Canning butter

This is something that I have been curious about...but somewhere inside the USDA approved canner in me has just never allowed me to cross that line and do it.

Last year I crossed that line and canned our excess goat milk. It has been a lifesaver this year with us taking in 2 very large hungry buck kids. I canned 30-40 jars of milk last year...and not one went bad. I used both BWB and PC techniques, and the BWB worked fine for this purpose without carmelizing the milk too much.

So I took the plunge....

Our local grocer has butter on sale for $2/pound. I bought 5 pounds today and this is how I'm canning it. I'll crack open a jar tomorrow and see if it is worth going back for more to do. There are a number of websites that give similar instructions...this is what I did today...

First, scrub your jars (I did a dozen half-pint jars for 5# of butter). Then place them in a roasting pan with rack into a 250ºF oven. Bring a pan of water to boil on the stove, reduce heat to a simmer and add the jar lids.

Then, with 5# of butter, place it into a pan and very slowly bring it up to a boil...stirring frequently; be sure that it does not scorch! Once it has boiled, stir and simmer it for at least 10 minutes. The butter will go through changes, from watery and greasy, and filmy.....back to creamy after a nice long simmer.

Ladle the butter into your hot jars...they will sizzle when you first add the butter.....
Fill the jars to about 3/4" head space....top them off until you are just past the thick line on the neck of the jar.....

Cap the jars and allow them to begin cooling on a rack.... Once they begin to "ping"....gently shake them. The point here is to keep the butter an even consistency, without breaking the seal.. Which I did...the unmistaken sound of a seal giving way as the boiling contents leak throuh...not a pretty sound...

So gently shake them every 10 mins or so to allow the butter to set up evenly.

Once the jars are barely warm, place in the refrigerator and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Shake, and then set the timer for another 5 minutes. Continue for about an hour....so the instructions say. I will admit that my #2 fridge is much colder than the average fridge..and it only took 4 shakes...aka 20 minutes. I am leaving the jars in there for good measure...but there is no shaking a solid.

I will try to update tomorrow with the results...so far so good!