# canning butter



## MaryV (Jan 31, 2009)

I just tried my hand at canning butter! Has anyone else tried this? I am
frustrated that I cant buy canned butter in Canada to put in my food storage. but now I can do my own, its a bit of work but will be worth it. I got the link to the recipe from here somewhere, i forget what thread. all I have to do now is pray for a sale on butter so I can do some more.


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## Canadian (Dec 14, 2008)

I bought shortening in a can because I could not find canned butter. I never eat shortening but we needed something with a super long shelf life to use for baking and cooking needs.


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## pmabma (Dec 4, 2008)

MaryV Could you share how you did this please?


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## MaryV (Jan 31, 2009)

here is the recipe link...it was surprisingly easy, a bit time consuming because you have to shake the jars for a while...but it will be great to have butter in my food storage.

CANNING BUTTER


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## pmabma (Dec 4, 2008)

Thank you very much for sharing.


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## MaryV (Jan 31, 2009)

If you try it, I recommend a small trial run first, I did 4 jars using 3 3/4 lbs of butter. use a large pot to melt the butter as it froths up. When you put the jars in the fridge, watch it very carefully, like every few minutes shake each jar, cause it will just suddenly harden up into butter, and if it hasnt been shaken it will harden up in the separated state, i had one do that, but 3 jars are fine. so I am just using up the one that didnt do so great. Today I will do more. and 4 jars at a time is all I can handle in my small kitchen.
anyway, its a bit time consuming but not really hard. I cant believe the price we now pay for butter, its gone up a dollar a lb in just over a year.


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## MaryV (Jan 31, 2009)

this canned butter is really gross...I regret that I made so much of it, without trying it first...I will use it up for frying things, but after that, I wont make it again. Instead I will use the powdered butter for my food storage.


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

what's the shelf-life of the powdered butter, & how does it taste?


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## MaryV (Jan 31, 2009)

if you can get it in # 10 tins, I think its got a good long life, but in canada i can only get it in bags, so probably 2 yrs at most, not sure.
i havent used it yet, but will only buy one pkg, then I will try it, and IF i like it, then I will buy more...


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## TechAdmin (Oct 1, 2008)

The_Blob said:


> what's the shelf-life of the powdered butter, & how does it taste?


Never had it before, can you buy it at any store?

I wonder what the shelf life of canned butter, not powdered is.


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## SurvivalNut (Nov 13, 2008)

*Canned Butter*



Dean said:


> Never had it before, can you buy it at any store?
> 
> I wonder what the shelf life of canned butter, not powdered is.


Go to ebay and type in the search "canned butter". Two outfits sell it there. From there you can also find out the brands and widen your search, there is an online store as well.

It comes from New Zealand and the shelf life in "indefinite". They also have cheese.

My only knowledge of "indefinite" is how long the Army said they could keep me, I don't know how that translates into cheese and butter.....


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## SurvivalNut (Nov 13, 2008)

*Canned Butter*

Best Prices Storable Foods Shopping Cart powered by digiSHOP :: Shopping Cart Software & EcommerceProducts > Real Canned Butter

This place looks a little cheaper, sells samples and you don't have to do the auction thing


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## Herbalpagan (Dec 8, 2008)

I recieved this warning the other day from my local preppers network:

From the National Center for Home Preservation:

Should I use directions for canning butter at home that I see on the Internet?Indeed, there are some directions for 'canning' butter in circulation on the Internet. Most of what we have seen are not really canning, as they do not have Boiling Water or Pressure Canning processes applied to the filled jar. Jars are preheated, the butter is melted down and poured into the jars, and the lids are put on the jars. Some directions say to put the jars in the refrigerator as they re-harden, but to keep shaking them at regular intervals to keep the separating butter better mixed as it hardens. This is merely storing butter in canning jars, not ‘canning’. True home canning is when the food is heated enough to destroy or sufficiently acid enough to prevent growth of all spores of Clostridium botulinum (that causes botulism) and other pathogens during room temperature storage on the shelf. Additionally, when you consider the economics of the process (energy costs involved with heating, cost of jars and lids, etc.), even if the butter is bought on sale, it may not be economically viable to prepare butter to store for years in this manner. Good quality butter is readily available at all times, if butter is needed for fresh use. If the concern is about emergency food supplies, there are dry forms of butter that can be purchased and stored, oils that can be used in an emergency, or commercially canned butter in tins (although we have only seen this for sale from other countries). Melted and re-hardened butter may not function the same as original butter in many types of baking anyway. There are a few issues with the common directions circulating on the Internet at this time (Spring 2006):
Physical safety and food quality: In the provided directions, the jars are preheated in an oven (dry-heat), which is not recommended for canning jars. Manufacturers of canning jars do not recommend baking or oven canning in the jars. It is very risky with regard to causing jar breakage. There is no guarantee that the jars heated in this dry manner are sufficiently heated to sterilize them, as we do not have data on sterilizing jar surfaces by this dry-heating method.
The butter is not really being 'canned'; it is simply being melted and put in canning jars, and covered with lids. Due to some heat present from the hot melted butters and preheated jars, some degree of vacuum is pulled on the lids to develop a seal. It rarely is as strong a vacuum as you obtain in jars sealed through heat processing. The practice in these 'canned' butter directions is referred to as 'open-kettle' canning in our terminology, which is really no canning at all, since the jar (with product in it) is not being heat processed before storage.
Although mostly fat, butter is a low-acid food. Meat, vegetables, butter, cream, etc. are low-acid products that will support the outgrowth of C. botulinum and toxin formation in a sealed jar at room temperature. Low-acid products have to be pressure-canned by tested processes to be kept in a sealed jar at room temperature. It is not clear what the botulism risk is from such a high-fat product, but to store a low-acid moist food in a sealed jar at room temperature requires processing to destroy spores. A normal salted butter has about 16-17% water, some salt, protein, vitamins and minerals. Some butter-like spreads have varying amounts of water in them. We have no kind of database in the home canning/food processing arena to know what the microbiological concerns would be in a butter stored at room temperature in a sealed jar. In the absence of that, given that it is low-acid and that fats can protect spores from heat if they are in the product during a canning process, we cannot recommend storing butter produced by these methods under vacuum sealed conditions at room temperature.
Some other directions do call for 'canning' the filled jars of butter in a dry oven. This also is not 'canning'. There is not sufficient, research-based documentation to support that 'canning' any food in a dry oven as described on this web page or any page that proposes oven canning is even sufficient heating to destroy bacteria of concern, let alone enough to produce a proper seal with today's home canning lids. In conclusion, with no testing having been conducted to validate these methods, we would NOT recommend or endorse them as a safe home-canning process, let alone for storing butter at room temperature for an extended period. We do know that the methods given for preheating empty jars, or even filled jars, in a dry oven are not recommended by the jar manufacturers or by us for any food. Aside from the physical safety and quality issues, and the fact that it is not canning at all, if there happened to be spores of certain bacteria in there, these procedures will not destroy those spores for safe room temperature storage.


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## Hugh (Mar 25, 2009)

*Usli Ghee*



MaryV said:


> this canned butter is really gross...I regret that I made so much of it, without trying it first...I will use it up for frying things, but after that, I wont make it again. Instead I will use the powdered butter for my food storage.


I sympathise with you, many years ago I sampled army-issue field ration butter in a tube (a la toothpaste style) so I can imagine how awful 'canned' butter must taste. But try this idea, it may help to redeem a batch of butter which some unfortunate factory cows gave up so much for. You might even *love* the taste. Butter it is not... but delicious and useful it is.

You can make one of the very best cooking oils from butter, it is called "Usli Ghee" and your canning process nearly got there. The following guidelines will produce a delectable golden oil that sets solid at cool temps. It has good keeping qualities even when just stored in a regular jar on the kitchen bench so if it is properly 'canned' after making I'd expect the shelf-life to be further extended but I shall not attempt to quantify it. Impurities and water are removed leaving a pure oil so I think it would store better than butter which contains those extras. Usli Ghee also endures high cooking heats which would make solids in butter burn and taint the food.

Select a pot at least double the volume of the butter being processed.
Melt butter over gentle heat and when all is liquid raise the heat to medium.
As water is driven off the oil will foam up and occasionaly spit as it boils (hence the larger pot) and as this foaming subsides the solids will tend to settle out of the oil. Watch the pot carefully from this point onwards. It helps to push any remaining foam to the side so that the sediment can be seen through the clear oil. The aim is to develop a light golden-brown colour to the sediments which produces the exquiste flavour and aroma of a true Usli Ghee, as opposed to mere butter-oil. When the sediment nears this stage turn heat off and allow to cool, the cooking of the solids continues a little from the stored heat. When it is warm carefully pour the oil off the sediment which will be mostly adhering to the bottom of the pot. Decanting through a very fine stainless steel mesh skimmer is usefull to catch the few solids which may be loose.

The solids are discarded after allowing all the precious drops of Usli Ghee to drain from them in a warm place.

This makes the best cooking oil for authentic Indian (Hindi) cuisine, and it is so highly regarded on the sub-continent that it is even offered to Gods and gods, and used to light holy lamps in temples and homes. I learned this method from "Classic Indian Cooking" by Julie Sahni ISBN 0-688-03721-6; highly recommended to all lovers of spicy food (which need not be "hot" from much chilli).


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## Lucy (Mar 27, 2009)

I am sorry, but that is right about the butter not being safe to "can". Please, freeze the butter instead. It really can lead to botulism. 
I can explain a bit more in detail if anyone is interested about canning fats.


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## Herbalpagan (Dec 8, 2008)

This is what I have heard too Lucy. Home canned butter is not like the canned butter you can get on the web at survivalist sites. What you end up with is really a kind of clarified butter and though it will last a while because it is almost airtight, it will go off. It's a dairy product and will spoil or melt and remelt due to a change in temps.
You are much better off using a vacuum sealer with your butter and freezing it. Even freezing it, experts don't reccomend it for much past 6 months to a year.


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