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.
Keywords: fatty acid composition; minerals; physicochemical characteristics; traditional Tibetan ghee.