Traditional Tibetan Ghee: Physicochemical Characteristics and Fatty Acid Composition

Abstract

Fifty traditional Tibetan ghee (TTG) varieties were collected and analyzed their systematic characteristic indices, including physicochemical parameters, minerals, fatty acid composition, and thermal behavior. Results show that TTG contains a large amount of fat (71.68%-93.3%) and a small quantity of protein (0.51%-1.81%). The acid and peroxide values of TTG vary from 0.02 to 1.30 mg/g and 0.07 to 5.93 meq/kg, respectively. The content of minerals varied with altitude level and region significantly (p < 0.05), and the regional variations of fatty acids in TTG were also observed significantly, these differences may be due to the high unsaturated fatty acids level in the cow diets.