Today's post is going to be rather short. I'm not going to discuss the intricacies of canning butter and cheese, for a very simple reason: DON'T DO IT!
Supposedly people in previous generations did this and survived. My great-great-grandmother Jane treated my great-grandfather's diphtheria by pouring kerosene down his throat. Although my great-grandfather Chester survived, that doesn't mean that the kerosene saved him or that it was a good idea. Just because our ancestors may have canned meats and vegetables in a boiling water bath and survived doesn't mean that was a good idea, either.
The folks at the government Cooperative Extension have put a lot of time and research into studying home canning and promoting the safest methods. Those are your tax dollars at work. There may be someone's agenda in play here, but the research shows that canning butter and cheese just isn't in our best interests. Butter is 16-17% water. It's enough water for botulism to live and grow in. And kill you. And yes, I know the scientists can manipulate data and results just like everybody else, but let's err on the side of caution here. And learn from my personal experience, as well.
Look, I understand. I really do. Cheese is such a nice thing to have. And butter? Is life really going to be worth living without butter?
Those were my thoughts when I first canned cheese and butter years ago. I followed the same directions you can find for yourself on the internet. And I canned a lot, because I sure as heck want both butter and cheese til the day I die.
Early on, I used some of the butter for baking. We all survived. No one even got sick. I probably used some of the cheese, too. But as time went on, some of the cheeses turned color. In case you feel you have to can cheese, which again, you really should not do, at least learn from my experience. Mozzarella cheese turns a kinda gross brown color pretty quickly. Same goes for Monterey Jack. The ten-year-old cheddar (probably mild, but maybe medium) still looks ok. It doesn't smell completely gross.
The butter, however, was a completely different matter. Some seals failed early on and the butter started smelling a bit like blue cheese. However, a lot of jars held their seals until I emptied them a few months ago. And they also smelled like blue cheese. Why did I hang onto them for so long? Well, I wouldn't have felt bad sharing it if someone came along demanding food.
Do I regret having canned butter and cheese? After all, that was a bit of time and money wasted.
No, I do not regret it one bit. I regret having canned so much, but I don't regret having done it for the simple fact that I learned, from my own sad experience, that it is not a good idea, despite what the nice folks on the internet say. You don't want to risk giving your family botulism or other food-borne diseases, especially in a grid-down situation where hospital laboratories (for diagnosis) and physicians and medications are in short supply or non-existent. Especially when you have alternatives.
Alternatives?
First off, cheese stores for a long time. What did people of previous generations do? How did they preserve the abundance of cream their cows and goats provided? They made it into cheese. The cheese was stored in root cellars where it was cool and dark. And depending on the kind of cheese, it could be kept for many, many months. Hard cheeses store longer than soft. Big blocks store longer than smaller. If the power goes out for good, the cheese doesn't have to be eaten or thrown away immediately. Make soft cheeses like yogurt and cream cheese from powdered milk. Wax hard cheeses to prolong the shelf life.
There are commercially canned options. There is freeze-dried cheese. And there is always Velveeta. (Or not. Personally, I just can't go there.)
And for butter? Ghee and clarified butter are ridiculously expensive. However, coconut oil substitutes almost perfectly for butter in baking breads and cookies. It's shelf-stable, and the store brand sells for about $3.50 a pound, the same as butter on a good day. Dehydrated butter is a pretty expensive option, and doesn't work well in most recipes. That's because it's basically powdered milk and dehydrated butter, not pure butter.
Links to related posts:
Coconut Oil for Butter
I almost canned butter! You are so right about it being out there on the net! Those sites can sound soooo convincing too. But as you said...Just DON'T DO IT! Period!
ReplyDeleteI make cheese and I can tell you a rally goo trick for making it last a lot longer. WAX
ReplyDeleteNot just any wax, you want the food grade kind. If you look on the internet you can find suppliers were you can get 25lbs for under $100. Go buy a small crock pot that you will only ever use for the cheese wax. Melt the wax under low heat then while wearing cloves to prevent contaminating the cheese, take it out of the store bought plastic wrap. Cut it into smaller blocks that will be sized for what you would use in a single meal or two. Make sure to pat the cheese dry with a paper towel as store bought cheese can have a fair amount of moisture on it's surface from the bags and the water will screw up the wax adhesion.
Put parchment paper on the counter beside the wax pot and dip the cheese into the wax and then pull it out, try and cover half the cheese with wax. Set it to cool for a couple minutes on the paper with the hot wax end up. Do this till all the cheese you have is coated on the one half then start over dipping the other end in the wax of each piece and standing it to cool with the hot end up.
You want a minimum of 2 coats and a max of 4 coats per piece of cheese. Once the wax is cool you can store it in the fridge for years or you can put it down in the cold room for a couple years. You should flip the cheese over every couple of weeks to ensure it doesn't get moisture building up on one side.
I've done this with homemade and store bought cheeses. Both have worked out well but I find that store bough cheese has a chance of going off inside the wax, not much you can do about that as it means the cheese was contaminated when you got it... which isn't an issue if you use it quickly but is if you wax and store long term.
A decade ago our local grocery store offered me cheese cheap as it was the sell by date and they had 40 blocks of cheddar all of 500-700 grams in size (about a pound). The price in the store was $5.99 each and I got them for a dollar each. Now those same blocks often sell for $10 each. I waxed them all down and 1/3-1/2 pound blocks and stored in a cold room that stays under 10C even in summer. I've opened it up and it's kept pretty good, all told I've had 3 or 4 pieces out of the 70 or so I've opened be off and it's obvious as they have mold.
A word of advice, cheddar keeps better than Jack and avoid cheeses with things in them like peppercorn, jalapenos or onions as the couple I've tried have gone bad around the additives. Also the cheese will age in the wax slowly, so if you like really sharp aged cheddar than buy regular and leave it 4-5 years. If your not a fan of sharp aged cheeses than look at using a mild cheddar and not rotating it more often to prevent it from aging as much.
Exile1981
Wow! You have shared some really valuable information here. Thank you so much!
DeleteFollow up to my above cheese comment from 2020. I recently found 10 small waxed blocks of cheese (store bought) that i waxed back in 2011-12; so yes 13 years old. It had not been flipped in a decade likely as they were in a drawer in the spare fridge in my shop.
Delete4 of them were gone bad and the cheese smelled off and had mold. Another block had no mold but a smell like teenager sweat socks... Tossed.
The remaining 5 were still good and the strongest aged cheese i ever had. Really sharp flavour.
These days i dont wax cheese much anymore, i mostly shredded it or cuve it and freeze dry it. It keeps for decades if vaccum sealed.Cubes are a great high energy snack and great for seniors and kids. Some cheeses work better than others, avoid mozza, paneer and brie/ camenbare all work but these ones dont rehidrate well . Mozza goes mushy if you rehydrate it, the other 3 dont absorb moisture well and stay hard. So fine if you eat them as a snack, not great for serving as cheese. Cheddar, gouda and other firm cheeses are popular with the kids.
Exile1981
I don't wax cheese as much, either, but I keep the wax on hand just in case the power goes out for a long time and I happen to have a lot of cheese on hand. I also think FD firm cheeses make a terrific snack. I mostly FD shredded cheeses (shredded at home so that we don't have extra antibiotics added). Thank you so much for sharing your experience, Mark.
Delete