Storing butter long-term: what's the best way?

[Guest guest]

I have a new source of raw milk and butter (and maybe cream, I hope, I

hope) and the fall butter that's available now is so excellently dark

yellow (darker than any butter I've ever seen before, though I'm sure it's

far from the ceiling nonetheless) that I'd like to lay in a large supply

for the winter... except that I'm not sure how to store it. I could freeze

it, but would that preserve its nutritional value? Is there a better

way? Or should I just resign myself to a brief interruption in my normal

Kerry Gold consumption?

Suggestions appreciated,

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[Guest guest]

I do not know anything about what it might do to the nutritional makeup of the

butter, but I will say from a taste and cooking point of view, butter freezes

easily and well. I have kept it all winter in the freezer and not noticed any

marked decrease in taste, meltability, burning point, etc. It doesn't separate

like cream does.

Freezing cream was definitely a failed experiment. My " Disaster Emergency Backup

Plan " for cream for my tea is that I'm screwed. <G>

My mom suggested laying in soy milk in asceptic packaging and I asked her " Who

are you and what did you do with my real mother? " She normally thinks soy is the

devil's food. I have no idea what possessed her to suggest that, LOL.

There is a dry milk in the health food store I might look at. I'm sure it's

nothing I'd want to use in normal circumstances, but while I live well above

even the 500 year flood plain (I live on what we call in CA a " hill " but what

might be termed a mountain in other states), my general area is highly flood

prone. I could conceivably be stuck here in a flood for quite a long time. And

we frequently have power outages here in winter that last days or more than a

week if it's a bad storm. So we have a generator that runs the whole house. But

if our propane ran out or our generator was damaged, we really didn't have a

backup plan.

After Hurricane Katrina, we started making plans for a generator failure, and

putting together a month's worth of food for ourselves and our dogs if we lost

the generator. For the first time in nearly 20 years I bought kibble (gasp!)....

a month's supply of really high quality dog kibble in nitrogen flushed foil

packaging, plus some grainless canned venison dog food.

For us, it's not so easy. First, my mom and I eat very differently, as she can't

tolerate a lot of foods due to some basically undiagnosed digestive issues.

Second, while I'd eat anything I had to to stay alive, I have a strong bias

toward fresh whole foods and they don't keep all that well. Which is sort of the

point. <G>

So we are stocking up on canned veggies, canned tuna, canned salmon and sardines

for mom (I can't stand the stuff), and other odds and ends that look palatable

at the market that are jarred and canned. It's interesting that you can purchase

all kinds of canned foods such as stews and soups and pasta dishes and plain

meats at the regular grocery store, but what little like that is sold at Whole

Foods-type markets is mostly so high in carbs I can't eat it (soups), or doesn't

exist at all (such as canned meats, stews, etc).

A month of tuna and canned veggies would definitely have me eyeing the dog

food.

Then again, the real point is staying alive.

Eggs of course will keep, especially in winter which is when we would be

expected to have a flood. It doesn't freeze here so I can't rely on that, but

certainly it is cool enough that eggs could stay fresh for a month. And I

guess... cheese, too? And I bet I could get a small propane powered cooler that

could run on cans of propane that I could lay in. I have to think about this

some more. We had our first rain of the season yesterday so I definitely have to

get more on top of this. I mean, the dogs are fine, but me and mom? Not so much.

Story of my life.

Christie

Caber Feidh ish Deerhounds

Holistically Raising Our Dogs Since 1986

http://www.caberfeidh.com/

http://www.doggedblog.com/

[Guest guest]

Christie-

>I do not know anything about what it might do to the nutritional makeup of

>the butter, but I will say from a taste and cooking point of view, butter

>freezes easily and well. I have kept it all winter in the freezer and not

>noticed any marked decrease in taste, meltability, burning point, etc. It

>doesn't separate like cream does.

I've frozen small amounts of butter before, but never with the intent of

laying in enough for winter and early spring. I'm not even sure how much

I'd need... but I guess if the flavor and other characteristics are

unaffected, it might be relatively intact nutritionally too.

>Freezing cream was definitely a failed experiment. My " Disaster Emergency

>Backup Plan " for cream for my tea is that I'm screwed. <G>

Yeah, I've tried that too, and it was a mess. Supposedly you can run lumpy

defrosted milk or cream through the blender to restore its texture, but I

haven't tried that.

The one milk that survives freezing quite well is sheep's milk. I got some

raw but frozen sheep's milk recently, and it defrosted perfectly. How its

nutritional profile compares to unfrozen I don't know, but it at least

tasted quite pleasant and made excellent cream-added yoghurt.

>My mom suggested laying in soy milk in asceptic packaging and I asked her

> " Who are you and what did you do with my real mother? " She normally thinks

>soy is the devil's food. I have no idea what possessed her to suggest

>that, LOL.

Zoiks!

> I mean, the dogs are fine, but me and mom? Not so much.

>

>Story of my life.

I know the feeling. Good luck with your (very wise!) emergency plans! I

have a lot of food socked away myself, but almost all of it's in the

freezer. I'd love to make cured, dried sausage, but I don't have the

facilities, and most canned and dried foods are just off the table for me.

-

[Guest guest]

--- In , Idol <Idol@c...>

wrote:

I'd like to lay in a large supply

> for the winter... except that I'm not sure how to store it. I could

freeze

> it, but would that preserve its nutritional value? Is there a better

> way?

> Suggestions appreciated,

,

Check out onibasu under colostrum DiscussingNT group. I posted

something about how long you can keep colostrum in the freezer. And

there is a mention about butter.

......If properly wrapped and held at 0 °F or lower, butter will keep

well in the freezer for six to nine months.....

Here's the link:

Onibasu Link: http://onibasu.com/archives/dn/12792.html

HTH

Rhonda

who's constantly into the onibasu site - it's FULL of info

[Guest guest]

,

> I'd like to lay in a large supply

> > for the winter... except that I'm not sure how to store it. I could

> freeze

> > it, but would that preserve its nutritional value? Is there a better

> > way?

> > Suggestions appreciated,

Before my NT days I bought a case of butter for winter at $ 1.50 #.

Lasted almost to next summer, was 36 # iirc. Was starting to look and

taste off on the last few pounds. Froze it in the cardboard case it

came in. Similar protection should work fine. Pioneers has

springhouses over coldest part of stream. Butter would keep sitting in

cold water. Another reason for building by stream besides house water.

Someone raided your springhouse, you could shoot out the window.

Freezer better idea

Wanita

[Guest guest]

>>>I do not know anything about what it might do to the nutritional makeup

of the butter, but I will say from a taste and cooking point of view,

butter freezes easily and well. I have kept it all winter in the freezer

and not noticed any marked decrease in taste, meltability, burning

point, etc. It doesn't separate like cream does.

Freezing cream was definitely a failed experiment. My " Disaster

Emergency Backup Plan " for cream for my tea is that I'm screwed. <G>

My mom suggested laying in soy milk in asceptic packaging and I asked

her " Who are you and what did you do with my real mother? " She normally

thinks soy is the devil's food. I have no idea what possessed her to

suggest that, LOL.

There is a dry milk in the health food store I might look at. I'm sure

it's nothing I'd want to use in normal circumstances,

--- Yeah. I have to admit I keep one can of evaporated milk in the pantry for

this horrifying possibility. Some things you just don't mess with. I had aunts

who used evap in their tea so even though it's weird, it's cozy-weird.

I have also used butter in a pinch. No, it's not the same, but it's good in its

own way.

[Guest guest]

>

> >>>I do not know anything about what it might do to the nutritional

makeup

> of the butter, but I will say from a taste and cooking point of view,

> butter freezes easily and well. I have kept it all winter in the

freezer

> and not noticed any marked decrease in taste, meltability, burning

> point, etc. It doesn't separate like cream does.

>

> Freezing cream was definitely a failed experiment. My " Disaster

> Emergency Backup Plan " for cream for my tea is that I'm screwed. <G>

>

> My mom suggested laying in soy milk in asceptic packaging and I asked

> her " Who are you and what did you do with my real mother? " She normally

> thinks soy is the devil's food. I have no idea what possessed her to

> suggest that, LOL.

>

> There is a dry milk in the health food store I might look at. I'm sure

> it's nothing I'd want to use in normal circumstances,

>

>

> --- Yeah. I have to admit I keep one can of evaporated milk in the

pantry for this horrifying possibility. Some things you just don't

mess with. I had aunts who used evap in their tea so even though it's

weird, it's cozy-weird.

>

> I have also used butter in a pinch. No, it's not the same, but it's

good in its own way.

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Yeah, we have the " great tea debate " on this list now and then. <G>

>> If you drink tea uncreamed and unsweetened for a little you really get

used to it, and it may actually start tasting better that way to you.<<

I drink tea the way it is drunk in the British Isles: Strong, sweet, and white.

To me, that's tea.

Tea without milk and unsweetened is a drink I actually like sometimes. I take my

iced tea that way. But the ritual of tea drinking is, for me, to drink the

beverage I like. It's hot, it's strong, it's sweet, and it has cream in it.

That's what I want. It's not that I'm " adding stuff " to my tea, that IS tea to

me.

>> You may have to buy a higher quality tea though, as cheap tea never

really tastes good by itself. <<

I have never drunk cheap tea. In fact, I import my tea from England. It's called

Yorkshire Gold and it was voted the best tasting tea in the UK. I love it. I

make a single cup with two tea bags. It will melt the spoon.

>> I love green tea (organic sencha from china) with peppermint and fresh

ground ginger...and I cringe at the thought of sweetened tea. The

only tea I put cream and a little raw honey in is Chai tea, which I

rarely drink anyway. <<

Herbal tea is called " tea " in the US, but it's not actually tea, it's a tisane.

Green tea is tea, though. I just don't care for it. My mom loves it iced. But

that's a totally different drink than a nice hot cuppa. Trust me on this, I'm 46

and she is 69, this ain't gonna change. <G>

Christie

Caber Feidh ish Deerhounds

Holistically Raising Our Dogs Since 1986

http://www.caberfeidh.com/

http://www.doggedblog.com/

[Guest guest]

Wanita-

>Before my NT days I bought a case of butter for winter at $ 1.50 #.

>Lasted almost to next summer, was 36 # iirc. Was starting to look and

>taste off on the last few pounds. Froze it in the cardboard case it

>came in.

It started to go bad even frozen? Interesting. I could vacuum-seal it,

though, so that should help. The problem is that I'm not sure how much to

get. Now that I have raw butter again, I started eating it on tiny little

almond-flour crackers, so I can't even guess how much I'll go through.

-

[Guest guest]

Rhonda-

>.....If properly wrapped and held at 0 °F or lower, butter will keep

>well in the freezer for six to nine months.....

Thanks! Sounds good. Now to figure out how much to buy and how to make

room in the freezer...

-

[Guest guest]

> I started eating it on tiny little

> almond-flour crackers, so I can't even guess how much I'll go through.

,

Are you making these or buying them? If buying, what brand? I

haven't found a storebought nut cracker that seemed NT enough. Let me

know.

[Guest guest]

-

>Are you making these or buying them? If buying, what brand? I

>haven't found a storebought nut cracker that seemed NT enough. Let me

>know.

Making them, sorry. It's an SCD recipe I can point you to if you'd like,

but unfortunately it's a non-trivial investment of time and labor -- and I

haven't even tried making my own almond flour from soaked almonds yet, either.

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