about fats? Perhaps the big bad fake news wolf spewed some misinformation around why you shouldn’t eat fat. I am here to dismantle that with education, science and my love for nature and all the things it does right, all on its own.
There are 2 different types of fats we are going to focus on Saturated fat and Unsaturated fat. What separates these are the bond(s) that connect the carbon molecule.
Saturated fats have single bonds (nice and straight).
Unsaturated fats have double bonds (all over the place).
So how do you tell them apart irl? It all comes down to the chemistry, due to the nature of saturated fats (straight bonds) they will express as solid fats (butter, tallow, lard, coconut oil). Unsaturated fat examples, express in liquid form they are most vegetable oils, this category also includes olive and avocado oil.
Unsaturated fats are less stable and vulnerable, they can break down easier, fall rancid to heat or air. They oxidize quickly because of their double bonds. Oxidization is dangerous to the body, it can cause free radicals in the brain and reek havoc on the balance of the body.
We have been extremely misguided on this topic. When I visit Dr. Price’s work around indigenous cultures, what their diets were made up of, how straight their teeth were and how healthy there were as a whole, I am shocked with the recommendations of our “experts”.
A moment for the history of why these recommendations came to be, if this doesn’t interest you, then skip it, but these juicy details are my favorite part. I will release this essay next week and you will be able to click here.
Some unsaturated fats (the monounsaturated ones i.e. olive, avocado) I will use at room temperature if the are from a quality source, but I prefer not to cook with these because of their low heat nature.
I will not touch poly-unsaturated fats (i.e. canola, corn, etc.) these are a molecularly a mess and don’t offer my body anything of substance, they do more harm than good. If you have found yourself at a place in life where you do consume these, carry around vitamin E capsules (I am usually not one for supplements but this is necessary), It will help metabolize the fat in a less detrimental way.
My favorite types of fats are as follows: lard, tallow, ghee, butter, coconut oil. olive oil (if you have the hook up on the real stuff) and occasionally avocado oil.
So what do Saturated fats do for my body?:
From a technical stand point, saturated fats are concentrated sources of energy in the diet. The also provide the building blocks for cell membranes, hormones and hormone like substances. Fats, as part of a meal, slow down food absorption so that we can remain fuller longer. My favorite fact about them is that they act as a carrier for important fat-soluble vitamins A,D,E, and K. Dietary fats are needed for the conversion of carotene to vitamin A, for mineral absorption and a host of other processes.
WOAH.
I think the reason this is so important to me is because of the lack of nutrition in our diets, we have been so focused on supplementation but by adding herbs and mushrooms into these full fats, we can help our bodies assimilate them better. We can use food as medicine, it is much more bioavailable and is something our bodies actually know how to put to use. Petty revolutionary. Nature has the answers.
In another post I will break down my thoughts on supplementation and why I believe the food approach to be far superior.
Today we are going to talk about Ghee, what it is, how to make it and how to infuse different herbs into it for medicinal purposes.
What is Ghee:
Ghee is, imo, one of the best fats to cook with. One teaspoon-tablespoon per day is great for all body types. I find my memory is sharper, my digestion is smoother, my skin is more balanced and my hunger craving are curbed. I often times mix half of the jar of ghee with honey, give it a stir and eat it straight out of the container when I need a pick-me-up. If you are a person that gets sugar cravings, give this a try.
Ghee is the alchemical process that occurs when you take butter, melt it down, leave it on medium heat and allow all of the milk solids to cook down. Once this transformation revels itself you are left with a nutty, creamy, golden yellow full fat that won’t burn when you use it for cooking.
Materials needed:
Double lined pot (I like a stockpot or dutch oven)
Unsalted Grass-fed butter (if you are making a big batch hit up Costco)
Method:
Place your butter in a pot
Melt it down on low heat
Turn the heat up to medium and watch it boil, turn down a bit
Let this cook until all of the solids have dropped to the bottom of the pot and turned brown
Strain and bottle
If you are infusing, strain, return to pot, make a decoction then bottle. More on a decoction in my next post.
For more visuals on this, check out the highlights on my IG @cassandraposey
You can use Ghee in lieu of any cooking oil and I often melt it down and bake with it. If you’re an OG Cognitive Function customer, you might even remember the “Equinox” product we made years back. It was a salve made from Cordyceps Ghee that was meant to be used topically on the body. Crazy concept, butter on skin? But is scientifically makes way more sense that most skin care products. This is due in part to animal fats being molecular more alike to that of human fat cells, so our bodies can actually utilize them more efficiently. Try this on a patch of dry skin, I have a good friend who struggles with eczema that has found so much relief with ghee by way of the Equinox (maybe we need to make more).
Ghee v. Clarified Butter:
This is a question I get asked a lot. It is also something a quick google search won’t give you an accurate answer for. Ghee and Clarified butter are different. Clarified butter is the first part of the equation but what makes ghee, ghee is that process of the milk solids cooking down and giving that nutty taste to the concoction. Many Ayrvedic schools of thought believe this is the “dirt” in the butter and you need to cook it out. I cannot subscribe to that school of thoughts as butter is my religion and my duty is to help happy, healthy cows deliver happy, healthy butter that is just my opinion ;)
*Ghee is shelf stable, Clarified butter is not. Clarified butter can go rancid, which is detrimental to your health #themoreyourknow.
Making your own potion:
In making magick it all comes down to intention. For me the Cordyceps Ghee came as a download from my gut. The year was 2018, I was struggling with fatigue and pharmaceutical damage and needed healing fats. Thus, ghee was made and Cordyceps (one of the greatest loves of my lifetime) was infused into it. Like anything you must listen. For months the Cordyceps has told me they didn’t like to be too hot, they’re compounds burn out. Each herb/ mushroom is different (if we were talking about Reishi, I might have a different stance). So how do you tell how long/ what temperature things need to be? You could research it. Consider yourself a citizen scientist off to cure the world. Have some fun, do some trial and error, play with variables, lean into your intuition, meditate on it. You can also give me a call, this happens to be my favorite part of the job :)
^Cass circa 2018 at Brooklyn Artist and Flee, selling the full fat, healing with food as medicine Cognitive Function line up :) check out that reishi art @terrestrialfungi grew!
Options for infusion:
Cordyceps (stamina, stress, repairing of DNA)
Ashwaganda (imo the best way to take Ashwa! Adapotgenic)
Red belted polypore (also great for digestion, bitter tho)
Rose (open heated, feminine side rising)
Honey (medicinal in itself, great for the immune system)
Cacao (great for the heart, energetic, grounding) For something really fun you could use Holy Cao
Cannabis (tehe, hold on to your hat, or maybe don’t ;)
Turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom (like a chai, add this to your morning coffee!)
The list can go on but I will stop here. As always, lead with your intention and the quality of the ingredients. The magick will follow.
Now, I know I have presented you with all of this information and I don’t currently offer this product which is sad but I do have some great recommendations for companies I love, if you aren’t in the mood to make your own, here are my two favorite girl gang ghee companies. Bev and Nancy at Simply Ghee (the Ghee Gals) have my whole heart, they taught me so much about ghee and life and I couldn’t be more grateful for the timing of the connection, my favorites are Maple cinnamon ghee and black garlic. Goddess Ghee is out of Asheville and they made divine herb infused ghees.
For those wondering why I don’t make Cordyceps Ghee at scale anymore, it is because my butter source isn’t able to meet the demand. I refuse to compromise on the quality of Cognitive Function’s ingredients so I have taken it off the market until I find a source that can support me. If you raise dairy cows and live near me, hit me up lol.
Looking forward to writing my next post already. Thank you for taking the time to grow with me.
xx,
Cas