Friday, January 8, 2010

Frugal Friday

Rainy Day Farm

This weeks Frugal Friday comes from the Emergency Preparedness group that I am involved with from church. Several ladies come to my house each month and we discuss and learn different disaster/emergency preparedness ideas. We end up having so much fun and it is really a girls night out. We giggle, laugh, eat and learn from one another. It is the most fun I have had in a long time. There are such wonderful diversified women in this group. They teach me so much about life.
Each person takes a turn hosting, and that means providing the information on the chosen topic and some sort of treat. We try to make it something from our food storage. This month was my turn and I made homemade Wheat Bread with Lemon Butter and jams from my food storage. It was delicious and fun! I was pretty sure some of the women were going to faint when they tried the lemon butter. It really was a funny sight to see.

So this month we learned how to can butter. Yes, I typed "canned butter"! It is possible and we did it! It is a great way to have butter on your shelf on not in the fridge or freezer when the power goes out! So this is how you do it!

Canned Butter

(This recipe comes from endtimesreport.com)

1. Use any butter that is on sale. Lesser quality butter requires more shaking (see #5 below), but the results are the same as with the expensive brands.
2. Heat pint jars in a 250 degree oven for 20 minutes, without rings or seals. One pound of butter slightly more than fills one pint jar, so if you melt 11 pounds of butter, heat 12 pint jars. A roasting pan works well for holding the pint jars while in the oven.
3. While the jars are heating, melt butter slowly until it comes to a slow boil. Using a large spatula, stir the bottom of the pot often to keep the butter from scorching. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes at least: a good simmer time will lessen the amount of shaking required (see #5 below). Place the lids in a small pot and bring to a boil, leaving the lids in simmering water until needed.
4. Stirring the melted butter from the bottom to the top with a soup ladle or small pot with a handle, pour the melted butter carefully into heated jars through a canning jar funnel. Leave 3/4" 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 tighten securely. Lids will seal as they cool. Once a few lids "ping," shake while the jars are still warm, but cool enough to handle easily, because the butter will separate and become foamy on top and white on the bottom. In a few minutes, shake again, and repeat until the butter retains the same consistency throughout the jar.
6. At this point, while still slightly warm, put the jars into a refrigerator. While cooling and hardening, shake again, and the melted butter will then look like butter and become firm. This final shaking is very important! Check every 5 minutes and give the jars a little shake until they are hardened in the jar! Leave in the refrigerator for an hour.
7. Canned butter should store for 3 years or longer on a cool, dark shelf. [It does last a long time. We have just used up the last of the butter we canned in 1999, and it was fine after 5 years.] Canned butter does not "melt" again when opened, so it does not need to be refrigerated upon opening, provided it is used within a reasonable length of time.

This is dear sweet June taking her turn stirring the butter. Don't let her Grandmotherly appearance fool you, she is as funny and nutty as the rest of us. She is one of the wise teachers of our group. She has wonderful knowledge that she is more than willing to share. I just love her!

This is what the butter looks like just as it starts to boil. It is not a hard rolling boil at all.

After all the heating, cooling and shaking this is what the final product looks like! It was simple and fun. It was a lot of fun doing it with friends and good food. What a night!

8 comments:

Tami Anderson said...

I'm speechless!

Canned BUTTER????

Amy @ Keep'n The SunnySide said...

One of these days I will get up the nerve to try this. You've raved about this so much.. it has GOT to be great! I just popped back to look at the bread recipe.. now THAT I know I can handle. I think your group is great.. and sounds like fun as well as learning valuable emergency preparedness.

Tina❀ said...

Yes, what a great group to belong to!!
I'm totally doing this! I love the idea. THANK YOU for sharing this.

wendy said...

What a fun group of ladies you have getting together!!
Hey, I think you just gained a regular blog follower ---I love your header, your blog is so cute, I love that you have a "little farm" as that is now what I am getting used to , that whole country lifestyle on a quarter section.
Your area where you live sounds gorgeous...I really don't mind the rain. I'll take it over snow.
thanks for your visit to MY blog which brought me to yours ---please come again

Shelli said...

Can I come be in your ward? That sounds like so much fun!!! I have never heard of canned butter before, but I can't wait to try this. Having butter on hand is one of those things that stresses me out...I have pounds of it in the freezer, but if we lost power? I would be devastated! I guess I didn't realize how much I love my butter! haha. Thanks for sharing this great tutorial. And I just wanted to make sure you saw my contest and opp to win a free pattern of your choice over at my blog. I know you are a stitching woman, so don't forget to come leave me a comment about my gremlins! Oh, and I'm so jealous you got the Pioneer Woman cookbook! I almost bought it for myself for Christmas, but restrained. Maybe for V-day for myself. LOL. Your blog is fantastic. I love visiting.

tammy said...

My RS did this for an activity last year, but I had to miss it. Thanks for posting on how to do it! Butter is one thing I won't want to live without if it comes to living on our food storage.

Megan said...

Wow, this is great! I will have to do this very soon - I need canned butter on hand!

Mona said...

Marie, this will definitely be a night to remember. I am so glad that you posed the recipes on your blog. Again you are wonderful. Unfortunately I already ate my butter. (couldn't go without my butter on popcorn no could I?) Also tell Addison WAY TO GO !