Canned Butter

Okay, I had a few questions from some of you and I'm going to try and answer them. First, Natalie canned her butter and gave a jar to each of her sister-in-laws. It turned out great! I don't know what I did to mine, but mine is still kind of liquid. It's slowly turning solid, but her's is already solid. So I'm going to give you the directions she followed to do hers. As to the questions about putting it in your garage - depends on how hot it gets there in the summer. Around here I wouldn't put my food storage in the garage - it's too hot and it needs to be kept at a decent temperature to stay good. So I would keep it in the pantry and rotate it and use it. Canned butter is suppose to have a 2-3 year shelf life (some web sites say 3-5 years)- alot better than in the freezer, plus it takes up space in there. I would can some and have some in the freezer too. I haven't used my canned butter yet - but I plan on it within the next month. So here's the directions that Natalie gave her sister-in-laws to do their own canned butter.

Use pint size mason jars and plan for a little less than 1 lb of butter to fit in a jar. Example: if canning 10 lbs of butter, use 11 jars.
Wash the jars and lids beforehand, the dishwasher is easy, then place the jars in the oven at 250 for 30 minutes (if butter is not ready yet, jars can stay in oven). The lids and rings go into simmering water until ready to use.
Slowly heat the butter to boiling and simmer for at LEAST 5 minutes. (It does foam, so use a deep pan to avoid boiling out) This is to help with keeping the butter from separating in the jar. Stir often to keep butter from burning. (You will have to stir it the whole 5 minutes or it will burn)
When the jars and butter are ready, pour the butter into the jars leaving about 1/2"-3/4" space for shaking. Wipe top of jars clean and place the lids on and secure with rings. Use a towel or something to hold the jars and shake them every 5 minutes, or so, as they cool to keep the butter from separating. You'll hear the lids "ping" as they cool and seal. Once they have sealed and are still slightly warm, put them in the fridge to cool a little faster, shaking every 5-10 minutes. Once the butter has solidified that's it.

I would mark the lids with the date. If you want smaller portions, you can also use half pint jars. And then start using your butter and rotating it when it's on sale! Simple and easy! Hope that helps! Happy canning!

You can buy canned butter in small cans, but it's expensive compared to doing your own!