A2 Ghee vs Amul Ghee: Is Amul A2, and Should You Switch?
A2 ghee vs Amul ghee: Amul's everyday Cow Ghee and Pure Ghee tins name no breed, so nobody can call them A2, while Amul's buffalo ghee is A2 by nature and its Gir Cow Ghee comes from the breed with the highest A2 share in a 2023 study of Indian cattle. In a teaspoon of ghee the A2 protein is about 14 mg either way. The real gap is method and price: ₹705 a litre for Amul Cow Ghee against ₹2,399 for our A2 Gir cow Bilona ghee, which we make and would pick for the spoon you taste.
A2 ghee vs Amul ghee: which should you buy?
For the teaspoon you eat on roti, dal, and rice, buy A2 Gir cow Bilona ghee: named breed, curd method, and a smell you notice. Switching from Amul Cow Ghee costs about 3.4 times more a litre, or ₹1,020 a month for a family of four. For frying, neither: use oil.
Every fact about Amul below comes from Amul's own shop pages, dated, and every number about A2 comes from a study we name. Most people who land here have an Amul tin at home and a relative or a reel telling them to switch. This page answers the three things they ask us: is my Amul ghee A2, does A2 matter once it is ghee, and is the extra money worth it. What the A2 label means with no brand attached is on what is A2 ghee.
A2 Gir cow Bilona ghee vs Amul Cow Ghee, side by side
| Factor | A2 Gir Bilona | Amul Cow Ghee | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price, 1 L | ₹2,399 (Authentic Urban) | ₹705 (Amul Cow Ghee) | Amul Cow Ghee ✓ |
| Per teaspoon (5 mL) | ₹12.0 | ₹3.5 | Amul Cow Ghee ✓ |
| Breed named | Gir cow only | Not named | A2 Gir Bilona ✓ |
| A2 | Gir milk, the most A2 breed in a 2023 study | Not claimed; breed unknown | A2 Gir Bilona ✓ |
| How it is made | Curd, hand-churned, cooked in a matki | Not stated on Amul's page | A2 Gir Bilona ✓ |
| Milk protein per teaspoon | About 14 mg | About 14 mg | Tie |
| Fat and calories | About 44 kcal a teaspoon | About 44 kcal a teaspoon | Tie |
| Best job | The spoon you taste: roti, dal, rice | None we would pick it for | A2 Gir Bilona ✓ |
Verdict: Amul Cow Ghee is 3.4 times cheaper a litre, but it names no breed and no method. The A2 Gir Bilona jar is what you pay for when you taste the spoon. Both carry the same fat, calories, and trace of protein.
Amul prices from Amul's own shop and our own live price, both read on 25 and 26 September 2026 for our Ghee Price Index. Protein and calories from USDA FoodData Central (butter oil, anhydrous).
Is Amul ghee A2?
It depends on the pack. Amul Cow Ghee and Amul Pure Ghee do not name a breed, so they cannot be called A2. Amul Buffalo Ghee is A2 by nature, because buffalo carry no A1 gene. Amul Gir Cow Ghee comes from the breed with the highest A2 share in a 2023 study, though its name does not claim A2.
A1 and A2 are two forms of beta-casein, one of the proteins in milk, and which one a cow makes is in her genes. A 2023 study in Animal Biotechnology tested 1,000 milk samples: across seven Indian breeds, 80% of cows were A2A2 and none were A1A1, and Gir was highest at 93% A2A2. In Jersey and Holstein-Friesian cows, only 3% were A2A2 and 42% were A1A1. Buffalo are simpler: a 2021 study genotyped 657 buffaloes of four breeds and every one was A2A2. So a cow ghee that does not name the breed may include A1 milk, and a buffalo ghee never does.
Amul Cow Ghee
Cow; breed not named
Unknown. If any of the milk is from Jersey or Holstein-Friesian cows, part of it is likely A1.
₹705 a litre
Amul Pure Ghee
Animal not named
Unknown. It may be cow, buffalo, or a mix.
₹660 a litre
Amul Gir Cow Ghee
Gir cow; method not stated
Very likely mostly A2, from the breed. Its name does not say A2.
₹1,400 a litre
Amul Buffalo Ghee
Buffalo
Yes, by nature: every buffalo tested carries only A2.
₹680 a litre
Amul's own shop, 25 and 26 September 2026. Amul Gir Cow Ghee is sold in 500 mL (₹700) and was sold out on the check date. A2 answers from Khan et al. 2023 and de Oliveira et al. 2021.
Two traps follow from the table. Amul Pure Ghee is a little cheaper than Amul Cow Ghee, but it does not say which animal, so it is not a like-for-like swap. And an A2 answer is not a method answer: none of the four pages says how the ghee is made. How Amul's tins compare with the other big dairy names is on Amul vs Mother Dairy ghee and Patanjali vs Amul ghee.
Does A2 matter once milk becomes ghee?
Very little, for the protein. USDA FoodData Central lists ghee (butter oil) at 99.5 g of fat and 0.28 g of protein per 100 g, so a 5 g teaspoon holds about 14 mg of milk protein, A1 or A2. The casein and whey leave with the milk solids when ghee is cooked and strained, which is covered on ghee casein and whey removed.
India's food regulator has gone back and forth on this. On 21 August 2024 FSSAI told dairy companies to remove A1 and A2 claims from packs, and said A2 claims on milk fat products are misleading because the difference lies in the protein, per All India Radio News. Five days later, on 26 August, FSSAI withdrew that advisory for further consultation, The Wire reported. So an A2 claim on ghee is allowed on the pack today, and it still tells you about the cow, not about a health effect you would feel. The digestion trials on A1 and A2 milk, and who paid for them, are on A2 vs A1 ghee.
Why pay for A2 at all, then? Because the breed on the label is a proxy for the whole jar: whose milk it is, how the cows are kept, and and, on the jars that say so, a curd method. The A2 word alone does not prove any of that. The breed plus a stated method does.
Amul Gir Cow Ghee vs A2 Gir Bilona ghee: what is the difference?
The breed can be the same; the method is where they part. Amul Gir Cow Ghee names Gir milk but, on Amul's page, not how the ghee is made. A Gir Bilona jar sets that milk to curd, churns out the makkhan, and cooks it slowly. The price follows the method: ₹1,400 a litre for Amul's Gir pack, against a median of ₹2,399 for the nine cow ghee jars in our index that say curd or Bilona.
Here is what the method means in our kitchen. About 30 to 35 litres of Gir cow milk go into 1 kg of our cow ghee. The milk sets to curd overnight, 8 to 12 hours. The curd is churned for 30 to 45 minutes until the makkhan separates, and the makkhan cooks in a matki on a wood chulha for 45 to 90 minutes, off the flame when the bubbling goes quiet and it smells of toasted milk. Curd to ghee takes the better part of two days, and the yield is lower than cream ghee. That is the jar you are paying for, and you can see how we make it step by step. The two methods side by side, with no brand, are on Bilona ghee vs cream ghee.
Ghee Price Index, September 2026: Amul's own shop and each Bilona brand's own shop, 25 and 26 September 2026. Amul Gir Cow Ghee is a 500 mL pack shown per litre, sold out on the check date. The median covers the nine cow ghee jars sold as curd or Bilona, ours included.
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Authentic Urban A2 Gir cow Bilona | ₹2,399 a litre |
| Median of 9 cow ghee jars sold as curd or Bilona | ₹2,399 a litre |
| Authentic Urban Jafarabadi buffalo Bilona | ₹1,999 a litre |
| Amul Gir Cow Ghee | ₹1,400 a litre |
| Amul Cow Ghee | ₹705 a litre |
| Amul Buffalo Ghee | ₹680 a litre |
| Amul Pure Ghee | ₹660 a litre |
What does switching from Amul to A2 ghee cost a month?
About ₹1,020 a month more for a family of four eating one teaspoon each a day, if you move from Amul Cow Ghee to our A2 Gir cow ghee. Per person that is ₹255 a month, or about ₹8.5 extra for each teaspoon.
Four people, one teaspoon each, for 30 days is 120 teaspoons, or 600 mL. Here is that month with each jar. Save it for the day the family argues about the grocery bill.
Amul Cow Ghee
₹705 a litre
₹3.5 a tsp
₹420 a month
Amul Gir Cow Ghee
₹1,400 a litre
₹7.0 a tsp
₹840 a month
Two ways to make the switch cheaper without going back to the tin. Move only the table spoon to cow ghee, and use our Jafarabadi buffalo Bilona ghee for parathas and sweets, which is also A2 and costs less a litre. And stop frying in ghee: a kadai of puris uses more fat than a week of spoons, and oil does that job. The split is on ghee vs vegetable oil. To work out your own household's amount, use our Ghee Price Index monthly cost. Why a Bilona litre costs what it does, line by line, is on why A2 Bilona ghee is expensive.
Should you switch from Amul to A2 ghee?
Switch the ghee you taste; do not switch for a health promise. If ghee in your home goes on roti, dal, and rice, the curd jar is a change you will notice every day. If you were told A2 ghee will fix digestion or cholesterol, the 14 mg of protein in a teaspoon says otherwise, and the money is better kept.
Switch to A2 Bilona ghee if
- most of your ghee goes on hot roti, dal, rice, or khichdi
- you want to know the breed and how the jar was made
- you eat 1 to 2 teaspoons a day and can carry the teaspoon price
Do not pay for A2 if
- most of your ghee goes into a frying kadai: move that to oil first
- you expect A2 to change a lab report or a milk allergy
- the "A2" jar is cheaper than a dairy tin: milk does not work that way
A teaspoon on roti, dal, rice, or khichdi
This is the spoon you taste, and the one where toasted-milk smell and grain show.
Paratha, halwa, ladoo, festival sweets
Jafarabadi buffalo Bilona ghee
Richer and firmer, A2 by nature, and cheaper per litre than our cow ghee.
Deep frying puri, pakora, or bhajiya
Groundnut or mustard oil
A kadai takes more fat than a week of daily spoons. Neither ghee is the answer here.
An Amul tin is already open
Finish it, then switch
Warm a spoon: if it smells clean, there is nothing to throw away.
Three kitchens, three answers
A family that eats ghee mostly on phulka and dal, about a teaspoon each: switch the whole tin to one cow Bilona jar, since nearly every spoon is one you taste. A home that makes parathas every morning and ladoo all winter: keep a cow jar for the table and a buffalo jar for the tawa and the sweets. A kitchen where the Amul tin mostly feeds a frying kadai: the first change is oil for the kadai, and only then a small Bilona jar for the table. Cow or buffalo for your own plate is on cow vs buffalo ghee.
Mistakes people make when they switch
Comparing Amul Pure Ghee with an A2 cow jar, when Pure Ghee does not say which animal it is. Comparing a 500 mL Gir pack with a 1 L tin without working out the litre. Reading "Gir" as if it meant Bilona. Throwing out a clean Amul tin because a forward called it poison: if a warm spoon smells of cooked milk, finish it. And buying the cheapest jar that prints A2, Bilona, and desi together: a Bilona cow jar far below the median above is worth a second look.
How can you tell A2 Bilona ghee from Amul ghee at home?
By smell and grain, not by a home A2 test, because none exists. Put the two side by side and ignore the labels until the end.
- Warm half a teaspoon of each in a steel spoon. Curd ghee smells of toasted milk, sometimes a little tangy. A flat or waxy smell from either jar is a reason to stop.
- Look at each once it has cooled. Slow-cooked Bilona ghee usually sets in fine grains. It is the question we are asked most on WhatsApp, and it is normal.
- Brush a hot roti with each and taste it five minutes later. This is where the difference you are paying for shows, or does not.
- Check the colour against the season, not against the tin. In the monsoon, green fodder makes our cow ghee more yellow; in summer it can stay liquid in the jar.
These tests tell you about freshness and method, not purity. For that, run the checks on how to identify pure ghee. We test our own ghee every month against the FSSAI limits.
What should you check before you switch jars?
Six questions, answered from the pack and one website, work for an Amul tin and for any A2 jar. Screenshot them for the shop.
1. Does the pack name the animal?
"Cow" or "buffalo" on the front. "Pure ghee" alone does not tell you, and without the animal nobody can tell you if it is A2.
2. Does it name the breed?
Gir, Sahiwal, Kankrej, or Jafarabadi. "A2" or "desi" printed without a breed tells you little.
3. Does it say how it is made?
Curd or dahi, churned into makkhan. A breed with no method is a breed, not Bilona.
4. What does a teaspoon cost?
Price ÷ millilitres × 5. Compare the spoon you eat, not the tin, and compare cow with cow.
5. Is the FSSAI licence real?
Type the 14-digit number into foscos.fssai.gov.in and match the name and address on the pack.
6. Does a warm spoon smell of toasted milk?
Flat, waxy, or sour means stop, whatever the label says.
The ten cow ghee jars we would compare, ranked with prices, are on best cow ghee in India.
Which ghee to buy when you leave the Amul tin?
Whichever jar you pick, run the six checks above: animal, breed, method, the price of a teaspoon, a real FSSAI licence, and a warm spoon that smells of toasted milk. A Gir name without a method is half the answer.
For the food you taste, we would buy our own: A2 Gir cow ghee for the daily spoon and Jafarabadi buffalo ghee for sweets and parathas. We cook your jar after you order, from grass-fed village animals near the Gir forest, and send a video of it being cooked and packed on WhatsApp. You can see every step, or visit the kitchen in Gir Somnath. Free delivery across India, COD, and a 7-day quality return.
A2 Gir cow ghee: roti, dal, the daily spoon
1 Litre
Buffalo ghee: paratha, halwa, sweets
1 Litre
Each order is cooked after you place it, and the packing video is of that batch. Past order videos are on the shop.
FAQ
Which is the best A2 ghee to buy instead of Amul?
Our pick is Authentic Urban A2 Gir cow Bilona ghee, ₹2,399 a litre. The milk is Gir cow only, set to curd and churned, the jar is cooked after you order, and you get a video of your own jar on WhatsApp. GirOrganic and Gavyamart also name the Gir breed and a curd method on their own pages. Amul's tins do not name a method.
Does A2 ghee have fewer calories than Amul ghee?
No. Any ghee is almost all fat, and USDA FoodData Central lists 876 kcal and 99.5 g of fat per 100 g, which is about 44 kcal in a 5 g teaspoon. The breed of the cow and the curd method do not change that. If you are watching weight or cholesterol, the number of teaspoons matters far more than the label on the jar.
Can I mix Amul ghee and A2 ghee in the same jar?
You can, but you lose track of both. Mixing hides the smell and grain you paid for in the Bilona jar, and it makes it hard to tell which ghee turned if the jar ever smells off. Keep them in separate jars with dry spoons. If you want to save money, use the cheaper fat for the kadai and keep the Bilona jar for the table.
Is A2 ghee better than Amul ghee for babies?
Ask your paediatrician when to start ghee and how much before you choose a brand. A baby's portion is tiny, so the A2 protein question hardly arises: a teaspoon of any ghee holds about 14 mg of milk protein. What matters is a fresh jar that smells of toasted milk when warmed, from a maker who names the animal. We do not suggest a dairy tin for a baby bowl.
Does Amul make a Bilona ghee?
Not on the pages we read. Amul Cow Ghee, Pure Ghee, Gir Cow Ghee, and Buffalo Ghee were listed on Amul's own shop in September 2026, and none of those pages said the ghee was made from curd or by the Bilona method. The Gir pack names the breed, not the method. If a future Amul pack says curd or Bilona, read that pack on its own terms.
Why does my A2 Bilona ghee look grainy when Amul ghee looks smooth?
Slow-cooked ghee usually sets in fine grains as it cools, and it is the question we are asked most on WhatsApp. Grain comes from how the fat cools, and it changes with the season: in winter our ghee sets in a fine grain, in summer it can stay liquid in the jar. Grainy or smooth, both are normal. Smell a warm spoon to judge freshness, not the texture.
About the editorial team
Authentic Urban TeamBilona ghee makers, Gir Somnath, Gujarat
We are the Parmar family in Gir Somnath, Gujarat. We have made ghee here since 2016 and sold it online since 2025. We make only Bilona ghee, test it every month, and anyone is welcome to visit and watch it being made. Our Gir cows and Jafarabadi buffalo are grass-fed village animals that graze near the Gir forest, with no hormones or milk boosters. We set their milk to curd, churn it, and cook the makkhan on a wood chulha. These articles come from that kitchen and from what customers ask us on WhatsApp. We are ghee makers, not doctors.
Sources
- Potential status of A1 and A2 variants of bovine beta-casein gene in milk samples of Indian cattle breeds (Khan R et al.), 2023, Animal Biotechnology. Checked 29 Sep 2026.
- Water buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) only have A2A2 genotype for beta-casein (de Oliveira LSM et al.), 2021, Tropical Animal Health and Production. Checked 29 Sep 2026.
- Butter oil, anhydrous (FDC ID 173412), SR Legacy: fat, protein, and energy per 100 g, USDA FoodData Central. Checked 29 Sep 2026.
- FSSAI orders removal of A1 and A2 claims from all packaging of milk and dairy products, August 2024, All India Radio News. Checked 29 Sep 2026.
- FSSAI withdraws advisory on A1 and A2 labelling of milk, calls for further consultation, August 2024, The Wire. Checked 29 Sep 2026.