canning butter -think twice

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here is a link for food safety & a warning against canning. butterhttp://www.mrssurvival.com/moderators/dairy.html http://www.foodsafety.org/index.htm

-- mchenry (cymchenry@siedata.com), November 05, 1999

Answers

You should be a little more careful presenting your links :).

I planned to can butter but never got around to it. For me and probably most, now, freezing is best. One site says it will keep 12 months frozen. So at least in the North where it can be kept frozen until spring no matter what, there should be no problem doing it "the safe way". Anyway, heres the story from the first link above:

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Canning Eggs, Milk, Butter and Cheese

There are literally DOZENS of websites that give you a "safe" way to can butter, or cheese or eggs, etc, etc. These sites can NOT be considered reliable. And if your family dies of botulism, they sure won't send a condolence card.

As a new canner, I was tempted to try to can butter, or other dairy products, or even cakes in a jar, etc. But after studying up on it, I became more and more convinced that it is unsafe to do so. The USDA spends a lot of time and money every year on research, and they say do not can dairy products, or use any method that they do not recommend. The USDA is not "in bed" with the food manufacturers, as many people believe. They sincerely want to keep people ALIVE.

Many, MANY people DIE EACH YEAR of botulism from unsafe home canning methods. Please don't let you or your family be one of the casualties.

The smoke point of dairy products is too low, so if you try to can dairy products, you can not get it to a high enough temperature to destroy the botulism producing enzymes. C. botulinum produces spores that are extremely resistant to heat. They can survive 18 hours of boiling and still grow.

It IS tempting, but PLEASE do not do it. Your family's health, and even lives, could be at risk.

Many people go ahead and can this way, anyway. It's their choice, but when you consider that botulism IS tasteless, odourless and deadly, I think that is enough reason NOT to can butter, etc.

To quote an overused phrase, it is better safe than sorry.

This question comes up with amazing frequency. We're (the moderators and webmaster) not trying to be "mean". We're trying to save your lives. Even ghee, which was said to be "safe" on one of the threads, holds the risk of something going wrong, and being deadly. YES, some people have canned butter and been fine. But NOT EVERYONE.

If you have any doubts about the safety of doing this, please consult with the USDA.

As I said, some people will go ahead, and ignore the warnings of a research institute that has spent an awful lot of time and money learning that it is NOT safe to can dairy products.

However, on this website, we will continue to remind you, and uphold the recommendations of the USDA.

IT IS NOT WORTH THE RISK!!!

Please see these links before you even think about canning dairy products:

Food Safety.org

The Dangers of Botulism in Food

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The Moderator's Digest Home

-- Jon Johnson (narnia4@usa.net), November 05, 1999.


Where did I see this yesterday? Was it on Gary North's webiste, or in this forum? You can get clarified butter from Odell's in Nevada, for something like $4/10 oz or $30 per 10# tub. The stuff is gauranteed shelf-stable and "fresh" tasting for at least one year UN ... I repeats UNREFRIGERATED. Go to www.clarifiedbutter.com. I have ordered some, but can;t give any taste-test results as of yet. Best of luck.

-- SH (squirrel@hunter.com), November 05, 1999.

How many people die from home-canned foods each year? Many, many?

The information I heard was something like six (6). Many times that number die from mis-prescribed drugs and physiciam error. Thousands of times that number, in fact.

I can't comment on canning butter and such, but I can say that home canning, when properly and carefully done, has proven to be safe and reliable for generations.

-- gene (ekbaker@essex1.com), November 06, 1999.


I searched the National Food Safety Database site and could not find anything about canning butter specifically. The warning from the Mrs. Survival site I'm already familiar with. She's well intentioned and trying to keep folks who are new to the idea of food preservation from doing themselves some harm but some of what she says in that warning is only partially true and some is just incorrect.

Properly made ghee is as safe as any other pure culinary fat such as lard or Crisco (hydrogenated vegetable shortening). Whether ghee is a product you want to use and whether you should/should not be eating a highly saturated fat are seperate questions.

As a rule, canning *cheese* is not a good idea because there really are safety considerations that make it impractical. Fluid milk could be safely canned (pressure canned) but the resulting product would be very dissappointing and you wouldn't want it when you were finished which is why the USDA hasn't published any guidelines for fluid milk.

..........Alan.

The Prudent Food Storage FAQ, v3.5

http://www.providenceco-op.com

-- A.T. Hagan (athagan@sprintmail.com), November 08, 1999.


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