DIY Canned Butter

[Thevail]

I read somewhere on this board that many people want to have canned butter in their stockpiles due to location, weather, or whatever.

Since I'd never heard of it, I thought I'd look it up.
I came across this article, thought it might be interesting for a lot of people here.

http://homecooking.about.com/od/dair.../bldairy50.htm

[mzpepper]

Thanks so much. That is about the simplest canning instructions I've ever seen. And I just got 2 cases of jelly jars given to me. Perfect timing.

[NewLeaf]

I am currently buying & collecting enough butter to do this project. I hope it goes on sale for Easter.

[quilting2day2]

I may have to try this also
Thanks

[LastDragonfly]

I've done it! IT WAS THE EASIEST THING I'VE EVER DONE!

I will upload a picture.

[LastDragonfly]

Ok, here is my canned butter.

Left-almost cool
right- still cooling

[pinetree]

Thanks, I'm going to try this!

[mommy4ever]

What does canned butter taste like? Does it change in flavor?

I would love to do this routinely when butter goes on sale. Just a few jars at a time. The storage life is great! I hate freezing butter as it always picks up some kind of flavor.

[LastDragonfly]

Mine has not changed in flavor. You don't have refrigerate after opening (which would be good during a power shortage)

[LastDragonfly]

I only do a lb at a time. It's kind of a filler activity for me. It doesn't take long and it's not messy.

[thefrug]

so, when a lb of butter is melted and boiled ( I'm guessing to take some of the water out of it), what size jar do they fit in? pints? jellies?

[mom2matty]

Thanks!! I've been wanting to do this!!

[Grainlady]

I keep powdered butter in my long-term storage area, as well as large quantities of coconut oil. Coconut oil has a longer shelf-life than shortening or vegetable oils and can be used for cooking, baking and as a bread spread.

As a trained home canning instructor, I'd suggest not using this method for butter preservation.

Here is information from the National Center for Home Food Preservation on the subject.

Q. Should I use directions for canning butter at home that I see on the Internet?

A. 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.

[Thevail]

hmmm...not disagreeing just a question..

Isn't it pretty hard for any germ or bacteria to survive boiling oil?

I can see where the lids not being properly sealed might be an issue.

[monkeywrangler71]

hmmm...not disagreeing just a question..

Isn't it pretty hard for any germ or bacteria to survive boiling oil?

I can see where the lids not being properly sealed might be an issue.

Germs and bacteria, yes, but spores are very hard to destroy.