Preservation was probably the original reason for making ghee. It's often found in food aid packages too, where it is often called butter oil, because of it's long shelf-life. I've kept store-bought for over a year in the fridge without it deteriorating, though it should last at room temp for a good long time as well. I'd think the key with homemade would be how carefully you clarified it.
Clarified butter can last a very long time, many Indian kitchens have a small pot of ghee, a variation on clarified butter, that sits on the counter at all times.
I have found the quickest way to make clarified butter is in the microwave. Simply add a stick of butter to microwave save container (I use a liquid measuring cup) and zap it for ninety seconds on power 7. The milk solids separate beautifully and are easily removed with a tea spoon. What you have left is the most beautiful, easy clarified butter.
Allie: Very slowly melt butter in a saucepan, making sure you don't disturb it by stirring or shaking the pan. Once it's completely melted, spoon off the white foam on top and discard it. Line sieve with cheesecloth and set it over a bowl, then slowly pour the melted butter through the sieve, stopping just as the white solids on the bottom start streaming into the sieve. The clear yellow liquid in the bowl is the clarified butter.
Julie Sahni says three to four months. That's if you use her method for making "ghee." If done the way Ms. Sahni recommends, it will keep without refrigeration as well for some time. (Her method is a bit more time and labor intensive than Amanda's but yields an amazing caramel of browned butter solids, which remain in the pan when you pour off the ghee, but which can be put to other uses . .. . and because you have browned the butter a bit, the clarified butter has a lovely nutty taste.) ;o)
A long time because it's the dairy solids that go rancid most quickly, and since you remove them when clarifying, the butter will last longer. I'd say at least a month.
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I have found the quickest way to make clarified butter is in the microwave. Simply add a stick of butter to microwave save container (I use a liquid measuring cup) and zap it for ninety seconds on power 7. The milk solids separate beautifully and are easily removed with a tea spoon. What you have left is the most beautiful, easy clarified butter.