Ghee guide · 5 min read

Cow ghee vs buffalo ghee

Both are pure ghee made from milk fat. The difference comes from the milk: buffalo milk carries much more fat than cow milk, and the two fats look, smell and cook a little differently. Neither is "better". They are good at different things.

At a glance

Why is cow ghee yellow and buffalo ghee white?

Cows pass beta-carotene from green fodder into their milk fat, which gives cow ghee its golden colour. Buffaloes convert almost all of it, so their ghee comes out white. A white ghee is not a sign of adulteration, and a deep yellow ghee is not automatically "more pure". The colour mostly tells you which animal the milk came from.

Taste and texture

Cow ghee is lighter and smells strongly of butter the moment you open the jar. Buffalo ghee is thicker and sets into larger grains. In cooking, buffalo ghee gives sweets like halwa and laddoo a richer body, while cow ghee shines when you want the ghee itself to be tasted, like a spoon on dal and rice.

Nutrition

Ghee is almost all fat, so the numbers are close. Our own lab tests (MCAL, Telangana, April 2026) found 99.7 g fat per 100 g in our cow ghee and 99.8 g in our buffalo ghee, with moisture under the 0.5 g limit in both. You can read the full reports.

What about A2 and Gir cow ghee?

A2 refers to the type of beta-casein protein in the milk of many Indian cow breeds. Gir is one such breed. Gir cows give much less milk than other cows, so Gir ghee is made in very small batches and costs more. Taste-wise it is close to good cow ghee, often a little deeper and more aromatic.

How to choose

• Everyday cooking, sweets, a big family: buffalo ghee goes further and costs less.
• Tadka, rotis, a spoon on hot rice: cow ghee, for the aroma.
• Festivals and gifting: Gir cow ghee.

Many families keep two jars: buffalo for cooking and cow for the table.

From our farm to your kitchen

Buffalo Bilona Gheefrom ₹600A2 Cow Bilona Gheefrom ₹800Gir Cow Bilona Gheefrom ₹1,750