Also see Bottled Butter Part 2 here.
Update 11/24: word from our local extension agent that bottling butter is not safe due to it not getting hot enough to kill botulism . . . guess I won’t be doing more unless I figure out another way to do it or find out otherwise. We got the instructions to do it from a food storage book, so just figured it had been checked out.
Another Update 12/29: The butter jars do not seal well. I’ve eaten all the butter I canned (I put it in the fridge as soon as I learned aobut the botulism threat) and have been able to reuse the lids to can other foods (this indicates that they did not use their sealing properties well the first time around). My sister bottled butter in Louisiana and hers was all rancid and growing green stuff within 2 weeks (most things in Louisiana grow green stuff within 2 weeks, but if a bottle is sealed properly it should stay good).
Now here’s the original post anyway, but I would NOT recommend doing it:
Today we bottled butter. Yep, butter. Now I have lovely jars of butter on my shelf that don’t need refrigeration until they are opened. Crazy. Here’s how it’s done:
Step 1: Wash jars and put them in the oven on 200 degrees.
Step 2: Melt the butter in a pot on LOW. You don’t want to cook it, just melt it. 1 pound (1 box) of butter fills 1 pint. We did quite a few jars today and ended up with extra butter, so be prepared with an extra jar or two if you’re doing more than a couple of pounds of butter. Half pints also work well–1/2 lb butter per half pint.
Step 3: While the butter is melting and the jars are warming, put your canning lids and rings in a pot, cover them with water and heat ’em up (low heat also).
Step 4: When the butter is melted, pour it into the hot jars, put on the hot lids and screw on the hot rings.
Step 5: Set on the counter to cool. The lids will seal and the butter will separate as it cools on the counter. Here’s butter just poured into the jars . . .
And here it is about 15 minutes later when it was at room temperature:
Step 6: When the jar has sealed and the butter is about room temperature, shake the jar and put it in the refrigerator. Continue shaking every 10 minutes until the butter hardens (about 1 hour). Remove from fridge and put it on your shelf. Lovely, isn’t it?
Bottled butter has an official shelf life of 2-3 years, but some have reported butter 6 years old in perfect condition. This butter still has the milk solids, fats, etc. so does need to be kept cool once it is opened just like butter out of the package.
Keep preparing! Angela
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This is the coolest thing ever. Does it matter what kind of butter? Salted/unsalted, etc? I am sooooo bottling butter this weekend. I might call you if I get lost.
Nope, doesn’t matter if it’s salted or unsalted. I used the salted kind and we had a mix of brands and they all worked fine. Too bad you live so far away, you could come over–I’m going to do some more.
I need to try this. I would hate to be without butter.
Emily
Well great… now I have five pints of bottled botulism butter!
Now I just need recipes that call for TONS of butter so I can use it up quickly!
I pressure can butter. This does eliminate the botulism issue.
So what’s the final verdict on canning butter? Deadly or doable? Chef Tess says pressure canning hers eliminates the threat of botulism. Do we know this for sure?
I have a few ladies coming over next month and we’re supposed to “can” butter, but now I don’t know if it’s such a good idea.
Any suggestions?
the way you canned your butter it is only good for 12 month’s at most if kept in a cool dark location. You need to skim all the fat off and then filter through something like a coffee filter to remove all traces of the butter fat. then reheat whats left and can that. This is called ghee and if done right can stay canned on your shelf for 10 years. But you have to keep everything very clean and all butter fat must be removed. It’s a lot of work but so worth having real butter for long term storage.
Thank you for putting the warnings up on top of the recipe but I feel like you should take the recipe down since it isn’t a USDA tested and approved canning recipe.
you don’t need to take this post down,
but modify it and let everyone know you can clarify your butter, then can it, same as ghee, then pressure cook it for about 20min. I too am anxious to try this recipe, there are people
out there who have safely done this and used 9 year old canned butter.
Would it change the botulism threat if the butter was 100% homemade?
No. Homemade butter is a viscous fatty substance just like store bought butter. Same risks.
This was the first I’ve ever herd of doing this anyway though I’ve wanted to try making my own butter!