ghee

As for browned butter, he said, "The nutty taste it imparts is one of a kind, but like clarified butter and ghee, the water will have evaporated from the butter in order for it to brown, so usually these recipes have moisure added in other ways like eggs, milk or even water itself."

"There are some baking recipes are developed for clarified butter or ghee, but if a recipe calls for whole butter, it should not be substituted with these. Both clarified butter and ghee have no water, which would dramatically alter the outcome of a baking recipe that calls for regular butter."

Reddy said even though the temple did not have a lab to check the ghee’s purity, its officials were experienced in identifying impurities by appearance and smell and that there had been instances - both during his government and also earlier when Naidu’s party had been in power - when ghee tankers were sent back to suppliers.

A board spokesperson told reporters that they were sourcing ghee from five companies via tenders.

In response, AR Dairy, which has been producing ghee since 1998 and claims to conduct 102 quality checks on its milk, dismissed the allegations as “absurd” and stated that they are “severely damaging to our business.”