Most ghee sold in India today is made the fast way: cream is separated from milk by machine and heated directly. Bilona ghee is made the old way and the difference isn't just a marketing distinction, it's a completely different sequence of steps.
The word "Bilona" refers to the wooden churner traditionally used to turn curd into butter. It is this churner, not a brand or a certification body, that gives the method its name. Understanding what actually happens during that process is the best way to know whether the "Bilona ghee" on a shelf is describing something real.
The process, step by step
The traditional Bilona method generally follows a sequence rooted in age-old Indian dairy practice, referenced in Ayurvedic texts going back centuries:
1. Boiling the milk. Fresh milk is gently boiled, which was traditionally done to ensure safety and purity before any further processing began.
2. Setting the curd. The boiled milk is cooled to a lukewarm temperature, a small amount of starter curd is mixed in and the mixture is left overnight in a warm place to ferment naturally into curd (dahi).
3. Churning the curd. This is the step that gives the method its name. The set curd is churned, traditionally by hand, using a wooden bilona, in a rhythmic back-and-forth or clockwise/anti-clockwise motion until the butter (makkhan) separates from the buttermilk (chaas). This is a slow, deliberate process, quite different from a machine spinning cream at high speed.
4. Separating the butter. The butter that rises to the top is collected, and the buttermilk left behind is often kept and consumed on its own. A traditional household drink in many parts of India.
5. Slow-cooking the butter. The collected butter is heated gently, usually over a low flame, until the water content evaporates and the milk solids settle. What remains is clarified into golden ghee, which is then strained and stored.
The key structural difference from most commercial ghee is this: Bilona ghee starts from curd, not cream. Ordinary ghee production typically separates cream from milk mechanically and clarifies it directly. The Bilona method inserts an entire fermentation and hand-churning stage before the ghee-making even begins which is also why it takes considerably longer and involves far more manual effort.
Why the curd stage matters
Fermenting milk into curd before churning is not a cosmetic step. It changes the starting material itself. Curd-churned butter has a different composition than cream skimmed directly from milk and the slow, low-temperature cooking that follows is generally understood to affect the aroma, texture and grain of the final ghee compared to fast, high-heat industrial processing.
What "A2" means, separately from "Bilona"
You'll often see "A2" and "Bilona" used together, but they describe two different things. A2 refers to a type of beta-casein protein found in milk, associated with certain cow breeds, including many indigenous Indian breeds. Bilona refers to the method of processing milk into ghee, regardless of which protein type the milk contains. A ghee can be Bilona-made without being A2 and A2 milk can be processed the fast, cream-separated way. When both terms appear together, it simply means the ghee is claimed to come from A2 milk and made using the Bilona method — two separate claims that are each worth understanding on their own.
Tattvam's A2 Cow Bilona Ghee sits within the Cold Pressed Oils & Ghee collection. As the name states, it is positioned as an A2 ghee made using the traditional Bilona method described above.
How to use and store ghee generally
Ghee, made by any method, is typically used the way any clarified butter would be in cooking, tempering, or spread simply on warm rotis or rice. It is generally shelf-stable at room temperature when stored in a clean, airtight container, away from direct sunlight and moisture, with a dry spoon used each time to avoid introducing contamination.
