Preserving the Past:
Canning Milk and Homesteading Tales from Tennessee

I was always raised a city girl, daughter of a military man we traveled overseas most of my childhood. When I retired from 31 years at the 911 Center, I decided I was going to be a country girl and moved to Tennessee. Once moving here and learning the culture, I became interested in homesteading. As most of you do, you purchase a gallon of milk, you drink what you can and you end up, throwing away the rest. I thought this was ridiculous until I learned what they do up in Tennessee, they can their milk. I’m going to share with you how to can your milk and preserve it without refrigeration for future use.

To can milk you need canning jars, I prefer pints because when I cook I only need about 2 1/2 cups, you can drink the canned milk they say, but I’m not a big milk fan other than cooking so I haven’t drank any. You will need a canning pot that you can get at Amazon or Walmart. What it is is a large pressure cooker that you’re going to put your jars in heat up and then cool.

To can milk you need to start with everything cold, cold water in your canning pot, cold milk and you’re going to go low and slow to can milk. This time because I have fresh raw cows milk I am canning in quart size jars. I filled three jars of fresh milk. I poured the milk into approximately 1 inch below the top, wiped the rims with water, placed my lids on and then screwed the rings on finger tight. I placed the jars in the canning pot, turned on the heat. I’m going to let the water in the canning pot boil before I put the lid on the pot. Then I’m going to let the steam flow for approximately 10 minutes before sticking my weight on top of the venting spout. I’m going to let it rise to 10 pounds of pressure and then I’m going to turn off the burner and let it cool in the water. Once everything is cool, usually about 12 hours, I’ll take out my jars make sure that they sealed and then place them in my basement for future use.

Since moving to Tennessee, I have learned to can fruits, vegetables, meat, milk, and pretty much anything you can think of. I also plan to can some bread in the future so I’m pretty excited about that. It’s super easy to do whether you live in the country or the city and it’s nice to come home and if you’re not ready to cook dinner, you can grab a can/jar open and heat it and your dinner is already cooked quick and easy. I joined canning sites on Facebook with tons of information. I do wanna let you know that Canning milk does not comply with the USDA or the FDA guidelines but our grandparents and their grandparents and their grandparents can this way and they lived pretty healthy lives. do you research and happy canning.

My name is Karen, I’m a 64 year old mom of 3 gorgeous daughters and one Fabulous grand daughter. I am married to the love of my life, we have been together for 17 years. We have 3 horses that we totally enjoy, one being the baby from my horse. We are retired in Tennessee and living our best life.