Friday, 28 February 2020

The Vicky Challenge 2020. Canning Butter by Vicky.

I cannot manage a Feather your Nest Friday post this week and only thanks to Vicky we have a Vicky Challenge post!

Andy has been really ill.  He was air lifted in the air ambulance with a perforated bowel.  So this was an emergency situation.  We really didn't know what was wrong at first and it was sudden and a shock.   He left in the air ambulance Monday and today (now Friday night) we are just home.  And he is doing well!   I don't know how many hours I was on the road this week but it was a lot. Six today alone!  So this is why I cannot even manage my Friday post and why I am behind on replies and correspondence so please accept my apologies.

I hope it was a better week for you!  We can report on our weeks and our Vicky Challenge savings all in one place.  I am so glad to be home and catch up with everyone.

Two weeks ago Vicky posted on the possibilities of Pressure Canning.  This is something I had not really considered.   When she said butter is one thing you are able to can I realised diary products canned would be very useful.   So Vicky very kindly canned some butter in order to make up a tutorial.  I hope this will be useful information to lots of you.   Our discussion two weeks ago was an introduction and I shared photos of commercially canned butter which is very expensive.  So canned butter is available and I believe was also part of rations for soldiers in war time.   In hard times I am imagining some stored butter would be such a luxury!
Over to Vicky...


Let's talk canning! 

This time we are canning butter. You will need to decide for yourself if this is something you will like to do because it isn't conventional, but there are many that do. My great grandmother and aunt and grandmother canned butter. It has not been tested mainly because of the availability of fresh butter. Some preppers, homesteaders and off - gridders can a year's supply of butter so let's look at a few things before you decide if this is for you or not. I have been doing research just to make sure of things and in my opinion the older generation may not have had the modern things we do, but they certainly were not stupid. 
The following is on the Red feather website:

There is no Expiration Date written in stone, because the shelf life depends largely on the storage conditions (temperature, humidity, altitude, sunlight/shade, etc.).  We do guarantee the shelf life for two years however, the actual shelf life of the butter will ultimately be determined by the storage conditions (temperature being the main factor) and the seal on the can remaining intact and therefore protecting the butter from the introduction of oxygen.  After this, one can expect some nutritional value loss, although it will be edible, provide fat and calories in an emergency, and still be perfectly safe to eat if the cans remain sealed. 
And here is one from Wisegeek:
Canned butter is real butter that is sealed in a can or Mason jar. Its history dates back to the late 1800s. The non-perishable nature of this product allows it to be stored and consumed in situations where regular butter could not be.
And another I read from a college that tests things said your not really canning butter, just storing it in mason jars. 
And the CDC has a few references about canning. 
Now for the science part. Butter has a pH of 6.1-6.8 which means it's acidic. Kind of surprising isn't it? 
Now to can:
I used 8 stick of salted butter which gave 5 half pints of canned. 




Wash your jars in hot water and make sure to dry them well, you don't want any water in the jars. 
Preheat oven to 250 degrees and place the jars on a baking sheet. Once the oven is up to temperature shut it off and put the jars in the oven. We are only keeping the jars warm and sterile. 




Wash lids and rings, drying well and lay on a clean towel to be ready for the jars of butter. And get the pressure canner water simmering so it's ready for the hot jars of butter.
Put your sticks of butter in a pan on low heat to melt. 




Once melted turn the heat up to medium and stirring often so it doesn't burn let the butter come to the start of a boil. When you see a few good bubbles pop shut the heat off and start filling your jars. Be sure to stir each time before filling the next jar because as we heat it the milk solids separate. You will see them in the bottom of the jar after it's filled and that's ok. After the jars are filled leaving a one inch headspace wipe the rims and put on the lids and rings. 




Put the jars in the pressure canner, put on the lid and let it vent for 10 minutes then put on the weight.



 We will be doing 10 pounds of pressure. As soon as the canner has built up the 10 pounds and your weight starts rocking shut it off and leave it. 



As soon as the pressure has released and you can safely remove the lid take the jars out and place wherever you want them to start cooling. 
This part is very important! You have to shake the jars every 15 minutes to keep the butter solids mixed in the liquids. So every 15 minutes shake, shake, shake. I used oven mitts until the jars were cool enough to handle without them. You can put them in the fridge when the jars are cool enough, but you really have to keep an eye on them and shake them every 5 minutes or so because the butter can harden pretty quick that way. So for me I just kept shaking them every 15 minutes and voila canned butter! 


Any questions you may have I will gladly answer and I will have additional information in the comment section as well.
XOXO
Vicky


Thank you Vicky!  The end result looks so good!   Last year there were butter shortages in many places plus massive price rises.  Imagine having your own canned butter in your pantry! 

Now I do not have much to report as my week is a blur!  BUT on Monday before all this happened I had been in the town and I did a big stock up.  I also looked for an ironing board as with my sewing of late suddenly I need to iron.  No I normally don't iron and didn't even have an iron or ironing board!  In town the cheapest ironing board was over $100.  So forget it.  For that I would want someone to do the ironing to be included.   But I got one from an op shop for $12 and it is a beauty!  Also it has a thick padded cover that is perfect.  So that was a saving right there of $88. 

How did you build up your home and save this week?  
If you have any questions for Vicky I know she will help you.

My dream for tomorrow is to sleep in then begin to catch up!  Have a lovely weekend! xxx

37 comments:

  1. Dear Annabel, so pleased to hear that Andy is doing well. What a relief for you all. It must have been a worrying time for all your family!I bet you were able to grab one of your 'emergency bags' and run out the front door, jump in the car, and take off for Adelaide. Take time out this week to catch your breath, have some R&R, and put you and your family first. They are so important. Regards Robyn S.A

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  2. Sending you much love and encouragement, Annabel. Glad you and Andy are home.
    Grace always.
    Patricia/USA

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  3. Dear Annabel, Vicky and Bluebirds!!

    Oh Vicky, I love this post about canning butter! I have been reading about commercially canned butter, and am impressed. I don’t know why they don’t reply to an inquiry, though! It also reminds me of lemon butter/curd in a jar!

    I had a very difficult week that ended up being full of treasures! As part of this, Vicky, I was given my first, very own, six month old sheep! It is a pet which needed to be rehomed after neighbours complained about it bleating!! Then, late this afternoon, to finish off the week, the Almighty sold our wrecked car (mainly for the engine value), so now that money can be used for a home industry project! I will rejoice, for the Almighty has made me glad!!

    Rachel

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    1. Rachel,
      I'm not sure why they don't reply, but I have read several articles saying they don't.
      You have a sheep! That is so wonderful and Lol can help with the grass and weeds. And I am so very glad your wrecked car sold, every bit helps!
      XOXO
      Vicky

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  4. Can you just put them on the shelf when they are done or do they need to go in the refrigerator? Looks pretty easy. I make clarified butter that can just stay in a jar, no canning necessary, but would love to have some real butter canned also.

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    1. Barbara,
      They are shelf ready you will just need to be sure they are in a cool dry place. If where you store them has a lot of light then a box or towel to cover them is a good idea. Good job on the clarified butter!
      XOXO
      Vicky

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  5. So happy that Andy is home and doing well. Prayers for your family.

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  6. Oh my! Praying for Andy's complete recovery and for a bit of time for you to catch your breath! I can't imagine how frightening this must have been for you.

    Many thanks to Vicky for taking all the time to take pictures and write out the information.

    Much as I love all your posts, Annabel, please don't feel pressured to jump right back in to blogging. You just experienced a life changing event. Not many have to stand by helplessly and watch a helicopter whisk a loved one away. We did with our daughter-in-love but praise God she is okay.
    With love,
    Cheri

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    1. Cheri,
      Your very welcome.
      XOXO
      Vicky

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  7. Annabelle: that must have been a traumatic situation for you and Andy. So glad you are home and Andy is doing well. Get your rest and don't worry about us. We aren't going anywhere :). Vicky: thank you for the butter canning information. Your instructions are very clear and I feel confident to go ahead with this new (for me) project. I've been storing my butter waiting for that so now I can proceed!

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    1. Pam,
      Lol it is fun to learn new things! I have more info in my comment as well.
      XOXO
      Vicky

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  8. Dear Annabel and Vicky, Glad to hear that Andy is doing well and is home. What a scare! Thank you Vicky for the instructions on the butter canning. Am I right in the post that you said there is no processing? Just bring up to pressure and then turn it off? A little confused about this step.

    Annabel you got a great deal on the iron and yes they can be very expensive! I have a Rowenta, it is a heavy iron. It was a bit much when I bought it but I love it. Have a good rest.

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    1. Laurie,
      Yes you bring it up to pressure then shut it off. There will still be pressure in the canner until it is let off. I have additional info in my own comment as well. I didn't want the post to be too long.
      XOXO
      Vicky

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  9. Dear Annabel, So happy to hear that Andy is recovering well and that you both are home. Please take time to care for yourself as well. Love, hugs and blessings. Shirley in PNW USA.

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  10. Oh Annabel, what a week. I am so glad Andy it doing well. Just catch up and rest and no worries about replies or anything else. Hugs!

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  11. Oh how scary. Glad he is better. Now rest

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  12. Oh Annabel, prayers for rest and recovery for you and Andy
    Sarah

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  13. What a fright for you with Andy! So glad he is now able to be back home!
    I got 15 pounds of already chopped onions from my produce market ($1/5 pound bag)for just $3 total! All I did was spread them on my dehydrator trays and start it up. The final batch is drying now! Those are SO handy to have on the shelf!
    I bought more butter - 5 pounds - on sale again this weekend for $1.99/pound! My Kroger’s and also Aldis have had sales over the last 2 months at least 3 times so my storage is set for the next 6 months!
    I was able to find (2) one gallon jugs of milk marked down to $1.69 each and there sell by date was March 9th!!! I like to keep 2 gallons in the house- 1 in kitchen fridge and a replacement 1 in basement fridge.
    I have another $85 coming in today as payment for some things I made using only scraps! Nice way to use up some narrow remnants of batting that was on Lenni! Apparently, my Scrappy bags are getting popular again!
    Was able to make an additional principal payment on mortgage as well as add quite a bit in excess zero out money this week into our savings account.
    Now, I just need to finish getting my taxes ready to file!

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  14. What a scary situation for you all - glad Andy is home and on the way to recovery.Look after yourself and take time to recover fully and we will all be wishing the best for you.

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  15. Dear Annabel and Vicky,
    I am so sorry to hear of Andy's health issue and your long week. I am grateful to God he is home now. Please get some rest.
    Vicky, your article is very helpful. Thank you, so much, for taking the time and all the effort that went into doing this for us.
    Many blessings to you both.
    Love and hugs,
    Glenda

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    1. Glenda,
      Your welcome, happy butter canning!
      XOXO
      Vicky

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  16. I am so pleased Andy is doing well Annabel, I hope you are able to relax in the weekend as well as catch up. It must be nice to be home!

    Jen(NZ)

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  17. I do hope that Andy is feeling a bit better, a perforated bowel sounds horrific.
    A quiet week here, the weather has been horrible again, which doesn't really inspire one to go out too much. I did get myself a pair of slippers, brand new, still with tags, for £2 from a charity shop, along with a decent, waterproof coat to replace my old, wrecked one. I paid £6 for that, but it's worth every penny. I also got a bag of preserving jars and seals from Freegle, now I'm calling that a £20 saving. Since the seals are almost £1 each to buy I think that's realistic. Some of these jars are brand new, they still have the manufacturers labels on them! I now have to decide how I'm going to use them, but I'm sure something will come to mind.
    Oh, I did fix my pressure cooker too. It was only a loose handle, but boy the makers don't make it easy, it was the most peculiar screw that no screwdriver would fit and I had to be very inventive! Such a simple thing and it took ages.

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    1. Su,
      That was so great getting the jars yay! And how fantastic you were able to fix your pressure cooker too. You got inventive some would just toss it.
      XOXO
      Vicky

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  18. Thank you Annabel and Vickie for this tutorial! I've been waiting for this post...this week I have been canning all the meat in my freezer as a preparedness thing. I'm in the process of canning turkeys I got after Christmas for $.29 a pound. I have already canned 10 pounds of pork roast, 10 pounds of hamburger, and a large chunk of ham. I still have 5 pounds of hamburger, 5 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breast, 1 more turkey and 8 pounds of sausage links. Kroger has their butter for $1.99 a pound so I'm excited to get some of that on the shelf too. By the way I wanted to share a tip... a substitute for hand sanitizer that we use is rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle...just spray your hands and rub them together! So simple and with the coronavirus we need to have alternatives in case we can't get the commercial hand sanitizer. So happy to hear Andy is doing ok ...how scary! Many prayers and hugs Gaila in the NW

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    1. Gaila,
      Thanks for the tip! I have been canning meat from my freezer as well. I like being able to open a jar especially when I don't have time to cook. As a preparedness item it is excellent! it adds much needed variety and can save us tons if the electric is out for any length of time. Not to mention sharing around if needed.
      I have additional info on the butter in my own comments as well.
      XOXO
      Vicky

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  19. Sending prayers for your dear man, may his recovery be swift with no more emergencies. ((hugs))

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  20. Oh Annabel how scary and I hope that Andy is recovering well and you and Andy will be in our prayers :).

    Thank you Vicky for the canning butter information it will come in very handy here :).

    Please don't feel you have to reply to my post Annabel but I will put down what we got done this week anyway.

    Our Vicky challenge added up to $513.61 in savings last week :).

    Finances and listings -
    - Listed 12 items on an eBay free listing promotion saving $19.80 on usual listing fees.

    Groceries and purchases -
    - From IGA we purchased 6 blocks of chocolate on half price special, two bottles of shampoo on special and got 2 blocks of chocolate free using our IGA points on our card saving $20.58 on usual prices.
    - I saved 5% or $6.05 or 5% by purchasing a RACQ Wish e-gift card from groceries
    - We put in an online order with Woolworths and with specials, free supermarket samples and using a $15 off promotional code saved $62.18 on usual prices.

    In the kitchen -
    - Cooked all meals and bread from scratch.

    In the gardens -
    - Put in another 3 hours of work to finish laying our storm water pipe and filling in our storm water trench saving $231 over hiring a plumber to do the job for us.
    - We saved $174 by getting a local with a trench digger to dig the rest of our storm water trench for us over hiring a machine for a day to do it ourselves from a local town.

    Have a wonderful week ahead :).

    Sewingcreations15 (Lorna).

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  21. So pleased to hear Andy has been so in well. Glad you are home. Rest up

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  22. Annabel so happy to hear that Andy is doing okay! How scary that all must have been.
    I am so pleased to see this tutorial on canning butter, even though I haven't yet purchased a pressure canner.

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  23. Annabel,
    Prayers for you and Andy and hopefully life gets back to normal for you as soon as possible. Hugs!

    Ladies I wanted to add a few things about canning butter that I didn't put in my post to keep the length of it from being over whelming.

    Canned butter is not creamy or soft. It does get a little hard so consider this if your going to bake with it or what you plan to use it for. I haven't found it too difficult to deal with personally.

    Butter itself has already been processed so what we are doing by canning it is creating a sterile environment to allow it to be stored.
    It can be water bathed, but much of the milk fats are skimmed off with the 5 minute boiling that others do and I want them in my butter which is why I shut it off as it starts to boil and use the pressure canner.
    Boiling the butter for 5 minutes also boils it down and if you are using salted butter it will taste saltier.
    So if you want to boil it longer using both salted and unsalted butter in a batch would be a better choice.
    Shelf life will depend on the normal factors for our other home canned goods. If it gets rancid you will know by the smell. It will be off.
    And lastly if you don't care for the butter this way definitely try one of the other methods. Boiling it for 5 minutes and skimming off the fats or going a bit farther and making the liquid gold everyone loves, ghee.

    On my end the savings have been slow this week. I have been home all week so have saved on gas and have just been working on much needed things here at home, like taking inventory and adding to my list of things I would like to have extra of.
    XOXO
    Vicky

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  24. Dear Annabel, I have been praying for Andy and for you and your whole family. I am so relieved to hear that he is now doing well. Please take it easy and give back to yourself. You can't pour from an empty cup and I imagine the week would have been extremely harrowing. Lots of love, Bridge

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  25. Dear Annabel,
    I'm so glad that Andy is ok and that y'all are back home. I have been praying for both of you and will continue to do so. Please take it easy for a little while, while you recuperate!
    Thank you, Vicky, for the canning tutorial. I knew that butter could be canned, but I never knew the process!
    It was a big week here, as my dad came over with his trencher and lines were dug to run water and electricity to the coop and garden shed! We also moved the propane tank out of our garden, so that frees up a lot more space for planting. We also added 8 new chicks to our flock, and it is so nice to be raising some again!
    I hope everyone is well and has a good week.
    Love, Kelsey

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  26. I plan to can butter soon (it's sitting in my fridge) as soon as I get some spare time. My savings this week amounted to $10.61 (through grocery coupons and sales). This is always easy to tally as the savings show up on our grocery receipts. Also there was a $25.46 cashback credit on a credit card I had signed up. I always watch for these offers and you have to sign up to take advantage. The trick is to ALWAYS pay your statement in full so you don't acquire any interest charges which can be ridiculously high! So my total for the week was $36.07. Annabelle, I hope things are getting back to normal after that week you had and I pray Andy is much better.

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  27. Dear Annabel,

    I haven't been online, so just saw your news about Andy! I am so glad to hear he is better and that you are home. Lots of hugs and kisses from Nova Scotia!

    xx Jen

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  28. Thank you to everyone for such kind comments. I havent been able to catch up with replies but I have read everyone.xxx

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I really appreciate your comments thank you! The aim of my blog is the be a place of encouragement and happiness. Very rarely is anyone rude. Actually only twice so far! If you post a rude or aggressive comment I will read it but not publish it, thanks for understanding.xxx

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