SasEz! Simple & Sustainable Living…

Bottled Butter: My First Try

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And it was successful!

Some people call it canning butter but I call it bottling because I’m putting it up in canning jars — glass bottles — to be kept in the pantry.

Butter hasn’t ben on sale lately so I finally broke down and bought some generic salted for $2.37 a pound at Walmart. Since we don’t have refrigeration and I can’t leave food outside in the cold at night because of our wildlife population, I decided it was time to try putting it up for the pantry.

My first attempt was limited to two pounds of butter so it wouldn’t be a huge money loss if I ruined it.

Before I get into the instructions I am legally obligated to say this is not recommended by the FDA. They in fact, declare it unsafe and because they haven’t tested it they strongly advise you to not do it because there is a risk of botulism. I’m not going to debate the point at the moment. It’s a personal decision and one I’m comfortable with.

Here’s how I bottled my first batch of butter:

One pound of butter just about fills a pint canning jar. I used 3 jars but with such a small batch I could have fit it into two.

1. Put the jars in a big stew pot with enough cold water to cover them. Put the put on the stove and start bringing it to a boil.

2. Put the lids and rings in another pan of water and put that on to boil. I laid my tongs in this pot to sterilize them too.

3. Unwrap the butter and break or cut it into pieces, adding them to their own clean pot on the stove. Turn the heat on low to medium to start slowly melting the butter. Stir to prevent scorching.

4. Boil the jars and butter separately for about 10 minutes. I only simmered my butter this time but some people recommend boiling it fully instead. Lids and rings just need a slow simmer. Sterilize your canning funnel if you’re using one too.

5. Carefully remove one jar from the pot, empty all water from it and set it upright on a towel. I used the tongs for this because everything is scorching hot!

6. Quickly pour butter into the jar, making sure to mix as you pour because it separates easily. Fill to the to of the neck/bottom of the screw rings.

7. Wipe the rim of the jar, use the tongs to fish out a lid and put it in place. Screw on a ring and leave the jar sit to cool.

The butter will separate and this is where I got ahead of myself…

8. Wait for the jars to cool enough to ping. The lid will make a ping sound as it seals. After that, pick up the jar and shake it to mix the butter.

I didn’t wait for the ping and some butter leaked out from under the lid when I first started shaking. I also just turned the bottles up and down gently instead of shaking and that didn’t mix them right. I quickly discovered I needed to shake them vigorously to mix them properly.

I’ve always mixed pudding and powdered milk this way too so it didn’t take me long to figure it out

9. Continue shaking every 10-15 minutes until the butter sets up. You’ll know it’s set because of the color change (see the top picture) and because nothing moves inside when you try to shake them again.

Mine took a few hours at room temperature of around 70 degrees. Many people put theirs in the fridge so it’s done in 30-60 minutes.

Store the jars in the pantry like you would any other canned or bottled foods. Cool and dark helps everything keep the longest, and bottled butter keeps for 3-5 years. It is soft, spreadable, pretty to look at and yummy to eat!

Related Topics & Themes: bottling, butter, canning, Food & Cooking, Food storage, Pantry, Perishables, Preparedness, prepping, preserving, Stockpiling