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Home Canned Butter
Has anyone tried this?
Home Canned Butter -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Canning butter at home is easy and inexpensive. Anyone who can boil water has all the skills necessary to preserve butter at home. You need a few supplies first: Fresh Water Big Pot Medium Pot Canning jars, lids & bands (from the store) Tongs Ladle Funnel Dish Cloth Good Quality Fresh Butter, with salt added First get your canning jars. I use small wide-mouth jars that hold 8-oz each. You can buy them at Walmart or get them from you great Aunt Matilda, or you may have some around the house already. Do not use mayonnaise jars or peanut butter jars. You want real canning jars. Depending on how much butter you think you will be able to use before it spoils, you may choose from a variety of jar sizes. The smallest are 4-ounce, and will hold 1 stick of butter. 8-ounce jars will hold 2 sticks of butter and pint or 16-ounce jars will hold 1 pound of butter. I prefer to use 4 and 8-ounce jars for canning butter. This is a reasonable amount for me to use up after I've opened up the jar. Now, wash all of your canning jars and lids and bands. If you buy the jars at the store, they come with lids and bands. If you get them from Aunt Matilda, then go to the store and buy new lids and bands. Allow the jars to air dry. Bring a big pot of water to a boil. Place the canning jars inside the pot and let them come to a boil with the water. Allow each jar to become totally immersed in the boiling water for about a minute. Use your tongs to remove the jars and set them on a clean dishcloth, upside down, to dry. Continue until all of your jars have been boiled. Now turn off the flame under the boiling pot. Gently slip the lids and bands into the almost boiling water. Allow them to sit for a bit and then take them out with the tongs and put them on the dish cloth next to the jars. Now, in the medium sized pot melt your butter. Unwrap all of the butter that you wish to preserve. Each pound of butter will fill two 8-ounce jars. Each stick of butter will fill one 4-ounce jar. I usually process 4 pounds at a time. Heat the butter over medium low. Allow it to melt and bubble gently. The butter will foam on top, that is normal. Simmer the butter for 5 to 10 minutes to get rid of any excess moisture. Dip the ladle & funnel into the hot water to make sure they are sterile. Allow them to air dry. Place the funnel into a jar. Ladle up the butter into jar, until it's mostly full. Do not overfill. You want about 1/2-inch of empty space at the top of each jar. Go on to the next jar and fill it the same way. Continue until all of your jars are full and your butter is used up. Now place a lid and a band on each jar. Screw them down firmly, but not overly tight. Allow the jars to sit overnight. They will seal automatically and the butter will harden. If you get a chance, shake the butter briskly while it's cooling, to emulsify it and make it creamy. This isn't necessary, but it makes the butter pretty. Store your butter in a cool place, preferably not close to the stove. I've heard that it will keep for 3 years this way, but I would stick with 2 years to be on the safe side. Be sure to label and date the jars with a permanent marker. Because of the cost and time invested in canned butter, I prefer to use it solely as a spread. For all baking and even seasoning vegetables I use butter flavored shortening. This makes the butter last a lot longer. http://frugalabundance.com/homecannedbutter.htm |
Re: Home Canned Butter
thanks for posting. The link looks like it has lots of useful knowledge. I have been looking for canned butter without success.
I am impressed that it can store for 2 years. I can get catering size portions so am keen to try it. I have things like ghee which is purified butter, however it is not useable as a spread or pastry ingredient. |
Re: Home Canned Butter
This looks interesting as well...
Blender Margarine 2/3 cup instant nonfat dry milk powder 2 packets Butter Buds, dry butter flavoring (optional, for flavor) 1/4 teaspoon salt 2/3 cup fresh water 4 drops yellow food coloring (optional, for color) 1-1/2 cups corn oil or other good tasting vegetable oil This is one of those cool recipes that makes you feel like an alchemist in the kitchen. You do need a blender to make this recipe. Non-electric blenders can be found at www.Lehmans.com or by Googling Hand Crank Blenders. A regular electric blender will work too. Begin by measuring the dry milk powder, Butter Buds, salt and fresh water into the blender. Add the food coloring if you are using it and process the mixture for a few seconds. Remove the center of the blender lid. With the blender running, dribble in the oil in a thin stream. This is important. If you dump the oil all in at once, the recipe won't turn out, so add the oil slowly. The mixture will thicken and become very creamy. When all of the oil has been added the mixture will be very thick. Turn the blender off. Scrape the margarine into a resealable container. You should have about 2-cups of margarine or the equivalent of a pound. The flavor of the oil is very important to this recipe. Only use fresh, high quality oil. Corn oil tastes good, as does safflower oil. Canola oil will work also, but I do not recommend soybean oil. I made it with soybean oil the first time because I had a big gallon of it I was trying to use up. The recipe turned out fine, but didn't have the delicacy of flavor that it did when made with corn oil. I would not use olive oil in this recipe. If you do not have Butter Buds, then increase the salt to 1/2-teaspoon. Butter Buds give the margarine a light, buttery flavor that I enjoy, but not everyone does. Use this margarine as a spread and for seasoning vegetables. Do not use it for frying or baking. The water content makes it spatter when frying, and makes cakes fall when baking. |
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canned butter
http://www.internet-grocer.net/butter.htm I have not tried it, but I have a couple of friends who swear by it. For ANYONE who is still eating margarine, try this test. Take one tub of margarine and remove the top. Place it in your garage or some other place that you can watch what happens. NOT EVEN FLIES WILL EAT MARGARINE! And flies eat feces. Figure it out for yourself... |
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Some people swear by this recipe, but the official line is that it is NOT safe. I personally wouldn't do it because of the risk of botulism. From a canning perspective it's pure insanity. Its impossible for food to be sterile if it is open to the outside air for even a split second. Try canning anything else by boiling it and pouring it into a jar. It will be spoiled within a couple days. Butter just happens to last a very long time unrefriderated, I leave it on the counter sometimes weeks on end and it still tastes fine.
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Re: Home Canned Butter
I wonder if anyone has tried to can lard/fat/drippings.
I keep a jar to dump the fat into when I drain meat, and sometimes I'll scoop back out of it if I want some nice flavored fat to cook with. I keep the jar in the fridge, and I'd like to figure out a way to can it. |
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My mother has been canning beef drippings for years. No idea if or what for she ever uses it, but I'll ask her next time I see her. Her pantry is stacked with the stuff, she was a war baby so maybe that explains the hoarding!
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That butter, Red Feather, is very good indeed. Though the shelf life is probably not as long as claimed and it should be stored in a very cool place. There have been threads before about the home butter canning. The consensus of opinion is that this could be the fast track to food poisoning when you least need it. |
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I have Red Feather butter that is maybe a tad over a year old and it already tastes funny compared to my new cans. I'm not too happy either considering the companies selling it claim it basically lasts forever, which flies in the face of everything known about fats and food storage. Luckily I was a bit skeptical of thier shelf life claims so I only bought a case and a half. Just something to keep in mind if you plan to load up on it. It may be edible for years, but that doesn't mean it will taste like it did when you bought it.
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The only butter I use is clarified, and if I were to can it, it would also be clarified. Taking out the milk solids not only increases shelf life, but allows you to cook at higher temperatures without burning...when cooking with butter it is the milk solids that burn, not the butter fat.
Also, when I make clarified butter and see all the sticky milk solids left in the pan, I think to myself that shite could be sticking to the insides of my blood vessels. Clarified butter is actually healthy and absorbs vital nutrients, along with being lactose free and non hydrogenated. It is easy to make clarified butter, and for canning you can bring the temperature as high as needed for proper canning with no damage to the product. |
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Is the "funny" taste really that bad? |
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I canned about 6 pints of butter back in march. I should go crack one open to see how it taste. I really only did it as an experiment since I dont use canned butter day to day(i always have about 5 pounds on hand at any given time between the fridge and freezer)
Ata is right though, clarified butter is very good and is defently a good route to go. But the milk solids wont go sticking to your blood vessels. Theyll get digested and broken down just like everything else. Clarified butter is no 'healthier' in that you are still eating upwards of 80% fat, its all in how your body processes that fat. |
Re: Home Canned Butter
I opened a jar of butter that I canned in March, 2006, just for kicks. It looked fine when I opened it. It did not smell funny. I buttered a slice of bread. It did not taste like fresh creamery butter. Nor did it taste bad. It was smooth and was much more agreeable than dry bread.
The next time I can butter, I think I'll can ghee and strain out all the milk solids. But, I haven't collapsed, gone into cardiac arrest, or even suffered indigestion. So, I personally think that canning butter/ghee is not a bad way to preserve butter when it goes on sale at a really ridiculously low price--like $1.50 a pound--and it always does. |
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My understanding, and please correct me if I'm wrong, is that clarified butter is butter that has been melted and the stuff floating on top has been skimmed away. Ghee is clarified butter that has been heated until the milk solids that sank to the bottom have browned (and these have been filtered out) and the water boiled away. The claim is that with ghee the butter flavor is intensified (from the browned solids that were filtered out) and 1/4 the amount of ghee will substitute for butter without all the fat. Because you've eliminated so much fat with ghee, it will keep at room temperatures. In the fullness of time, we'll see. I've opened a full pint of canned butter and I intend to use it... in cooking, flavoring veggies, etc. |
Re: Home Canned Butter
When you say that 1/4th the amount of ghee will substitute for butter, I presume you mean in terms of flavor. Fat is fat, more or less, so if you need 1/4 cup of fat, it's the same calories whether it's corn oil, olive oil, butter, shortening, or ghee, right? Or am I missing something?
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To make clarified butter (ghee), I usually do 2 lbs at a time since it takes some effort to make it, but it is a simple process. Put the butter in a medium sized saucepan on medium heat. Bring it to a gentle boil and boil off the moisture (until no slight steam is rising any longer). It will foam up on top, I used to skim that off but after some experience I have found it isn't necessary, it will sink to the bottom after boiling for while. You can boil it until the milk solids on the bottom turn light brown or just before that point. If you brown the solids, it will impart a pleasant slight nutty taste, but if you want it as mild as possible, take it off the heat when the butterfat is clear and all the solids are sticking to the bottom. Let it sit until it is just warm, and then pour it through a sieve with a couple of layers of cheesecloth. That's it...I store mine in a Pyrex glass on container with a tight lid...it will softly solidify when it is cool...but melts perfectly clear with no residue. Keeps perfect on the counter. |
Re: Home Canned Butter
Thank you for the process information. I will try this to see if I like it.
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I'm going to try it both ways... barely browned and fully browned, so I can taste the difference.
So is this a less saturated fat once it has been clarified? |
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http://www.pukkaherbs.com/file/b2671...s-of-ghee.html The virtues of Ghee 13th of September 2007 * Press Ctrl+D to bookmark * Email to a friend Ghee contains a balance of easy to digest essential fatty acids essential for healthy skin, nerves & cells. ‘Ghee is sweet in taste and cooling in energy, rejuvenating, good for the eyes and vision, enkindles digestion, bestows lustre and beauty, enhances memory and stamina, increases the intellect, promotes longevity, is an aphrodisiac and protects the body from various diseases’ Bhavaprakasha (16th Century Ayurvedic text) Extolling the wondrous benefits of ghee fats may appear contradictory. We know that poor quality fats (i.e. non organic, heat treated, solvent extracted, transfatty, hydrogenated) can cause the production of free radicals that cause oxidative damage to cells. This means that poor quality fats damage our health However, fats are essential to life. The vital substances vitamin A, D, E and K are only made available to the body when taken with fats. Fats also provide essential fatty acids (EFAs). They are essential because the body cannot make them and we need them to live. EFAs (Omega 3 and 6) are now famed for their ability to provide anti-inflammatory eicosanoids, assist with inter cellular signalling and regulate DNAs production of inflammatory cytokines. In general fats help to nourish the skin, cell membrane and hair. Fats help to protect the internal organs, maintain a healthy body temperature, store energy and nourish the brain. Fats are divided into saturated and un-saturated fats: Saturated fats have a bad public image as excessive consumption of them has become associated with an increased risk of atherosclerosis, stroke and coronary heart disease. There is a controversy regarding these findings as much research has not differentiated between true saturated fats and synthetically generated saturated transfatty acids. However, this is a misunderstanding of the nature of the saturated fats as some are healthy, such as ghee and coconut oil. Saturated fats are made from both short chain fatty acids and long chain fatty acids. Short chain fatty acids are easy to digest whereas long chain fatty acids are not. Long chain fatty acids are associated with blood clotting, thrombosis and cancer. So, short chain fatty acids are healthy and help to promote the production of hormones and strengthening cellular membranes. Unsaturated fats are divided into monounsaturated fats (olive, mustard) and polyunsaturated fats (sesame, sunflower). Both are required for healthy life. Polyunsaturated fats that are not handled properly pose a health risk as their cell structure leaves many ‘bond’ sites that are potential sites for oxidisation to occur. Essentially this means that under the right conditions (i.e. heat, light) they can become oxidised and, when consumed, allow for the release of free radicals in the body. Sesame does not become oxidised under heat, its linoleic acid content actually improves its anti-oxidant status but hemp seed does oxidise easily under heat and light. Certain polyunsaturated fats are intentionally hydrogenated to make margarine which contains up to 40% transfatty acids. Transfatty acids are not found in nature and are associated with an accumulation of the potentially harmful LDL and the increased risk of heart disease. Also lipid peroxides (oxidised lipids) actually take up residence on cell walls and obstruct the correct working metabolisms of cells. Why is ghee so healthy? Ghee’s chemistry holds the secret to its health benefits. Humans need both saturated and unsaturated fats as part of a healthy diet. Ghee is made from a combination of saturated and unsaturated fats. It is about 65% saturated fat and 25% monounsaturated fat with about 5% polyunsaturated fat content. Its saturated fat is primarily (89%) made from the easy-to-digest short chain fatty acids and it contains 3% linoleic acid which has anti-oxidant properties. It also contains the fat soluble vitamins Vitamin A, D, E and K. Because ghee has such a high ‘smoke point’ (485�F or 252�C) it is a very useful oil to cook with. The smoke point determines when an oil actually starts to burn and generate oxidisation and the potential of free radicals. As it has a very low oxidisation rate ghee stays fresh even unrefrigerated for a long time. Another benefit of using ghee is that the heating procedure removes the lactose content making it tolerable to those sensitive to lactose. It has been suggested that ghee actually benefits the HDL:LDL ratio. One study has even shown that ghee can lower high cholesterol. As part of a lacto-vegetarian diet ghee offers important nutritive benefits. As a healthy oil ghee can help replace oxidised fats populating cell membranes and help the body in maintaining a low state of oxidation. |
Re: Home Canned Butter
Thanks for the link. I'm officially intrigued. I have three pounds of butter in the freezer, so I'll be trying this within the next few days.
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