Canning lard
I have been looking for a way to can lard. I looked in your blog and book. I heated it to very hot and put it into hot jars and sealed them. Did not water bath or can. Just put on the shelf. One jar exploded all over me anyway. Very, very, very hot!
Nancy Foster
Dallas City, Illinois
Sounds like you put the lard on your shelf when it was hot? If the pantry shelves were cool the difference in temperature will cause jars to break just like if you set hot jars on your cool counter top to cool after canning or have a breezy window open by your hot jars. Let your hot, sealed lard set until it is cool on a folded towel on your kitchen counter or table, then take it to your pantry. I sure hope you didn’t get splashed or cut by flying glass! — Jackie
Freezing cream
I recently bought a cow share which is the only way in Virginia to obtain raw milk. I think I own one hoof! Anyway, I skimmed off the cream and froze it in a mason jar with plenty of room to expand. When I checked it today I found that the jar was cracked in many places. Any ideas? (I did throw it out)
Also, can I freeze the cream until I get enough to make butter? We had a Jersey cow when I was a teenager and out of the 4 gallons a day we would skim off a gallon of cream. We never had to wait till we had enough to do anything with it.
Sheryl
Newport News, Virginia
Generally, you can easily freeze cream in a canning jar. I’d suggest a wide mouth jar and leaving at least an inch of expansion room. Be sure the jar is cold when you put in the cold cream after skimming it. Cold + warm will cause cracks. You might also consider using square plastic freezer boxes as they are less likely to crack or break. Yes, you can store cream in the freezer until you have enough to make butter. That’s one problem with having a share of a cow; you don’t get enough milk at one time to skim off enough cream to make a batch of butter from one or two milkings! — Jackie
