Ghee, shelf stable butter

[Weedygarden]

How to make ghee, a shelf stable form of butter. Christa does a great job of explaining the different stages of how to do this. I never canned butter because of all of the controversy over whether it was safe or not. Ghee has been used in India for a long time because it is shelf stable.

 

[ssonb]

Since I havnt seen the video does it mean that the butter will not fall off a storage shelf?

 

[Amish Heart]

Ha. That was just silly.
I did see some ghee on the shelf for sale at Smiths (our Kroger store). Should of payed more attention to the brand name, but it was pricey. I know Bexar Prepper shows how on youtube. I have canned butter which is fine, powdered butter and powdered margerine from Emergency Essentials. I know how to make butter with cream. There is shelf stable cream for sale (Trader Joe's has it) which I've made butter from. Tasted ghee, but never made it. So, are you going to make some Weedy?

 

[Weedygarden]

Ha. That was just silly.
I did see some ghee on the shelf for sale at Smiths (our Kroger store). Should of payed more attention to the brand name, but it was pricey. I know Bexar Prepper shows how on youtube. I have canned butter which is fine, powdered butter and powdered margerine from Emergency Essentials. I know how to make butter with cream. There is shelf stable cream for sale (Trader Joe's has it) which I've made butter from. Tasted ghee, but never made it. So, are you going to make some Weedy?

I will give it a try one day but do have plenty going on now. I bought some ghee a few years ago from an Indian grocery store. I like that it is shelf stable, but I think it is pricey. What Christa was able to make in the video is a significant reduction in volume from what she started with the butter. Amish Heart, I read somewhere else that you have a butter churn, maybe the jar with paddles. Do you make most of your own butter? And your experience with canned butter has been fine so maybe I should give that a try as well.

 

[Weedygarden]

Since I havnt seen the video does it mean that the butter will not fall off a storage shelf?

LOL! Probably not, unless there is an earth quake or the shelves break.

 

[Amish Heart]

I did get a proper butter churn and paddle for Christmas from my sweet husband, but I use the mixer as long as we have electricity. Never have canned it, I just make it, salt it, and refrigerate it. It never lasts long at our house.

 

[ssonb]

Now that I have watched the info I need to do more research because I allergies to beef and milk products to see if I can use this..... Thanks Weedy.

 

[havasu]

Just curious, but for several years, I will keep my butter refrigerated, but always leave one stick on out counter, in a sealed container, so we have soft butter to spread on our toast. Some people believe we are crazy, but never had a problem leaving it out of the refrigerator for maybe a week? Anyone else think this is crazy?

 

[Caribou]

I've had butter out my entire life. Thirty years ago or so we started using a butter bell. I fill up the bell with butter, about a quarter of a pound, and put a little water in the crock. This prevents oxidation of the butter.

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_...GMBJXK0N8HOR&rh=n:1055398,k:butter+bell+crock

 

[Weedygarden]

Just curious, but for several years, I will keep my butter refrigerated, but always leave one stick on out counter, in a sealed container, so we have soft butter to spread on our toast. Some people believe we are crazy, but never had a problem leaving it out of the refrigerator for maybe a week? Anyone else think this is crazy?

I have done this my whole adult life. I have had people question me about it. I was raised this way. I keep it in a cupboard, in a covered dish, on the north side of my kitchen, an outside wall. In the winter months, it stays pretty cold and therefore hard. In the summer months it is softer, but has never really been a problem.

One time I was doing a Stone Soup event at school, parents and grandparents invited, children doing a play, delicious vegetarian stone soup made with vegetables cut up by children (vegetarian families), bread made in bread makers (a lovely event and the children loved the soup). I got to school and put butter out in dishes to soften for the meal. One father, an engineer, came in and said, "We need to get this butter in the refrigerator so it won't go bad." I told him I put it out so it would soften and always had a stick out at home. He really doubted what I was saying, but listened to me. No one got sick and no one died from that soft butter, but a good time was had by all!

 

[havasu]

OK, thanks Weedy. I didn't want to derail this thread, but my neighbor thinks I am crazy but I've done it for years, so I needed input from my friends in here to verify this was ok to do.

 

[Weedygarden]

OK, thanks Weedy. I didn't want to derail this thread, but my neighbor thinks I am crazy but I've done it for years, so I needed input from my friends in here to verify this was ok to do.

Food safety is important, but some people are over the top about it.

A few women I worked with, put their lunches into small hard sided coolers, brought the coolers to school and put the whole cooler into the fridge. That meant about 3 or 4 people could put their lunch in there and everyone else, about 50 employees, was SOL. The boss told us at a faculty meeting that there was not enough room for coolers in the fridge, and not to put them in there, but to remove our lunches and just put them in. The offenders kept on, because they had been doing that for years. The school receptionist went into the faculty lounge a day or two later and removed all the coolers (without emptying them). One of the offenders came in and said her lunch was ruined because it was not in the fridge. It was suggested that she open her cooler and see if it was still cool inside. It was, but she was in a huff. She always took her lunch out of her cooler from then on, but she did not want to.

 

[captain belly]

I love Ghee! I have some Indian friends that turned me on to it. It's the butter of butter!

 

[Caribou]

What about using salted butter or using half of each?

 

[Weedygarden]

What about using salted butter or using half of each?

I wish I had the answer to your question. I wonder that myself, because I like salted butter.

 

[ReadyMom]

GREAT place to find Ghee (as briefly mentioned in a post above) is ethnic grocery stores! We have an Indian store near us, where I have seen ghee on a couple of shelves in different brands and sizes. I know I can ALWAYS go there and find ghee! (Off topic: also a GREAT source for Rice & beans in bulk, spices and dried fruits in bulk bags. )

 

[Weedygarden]

GREAT place to find Ghee (as briefly mentioned in a post above) is ethnic grocery stores! We have an Indian store near us, where I have seen ghee on a couple of shelves in different brands and sizes. I know I can ALWAYS go there and find ghee! (Off topic: also a GREAT source for Rice & beans in bulk, spices and dried fruits in bulk bags. )

Yes! When I was first working on building up my food storage, I shopped at Indian and other Asian grocery stores, in addition to other places. Spices were available in large packages at very reasonable prices. Rice and a good variety of legumes are available there. I worked on building up a supply of seeds and beans for sprouting.

Another thing that I found, and thankfully bought one were large bags of dried mushrooms, tree ears. I repackaged those dried mushrooms into quart canning jars and had more than a case. I went back and looked later and they no longer had them. They are great to add to soups. I used to cook lots of Chinese food and used them in wonton soup and stir fry. This is a link about them. https://www.livestrong.com/article/510629-the-nutritional-benefits-of-wood-ear-mushrooms/

There is an Asian market that is a larger chain, with locations on both coasts and several place in between called H-Mart. There doesn't seem to be one web page for all of them.

 

[ReadyMom]

Y

Another thing that I found, and thankfully bought one were large bags of dried mushrooms, tree ears. I repackaged those dried mushrooms into quart canning jars and had more than a case.

What is the shelf life of those re-packed mushrooms?

 

[Weedygarden]

What is the shelf life of those re-packed mushrooms?

I really have no idea. But dried mushrooms, like many other dried things must have a long shelf life. I knew of a German woman who was into mushroom collecting and when she died, she had jars and jars of various mushrooms from all of her forays.

 

[NannyPatty]

I've had butter out my entire life. Thirty years ago or so we started using a butter bell. I fill up the bell with butter, about a quarter of a pound, and put a little water in the crock. This prevents oxidation of the butter.

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_9?url=search-alias=garden&field-keywords=butter+bell+crock&sprefix=butter+be,instant-video,252&crid=1GMBJXK0N8HOR&rh=n:1055398,k:butter+bell+crock

I have a butter boat that I use. It works the same as the butter bell, just different shaped.

 

[ReadyMom]

Re mushrooms (sorry for the thread drift): https://www.google.com/amp/ask.metafilter.com/302571/How-long-are-dried-mushrooms-good-for/amp

 

[Weedygarden]

Re mushrooms (sorry for the thread drift): https://www.google.com/amp/ask.metafilter.com/302571/How-long-are-dried-mushrooms-good-for/amp

Research shows that the dates are set because they are required to. The mushrooms may have lost nutritional value, but because they are dried, they do have a good shelf life. There is a meme going around about 250,000,000 year old salt having a 2 year shelf life.

 

[Amish Heart]

Yep. I saw that meme. It cracked me up. Also honey and sugar shouldn't have an expiration. When we pick up my husbands prescriptions from Walgreens, I always write on the bottle what it is, larger in black marker. I also put the expiration date, and then put it in his medicine shelf. The datg of expiration is always one year, regardless of what it really is.

 

[TBob]

Two things I never refrigerate, eggs and butter. I know, people call me crazy
let me revise that, I do refrigerate eggs if I have purchased them from a store and they were already refrigerated, but that is rare.

 

[Weedygarden]

I look for ghee when shopping. Ghee at Costco is pricey!

The best price I have seen is WM, but I need to do the math on all the options from all the stores. Has anyone seen it for a better price than WM?

 

[Amish Heart]

They have it at Aldi, but I just looked up Walmart's price, and it looks about the same. Sometimes Aldi doesn't have a good expiration date, though.

 

[Hooch]

I've made ghee ..it makes the house smell wonderful. I used Bexar Prepper instruction off youtube and I thought it tasted good n didnt have any issues. I dont have anymore..now that butter is 5 to 7 bucks a pound..I wish I had made some more a few years ago.

 

[Weedygarden]

They have it at Aldi, but I just looked up Walmart's price, and it looks about the same. Sometimes Aldi doesn't have a good expiration date, though.

Someone, I think Magus, posted about foods that have a long shelf life, and it said that ghee has a very long shelf life, and it is probably longer than stated on the jar.

I've made ghee ..it makes the house smell wonderful. I used Bexar Prepper instruction off youtube and I thought it tasted good n didnt have any issues. I dont have anymore..now that butter is 5 to 7 bucks a pound..I wish I had made some more a few years ago.

I have a bunch of butter in the freezer. I should try to make some. Ghee is something that I would like to have more of. I have watched some of her videos, and need to watch more of them. I see that she hasn't posted in more than 4 years.

 

[Hooch]

I loved her videos..I wonder why she stopped. I used her canned meatloaf recipe and modified with some other spices and won my county fair first place with it.
The gals all wanted the receipe n where I found it. I told them about her canning it and how I modified it. Chinese garlic sweet sauce..little heat, good flavor to it.
It was a hit! No bread or crackers in it tho..

 

[Weedygarden]

I loved her videos..I wonder why she stopped. I used her canned meatloaf recipe and modified with some other spices and won my county fair first place with it.
The gals all wanted the receipe n where I found it. I told them about her canning it and how I modified it. Chinese garlic sweet sauce..little heat, good flavor to it.
It was a hit! No bread or crackers in it tho..

This meatloaf recipe?