canning milk

[myheaven]

Anyone here can their surplus milk? I just canned 3.5 gallons today on my wood cook stove Plan on canning more in the am. No longer need to buy powder milk for recipes.

[GoddessKristie]

Funny that you posted this! I was just thinking tonight that I need to do something about the holidays this winter. DS is allergic to cows milk and I adore making treats around the holidays that involve evaporated and sweetened condensed milk. I will still be nursing then, so if I don't make some I wont be able to eat any goodies!
Once we get our production up that is second on the list (first is some mozz, I'm DYING for a cheesy pizza!!)!

[chewie]

i think i will freeze mine. but all that freezer space, hmm?

[mamajohnson]

I have lots of canned milk myself. Great thing to do with the excess. Just lately I have not got it canned before it went sour.
I hate when that happens!

[LomahAcres]

How'd you go about canning it? Can you do it with a hot water bath, or does it have to be done with a pressure cooker? I'd like to can some this year for later, that is if I ever get any extra.

[mamajohnson]

it can be done water bath (60 min) or pressure canner (10# at 10 min I think)
I like the water bath, the milk looks nicer, doesnt turn yellow.

[lunagardens]

Once canned does it still go in the fridge? I know it sounds kinda DUH! but how do you store it once canned?

[Togg Lovers]

I've never canned anything I always freeze. But we want to put up so much stuff this year I know there won't be room in the freezer for everything. Could someone post how they can milk step by step. And do you use the canned milk for drinking or just for cooking and baking? I bought some canned milk once in a pinch and noone here liked it for drinking.

[mamajohnson]

Originally Posted by lunagardens

Once canned does it still go in the fridge? I know it sounds kinda DUH! but how do you store it once canned?

I keep mine with my other canned goods. You can see a little separation in the milk, I just sorta give it a shake, and it looks like milk again. I think it has the cream come up to the top, just like in the fridge.

I just keep an eye on my lids, to be sure they stay sealed. I do this because a year or so ago a jar came unsealed (unknown to me at the time)
BUT I did find it once it started smelling! lol!
So, if I find one that has popped it's seal, the dogs get it.
But, that has only happened 2 times. I think it was a lid or jar issue, not the milk itself.

[mpillow]

I can a lot too.....I dont use it so much in the kitchen but I keep it for when I can get super cheap calves or piglets(extras or runts)....it can also become feed to the chickens if I'm in a pinch.

Jar up your milk in Quarts, boil lids, screw them on, place in WB w water about an inch over jars and gently warm for an hour (cold milk/hot water will cause jars to crack if you don't warm gently) about med. on my stove.....then crank up the heat and when it boils set timer for 1hour

[mamajohnson]

mpillow,
that sounds like a good idea, to warm the milk in the jar. I usually just throw it all in a pot and warm it to a good hot temp and put in hot jars...
hmmm may try that.

[Sweet Goats]

Wow, I would of never ever thought of putting in on the shelf. I would think it would go bad. That is great news. I now wish i had dairy goats.

[deafgoatlady]

Hey I wondered if I canned the milk here. Will it work if i use that canned milk for the baby goats for next year or not??? I wondered?

[mpete]

mpillow, do you boil it for an hour or let it sit in the water with heat off?

[DQ]

I think some of the nutrition is lost with canning and it isn't the best for raising kids if fresh is available. there are also not any "official" reccomended guidlines (last I checked) supposedly commercially canned milk is canned at ultra high temps. ones that can't be acheived with a home pressure canner. that being said many people do it anyway.

[mpillow]

I warm the cold milk in the jars in the canner pot for an hour to avoid jar breakage on med. heat, then I turn up the heat to get a boil and boil for 1hr.

You can use it on kids its still better than replacer after being canned IMO...its certainly pasturized at an ultra level....so you wont pass on any bugs...I only bottle feed if mom rejects or I have a request for such....I milk share with goats/kids.

[christij]

So canned milk isn't good for kitchen use? Only livestock?

[lunagardens]

I keep mine with my other canned goods. You can see a little separation in the milk, I just sorta give it a shake, and it looks like milk again. I think it has the cream come up to the top, just like in the fridge.

This is fantastic news! Thank you so much for sharing that. I am so happy to learn of this. Now I need to go buy a new pressure cooker. I lost the weight gauge circle for our old one. Need a new one anyway.

[mpillow]

Its fine to cook with....drinking it would take some (GULP!) getting used to or desperate times!

Refridg. any opened jar of milk.

[myheaven]

Im happy to see so many people are prospering from this thread.
I water bath can mine on my wood stove. Sterlize jars and slowly warm the cool milk in the jars in the water bath canner. Slowly bring it to a rolling boil. once a good boil is achived Set the timer for 1 hr. Keep the boil going till timer goes off. I use my milk for cooking, milk shakes, fudge, so on. Yes it is fit for human consumption and animal alike. I never though of keeping some in case mom rejects baby. I will have to put up extra now.

LUNAGARDENS ::::For a lost pressure canner weight contact the manufacture and request to purchase another one.

One thing I like best about canning milk is if the power goes out I dont have to worry about my freezer thawing and loosing all my milk. We are now using the freezer as a staging area. Just in long enough to give me time to can it. Meat that is. Roasts and stuff stay whole in the freezer. Not to mention my elc per kilowatt hr is increasing by the day. yikes