A few weeks ago, a customer sent us one of the most detailed emails we've ever gotten. Not a complaint. Not a troll. A genuinely well-researched, five-point challenge to our A2 ghee claims, citing food chemistry, clarification temperatures, and where the A1/A2 research actually stands.
Our first instinct wasn't to draft a polished PR response. It was to just answer it. Point by point, including the parts where he was right.
We're sharing the exchange here, lightly edited only to protect the customer's identity. This is what happens when someone actually asks.
The Challenge
The email opened with the single best question anyone can ask about A2 ghee: if ghee making means heating butter to around 100 to 120Β°C and clarifying out the milk solids, how much of the A2 beta casein protein could actually survive into the final jar?
From there he raised four more questions: on nutritional differences, on diabetes related marketing claims, on genotype verification across the supply chain, and on whether the price premium for "A2" ghee holds up once you account for all of the above.
Fair question. Here's how we answered it, unedited.
Point 1: No, active A2 protein doesn't survive clarification. We've never claimed it does.
This is where we started, because it's the thing to get right first. During clarification, milk solids, including beta casein, get separated and removed. What's left is almost pure milk fat. We agree with him on this, and it's not a claim we've made about the finished ghee.
So when we say "A2 ghee," we mean two things: the milk came from indigenous Gir cows that naturally produce A2 milk, and the ghee was made using the traditional, cultured Bilona method rather than industrial cream separation. The value sits in the breed, the feed, and the process, not in leftover protein in the jar.
Point 2: We do test our ghee, but we're careful about what that actually proves
We periodically test batches for A2 protein markers, and we shared one such lab report with him directly. But we were upfront that the test validates the milk source, confirming the ghee came from indigenous breed milk. It isn't evidence that meaningful A2 protein survives in the final product. We'd rather be precise about that than let a lab report imply more than it does.
On genotype verification: breed integrity is maintained through our farmer relationships and sourcing network, but we don't currently issue individual, batch wise genotype certificates to consumers. That's a real limitation, and we said so.
Point 3: Where we think the real differences come from
He was right that a lot of what people assume is an "A1 vs A2" difference is actually driven by pasture quality, grazing practices, and processing method. That's exactly why we lean on the cultured Bilona process rather than the A2 label alone.
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Milk is fermented into curd first, then hand-churned into makkhan (white butter), instead of being separated straight from cream, which is how most industrial ghee gets made.
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The butter is slow-heated over a wood fire at lower temperatures, instead of run through mechanised, high-heat clarification.
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Research on cultured ghee has linked this fermentation step to relatively higher DHA, CLA, phospholipid, and butyric acid content compared with direct-cream ghee.
A study in the Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine found significantly higher DHA levels in ghee made with traditional curd-starter fermentation than in direct-cream ghee. DHA is an omega-3 fatty acid tied to brain and retinal health.
Point 4: We're not chasing a miracle-food story
One thing we wanted to be upfront about: nutrition science on dietary fat has swung a lot over the decades. From the low-fat, saturated-fat-demonisation era of the 1960s to 90s, through research that complicated that story, to today's renewed interest in minimally processed traditional fats. We don't think ghee is a miracle product, and we said that plainly. What we're building is traceability, traditional processing, indigenous cattle systems, and freedom from adulteration, not one silver-bullet health claim.
We also agreed with him on something important: adulteration is a real problem in the ghee market, and it's mostly a quality-control issue, not an A1/A2 one. Purity and transparent sourcing matter no matter which cow the milk came from.
The Response
After reading our reply, he wrote back. Short, generous, and honestly more convincing than any testimonial we could write ourselves.
Why We're Sharing This
We could have answered this privately and left it there. We're publishing it because the honest version of this conversation is more useful to you than a polished one.
If you're deciding what ghee to buy, we'd rather you decide with a clear picture of what "A2" does and doesn't mean, and choose us, or not, based on what actually holds up: sourcing from indigenous Gir cows, the traditional cultured Bilona method, and a supply chain built around traceability rather than a marketing buzzword.
And if you want to see it for yourself, the farm is open. Come see how it's actually made.
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