Posted on 09/28/2022 8:36:12 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
When it comes to cooking and baking, it’s a truth universally acknowledged that butter just makes things better.
But with the holiday season coming up, many may have to scramble to find enough butter for their baked goods. That’s according to the Wall Street Journal, which recently reported on a dairy shortage in the U.S. due to staffing issues and lower milk production.
With less butter on shelves and in storage facilities (reportedly the lowest since 2017), that means the price of the yellow stuff has gone up. Over the last year, butter prices have gone up by more than 24.6%, the Wall Street Journal reported, with overall store prices going up by 13.5%
However, the dairy industry is well aware of the issue and is working to supply Americans with the products they need in the months to come.
“We want to run the assets we have harder when we can get more milk off farm,” Joe Coote, chief executive at Darigold Inc, told the Journal.
Those gearing up for the big baking season ahead, should note butter does freeze well, and that there are plenty of substitutes for recipes including: Crisco, olive oil and coconut oil.
Picture from the internet. Not sure how this could have happened. Maybe boiled at too high a heat and it blew when it came out of the water, maybe seal not tightened. Either way a mess. I just found it looking for “canning jar accidents” to rib Diana with. Diana don’t read this. LOL
I use the Kerrygold Irish Butter, in tubs, which went from $3.29/lb to $6.99/lb.
I used to use the “chef’s butter”, Keller 1/4lb sticks, but it’s nowhere to be found these past 5-6 months.
I’ve had the rare jar crack, but never explode.
Last time I was at farm and Fleet, I saw they have mason jar daisy churns, right there in the canning section.
Thought about buying one, but I’m on “gadget probation” for a while. And real cream is often harder to find these days than butter. Even the good brands are full of additives!
Never heard of her, but I’ll add her books to my reading list.
in the late 80s to mid 90s USP Leavenworth had 1 million pounds of butter in 60# boxes in our cold storage to keep cost down on feeding inmates (all commodity) USDA butter and honey and peanut butter, after Clinton, the government started giving it away to foreign nations as bribes and favors
The USDA used to regulate the price of butter by buying up all excess butter production and shipping it to other countries as food aid and probably still does.
If there’s a lower dairy output, there’s less cream, too. The price of heavy cream has doubled, and it takes 1 quart of cream to make a pound of butter. When cream was cheap at Aldi, I made some cultured butter, but it’s more expensive than buying butter, even at today’s prices.
I use my stand mixer to make butter. If you add a dollop of real cultured sour cream to a quart of cream, cover with a cloth, and set it out at room temp for 48 hours, then make the butter, you can have cultured butter. Much more flavorful than regular butter, and you’d have real buttermilk. When you use plain cream instead of culturing it, you don’t get real buttermilk, just mostly skim milk and whey. It will still be good in biscuits, but it’s not really buttermilk.
It’s on sale at braums for $3.50/lb. Its cultured butter, too. I ordered 6 lbs with an online app that took $5 off. That butter was less than $3/lb. Should’ve bought more. Braums is in Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, and Texas.
I was referring to half and half. Plenty of butter here. Wife likes half and half in her java and it works well in a white Russian.
Their Milk is far and away the best.
I get a bunch of butter and freeze it when it goes on sale.
That may very well be true, but at the holidays when people are baking, cooking, etc. and you can’t find butter, making your own is a potential option that many people don’t know exists.
“lower milk production”
What happens when gov’t forces farmers to sell their cows.
Yikes! Me ether, thank goodness! I HAVE had jars break while water bath canning (maybe 2 through the years), but I’d rather have that than an explosion!
Probably the worst mess I’ve cleaned up was breaking an ENTIRE dozen eggs on the kitchen floor. After I picked up all the shells, the dog helped with cleanup...and then I mopped. Ugh!
I also spilled a FULL 25# bag of dry dog kibble INTO my Pantry. ‘Mommy’ said a LOT of naughty words that day! I worked really hard cleaning up every nook and cranny. I did NOT want to bring any mice into the house.
At least with Lizzo & Stacey Abrams, there’ll be no shortage of lard.
‘Barnheart; The Incurable Longing for a Farm of One’s Own’ and ‘Made From Scratch’ are my faves. Currently reading, ‘One Woman Farm.’ She has a blog, (Cold Antler Farm) but she doesn’t update it all the time, and it’s acting kind of wonky today.
You can get used copies of her books for a few bucks. Yay!
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Jenna+woginrich&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss
Maybe 45 years ago I used a 2 tiered pressure canner that did something like 20 pints stacked. I did a lot of low acid veg then. I had 3 jars that were mayonnaise pints in there and guessed the glass was too thin. Just those 3 of the pints cracked and broke in the canner. I just let it run. All the other carrots were fine, but a weird mess, just let it cool, drained out the water and into the trash.
Heck with Christmas! I’m baking cookies for a wedding in two weeks! In western Pa, the Pittsburgh Wedding cookie table is a must! If there’s no cookie table...well, I hate to think... It’s never been so expensive to bake cookies! Good thing I baked a load a month ago and they’re in the freezer. Still have at least 8 more kinds to go!
So ambitious! We used to do ‘Cookie Day’ at my Mom’s. Six of us would get together and bake all day. Then, we’d put our cookies on the pool table and walk around and fill our gift tins. Anything left would go to the local food pantry & Mom’s church for some holiday cheer.
Fun times, but we’re a lot older now and none of us has the energy to do all that, anymore.
I still bake for my neighbors and friends. Got it down to six awesome cookies that always get rave reviews and make a nice gift presentation. ;)
“ shake vigorously”
How long would this take?
I wonder if my local Sherman Williams will help me out
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.