1. You must use salted butter. 11 lbs will fill 12 pint jars.
2. Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Place cleaned pint size jars in oven for 20 minutes, without rings or seals. One pound of butter more than fills one pint jar.
3. While jars are in oven, melt butter in a pot slowly until it comes to a slow boil. Stir well, being sure to get bottom of the pot often to keep the butter from scorching. Reduce heat, and simmer for at least 5 minutes. Place the lids in a small pot and bring to a boil, leaving the lids in simmering water until needed.
4. With sterilized spoon, take white foam off top of clarified butter. Pour melted clarified butter carefully into sterilized jars through a canning jar funnel. Leave ½ to ¾ ” of head space in the jar, which allows room for the shaking process.
5. Carefully wipe off the top of the jars. Then get a hot lid from the simmering water, add the lid and ring, and secure each gently.
6. Fill canning pot 1/3 full for pint size jars. Turn burner on. Put butter jars into canning pot and secure it shut. Turn the heat to high. After the air vent button pops up and steam starts rolling out loudly, I start timing. Since the jars were sterilized and the butter boiled I only canned for 20 min. If I had not boiled the butter in advance it would take 60 minutes in the canner.
7. Turn heat off under canning pot. Let cool. It may take a while. Do not ever try to open a canning pot lid until the air vent button has gone down. After the button goes down, it should be safe to slowly open the lid. SLOWLY. As soon as it opens, you will start to hear pings. This means they are sealing.
8. Once in a while you’ll have a jar not seal. You check the seal by pressing the center, it should not give at all. If one gives, use that one for this week’s butter.
9. While cooling, shake once an hour until it looks uniform. You can put it in the refrigerator to make this process go faster.
10. I store my butter in a cool place in our cellar.
Let me make it perfectly clear that canning butter has not been proven to be safe by the USDA. You should research canning butter before beginning this adventure.
After item has been in storage for a while check these things:
1. Is it still sealed?
2. Does it have mold on it inside or out?
3. Does it look odd in any way?
4. Does it have an off odor
5. If it is not sealed or any of the above occur, throw it away
If all looks perfect, but you still want assurance, boil your canned butter for 30 min’s.
People have been canning for many years. It wasn’t until this past century that people started to lose their heritage of preserving food.
People have been canning successfully since the 1800’s.
For safety’s sake, please read what the USDA has to say on the subject of canning butter at home. Much of this is because they haven’t run tests on these processes themselves and therefore cannot vouch for their safety. Please read HERE and decide for yourself before proceeding to can butter at home.
Sharon’s Canned Butter
Use sterilzed jars, make sure they aren’t chipped on the rim