Canning Butter

[hankpac]

The MRE Depot has canned butter with a long shelf life.

I am not sure I would try to do my own canning of butter, and we can food every year.

Smiling Redhead: Canning is done either by either of two methods:water bath (high acid foods like tomatoes) which takes foods up to past boiling, then as it cools, the jar pulls a vacuum, and the lid snaps sealed, while the rubber ring under the lid melts to form a tight seal. Good for storing garden products, about two years max: calls for some equipment.

Pressure: using a large pressure jars of cooked or raw foods are placed in the jars with lids, and pressured to a certain temp and pressure for a certain time, (according to a reference book) then set a side to cool and seal. This is the method for low acid foods and meats.

It is how all of your store bought canned products are produced.

If "No one" you know is doing this, your area has very poor skill sets, and you are NOT prepared for even a modicum of inconvenience.

Here is what the National Center For Home Food Preservation has to say about home canning butter. 1st the link, then the text:

National Center for Home Food Preservation | Canning FAQs

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.

Edited June 11, 2008 by hankpac

[hankpac]

btt

I added some solid info to my last post. Of course there are always people who will say they know better.

After 25 years practicing medicine, I learned (early on) that the phrase "In my experience..." means a limited scope of information, and too lazy to check the resources of info available.

Edited June 11, 2008 by hankpac

[kishtakaye]

Thanks for the recipe on how to can butter!!! i would have never thought that canning butter was possible. I found the best cook book to help me to figure out how to incorporate my food storage in to my daily cooking!

Simple Recipes Using Food Storage pick it up on line atCedar Fort, Inc - LDS Book Publisher, LDS Books, Mormon Books, LDS Gifts, LDS Art, LDS Jewelry, LDS Outlets and more. It tells you so much!!! like how to make baby formula, yougart and many other things!

[bayoumom]

the Scots have pickled eggs - being able to can stuff in the UK isn't easy as we are now advised even in church books not to can vegatables etc, so the equipment needed isn;t available I know my husband wanted to

-Charley

Do I understand you correct that the church is advising members not to can vegetables? If this is correct may I ask why? I am in the US and have not heard this.

[hankpac]

We can peas, green beans, carrots, beets, corn, Spinach and other greens, tomatoes, berries. You can also pickle then pressure can veges.

Read the Ball, Kerr or mason books, for technique, and equipment.

If you have a pressure canner you can can meats as well. Just don't try to can butter, the recipe above is dangerous.

I would have to actually SEE the books being referred to regarding a church prohibition for canning. I think this is spurious (that means I don't believe it).

Edited July 6, 2008 by hankpac

[bayoumom]

I'm really interested in canning meats (chicken, ground beef, roast beef). Can someone direct me? I don't have a canner yet, so spell it all out :) I need to know what are good cuts, do you precook or not, cook plain or season, how to store and length of times to store. How difficult is it?

Thanks

[hankpac]

Canning meats. so we don't hijack the butter thread.

I will start it, and I will post what I have there.

Edited July 6, 2008 by hankpac

[splendid2bme]

Yes you can 'can' butter but it is much much better and easier and so much tasier of you order it from Australia. The butter and cheese for that matter will last about 20 years on teh shelf.

We canned butter and though after 1 year it was not 'bad' it looked gross. So yes you can but there is a better way. I will have to get the company and it is shipped out of California. It is the best both the cheese and the butter. Commercially canned it safer, esp. with working with butter.

I'de love to hear more about the company you mentioned Abraham!

[hankpac]

Here is a source for commercially canned butter. this stuff is good.

Butter - Pure Creamery Canned Butter

if this is not a live link, copy and paste it into your address bar.

[skillyg]

canning butter is considered unsafe because of the risk of botulism. Even so, I have some on hand. I

think it would be better to process it in a water bath. I also have the commercially canned butter as well.

[marshac]

Here is a source for commercially canned butter. this stuff is good.

Butter - Pure Creamery Canned Butter

if this is not a live link, copy and paste it into your address bar.

I have a case of that stuff- it's super yummy butter!!! The color is different (more yellow) than the stick stuff I get at the store, but supposedly it's due to the fact that the cows in new zealand are all grass fed. Who knows- all I know is that it's good :)

[skillyg]

Yes, It is really good, but expensive. I plan to keep a good stock of it anyway, just in case I have a

problem with my home canned stuff. I haven't really put the home canned version to the test yet, but

I remain very hopeful that it will be good for a long time. Also, I recently learned how to dry can, and

I have canned Oreos, crackers and Fritos. It seems to work well. I fill sterilized jars with whatever I'm

canning and put a lid and a screw band on very loosely. I put the jars on a cookie sheet that is covered

with a towel and turn the oven to 230 degrees. When the oven reaches that temp. I start timing 30 min.

for quart jars. After 30 min. I take the jars out and screw the bands tight. They will seal in a few minutes. The jars have to be bone dry before filling.

[California_Dreaming]

I have been canning fresh tomatoes and pickles for a couple of years. Recently I saw a "clip" on one of my favorite shows (California Heartland) about "Master Food Preservers". I looked them up on the internet and found classes about to start. After attending only a small number of classes, I am amazed I didn't kill myself with food poisoning.

The Master Food Perservers are individuals trained by the University of California Ag Extension.

Their caution is not to accept information that is found on recipe sites. Go to organizations that test recipes like the University of California Ag Extension, the University of Georgia, or some other University Ag Extension.

I realize that this thread is on canning butter. So I will comment specifically on other threads. In the mean time, as an example, todays tomatoes have a different acid content the heirloom tomatoes and should be processed differently then Gramas recipe.

I did not know that one could can butter at home. I think that I will check out the university web sites and check their processing.

[California_Dreaming]

Just had a thought as a substitute for butter. When I was in college I worked in an Italian restaurant and for their garlic bread they spread cooking oil and then sprinkled on garlic powder. Put on enough garlic and you won't know your not eating butter.

[Donnagene]

I can get the sweet creamery canned butter mentioned above for $4.85 a can when I buy a case for $110.