# How can I make a homemade butter last longer?



## oan17 (Apr 28, 2011)

Hi...I was wondering how can I make a homemade butter last longer and preferably 5-6months? and also if it is okay to add flavor to the butter and how long will it last if I do? What do I used to preserve my butter?


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

salt can be used then freeze if your talking monthes.


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## pete (Oct 7, 2001)

Freezing would be the only way to hold butter for that long, but I have to question why you would want to hold onto butter for that length of time.  "Rinsing" your butter will help prolong its shelf life, but it only buys you a few extra days.


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## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

Butter will lose flavor when frozen. If you're going to go through the trouble of making it yourself, freezing it would be a shame. 

Compound butters should keep for 1 or 2 months, but I wouldn't eat a compound butter that's been in my freezer for 6 months. Come to think of it, I don't think there's anything I would eat after it's been in the freezer for 6 months.


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## pete (Oct 7, 2001)

> Compound butters should keep for 1 or 2 months


Unless you are using ultra pastuerized cream for making butter it won't last that long unfrozen. When I was a kid, growing up in Vermont, we used to buy raw, unhomogenized milk. We'd pour the cream off of it and turn that into butter. I was the job of me and my brother to churn the butter on Saturday mornings, while watching cartoons. Left out, at room temperature, we would be lucky to get a week out of it. In the fridge we could stretch that to 3 but no more. It might be different though if you culture your milk first, effectively "souring" a portion of it. That might extend the shelf life some, but without freezing I can't imagine any butter, made from raw milk, would last more than a month, if that.


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## jokerhorse (Jul 20, 2011)

Can you make your own butter with heavy whipping creme, then can it?


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

jokerhorse said:


> Can you make your own butter with heavy whipping creme, then can it?


Not really. The best way to hold is vacuum pack and freeze. But as has already been said, what's the point of making fresh butter if you're not going to use it fresh?

You're not saving any money by making your own, unless you have access to a great source for cream. So, if you lose that little bit of quality you get from using very fresh, than what benefit are you left with?

If you like a European type butter, add a tbs of whole milk yogurt to each pint of cream. That will hold a little better as well.


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