Canned Butter: Buy It, Don't DIY It (2024)

Food preservation has exploded in popularity since the coronavirus pandemic seized the globe nearly a year ago, and for good reason. People want to be able to provide for themselves, and properly canning and preserving your own food is one of the ultimate methods of self-sustainability. When you look through the wealth of canning recipes, it seems like there are no limits to what you can preserve — that is, until you get to dairy.

Both newbie and veteran canners are aware of the risk of botulism, or the "b-word" as many avid preservers call it. There's a risk of contracting botulism with any canned food, which is why canning comes with such strict guidelines. The safest (and only) ways you should can are via the water bath and pressure canning process, as these are guaranteed to, done properly, destroy any potential Clostridium botulinum spores and prevent them from growing in the future. And according to those guidelines, thou shalt never can dairy.

Should I Can Butter at Home?

Just about every canning and preserving resource out there advises against canning butter. Books on canning don't even address dairy, giving a clear message that it shouldn't be tried at home.

"Per USDA and research, there's no safe way to can butter or any dairy at home," says Anne Kuo, Master Food Preserver and author of The Beginner's Guide to Raising Chickens: How to Raise a Happy Backyard Flock. Kuo and many other canning authorities advise not to follow blogs or sites that promote canning dairy and not to attempt it at all.

In fact, many of these methods aren't proper canning techniques at all, as "no boiling water or pressure canning processes are applied to the jar," according to Clemson University's Cooperative Extension at their College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Life Sciences. Rather, these "canning" methods are simply storing butter in jars, meaning the food isn't protected against botulism. As a low-acid product, butter (and other dairy products) is all the more susceptible to that risk.

So How Can I Get Canned Butter?

There's more than enough evidence that you should leave canning dairy to the professionals. The good news is that it's much more affordable, practical, and feasible to simply purchase canned butter to keep on hand for potential disasters. Red Feather canned butter, for example, has a shelf life of 10 years and requires no refrigeration.

"I must say this is really very good," says one five-star reviewer. "When opened at room temp it spreads very easy, and tastes like the real thing as it is the real thing. After opening you must put into another container with a tight sealing lid and store in the fridge. Use with in 5 to 10 days after opening and no problem. Very good to have on hand for an emergency situation where you can't get to the store."

The bottom line is that done properly, there are plenty of other foods you can preserve at home, just not butter or any other dairy.