OLEOMARGARINE. A preparation of the fat of neat cattle, much used of late years for making fictitious butter, and for adulterating butter and cheese. When prepared in a cleanly manner, and from healthy fat, ft is nearly identi cal in its composition with true butter, and fully equal in nutrition, but lacks, of course, the aroma which is sought to be supplied in some respects, in various ways. Strict laws have been passed in some of the States, against its sale except under its true name. Yet large quantities are palmed off on the unsuspecting, and many dis honest dealers and makers of fiutter and cheese employ its use. Recent analysis of several sam ples of butter from various sources and also of three samples of oleomargarine, by the chemist of the Department of Agriculture, will show the near identity of these different fats. The large quantity of sugar in the New York butter and in samples of oleomargarine, No. 7 and 8 are un doubtedly due to artificial means. The chemist, in his report adds: That the small quantity in the other samples may he due to the product of decomposition in the butter analyzed, which products deported themselves in a manner similar to. sugar in their effects upon the reagents used in the analysis. The butters analyzed included the following, viz : One specimen each of Danish, Swiss, and French butter, one speci men each of Iowa butter of second quality, New York dairy butter, and oleo margarine bought in Washington markets. Also two specimens of oleomargarine received from House Committee for District of Columbia.
In animal fats the fatty acids insoluble in water form from 93.5 to 96 per cent., while in true butter the insoluble fatty acids average from 85.5 to 87.5 per cent. of the butter fat, and never exceeds 89.6 per cent. Hence, since in the sam ple of oleomargarine No. 6 the fatty acids equal 95.96 per cent. of the fats, it will be seen that this sample of oleomargarine was made from animal fats to which had been added a little milk in the process or manufacture. In washing a true butter with water, the water becomes milky, and a portion of these washings under the micro scope show a vast number of fat globules pres ent in the buttermilk contained in the butter. The specimens of oleomargarine No. 7 and 8, on the contrary, give a nearly clear water by wa,shing, and this water is almost entirely desti tute of fat globules, except that, since milk is used in their manufacture to a limited extent, there was found a comparatively small number of fat globules in the washings of these speci mens of oleomargarine. In relation to the history and manufacture of oleomargarine, as practiced in New York, and given in the Trans actions of the American Dairymen's Associa tion, for 1878, we quote as follows: About the year 1870, we begin to read of the application for and the granting of patents for improvements in the processes of refilling oils and fats; very mod est in their pretensions at first, but growing bolder and more startling in their claims with their order of succession. The tirst process was patented by H. W. Bradley, January 3, 1871. His specifications claim that his invention relates to a new composition for lard, butter or shorten ing, whereby a very cheap lard or butter is man ufactured, superior to ordinary shortening, and answering the purpose of lard, butter or cream for culinary and other purposes. The product manufactured was composed of beef or mutton tallow, refined vegetable oils, and lard or stearine. This is a very modest claim. The next process proposed was patented by one Perouse, Novem ber 2, 1871. His claim had the one object, to enable the application of fine fats (especially beef fat) to alimentary and culinary purposes, and make such fat take a position between lard and butter, give it a 'good appearance, smell and taste, and also give it digestible qualities far superior to the freshest butter or lard. The pro duct made by this patent was a mixture of beef fat, carbonate of soda, chloride of alumina and sodium, and bore no resemblance to butter. The next process patented worth considering was by Paraf, in April, 1873. The specifications and claims in this patent approach nearer to the true process for the manufacture of artificial butter. The product manufactured under Paraf's patent was called oleomargarine because butter was at one time considered to be a compound chiefly composed of oleine and margarine, but later investigations show margarine to be a mixture of palmatine and stearine. Paraf, started a large company called the Oleomargarine Manufactur ing Company,' in New York city. having for its object the manufacture of the oleomargarine, so called. The product manufactured hy Paraf's patent resembles butter when seen at a distance, but, on examination with a microscope, was. seen to have a distinct grain, which was very distinguishable on tasting; it possessed no odor or flavor of butter, and, after keeping a short time, lost its color, and acquired the odor of beef suet, from which it was made. The next process, and it is one similar to Para's, was first patented in England, by M6ge, in 1869, and afterwards in this country, in 1873, and finally re-issued May 12, 1874. This re-issue contains all the valuable points in both the English and American patents, and is now the property of the United States Dairy Company. These patents cover two principal operations in the manufacturing of butter from the fat of animals, viz: First, the extraction of the oil at a low temperature; and second, the converting of the oil, by churning with milk, into butter. Prof. Mott was employed by the United States Dairy Company, to make a series of experiments for the perfecting of the artificial product at their factory in Brooklyn, during a period of several months. He became satisfied that good butter could only be made by the use of the oil rendered at a very low temperature—below 125° Fahr. Whenever made at a higher temperature the oil, or the butter made from it, would smell like tallow after standing a few days, which smell would be sufficient to repel any butter buyer from purchasing it. This smell is occasioned by using oil rendered at a temperature above 125°, being tainted by the decomposition of the animal membranes. In conducting his experi ments his object was to make a product con taining no element foreign to the very best of butter. His first discovery was a process by which he was enabled completely to remove the grain from the artificial product of butter. This process is described in his true process of making artificial butter. How to introduce into this pro
duct the true odor and flavor of butter, without injuring its texture, was a problem of consider able difficulty, but after working at it for three months, it was finally discovered. Another patent is yet to be considered—that of Garret Cosine, dated February 15, 1876, for improve ment in processes for making artificial butter. The object of this patent is to make two pro ducts, one for winter and the other for summer use. The winter product consists of oleine and fruit, or nut oil, flavored with milk and salt. The slimmer product is shnilar to that made by Paraf, and not salable in market. This patent of Cosine's is the most startling yet out, for even. the nutty flavor of Jersey butter is attempted. With respect to the temperature stated by Braude for the melting point of fat being 100° Fahr., Prof. Mott found that he must evidently refer to fat freed from its membrane, as the fat can not be practically separated from its membrane under a temperature of 109° Fahr., and then only in very exceptional cases. As in the manu facture of natural butter, when a good product is to be obtained, the first and most important principle to be observed is entire cleanliness. Mott's process for making oleomargarine is as follows: The fat, on arriving at the factory, is first weighed, and then thrown into large tanks containing tepid water, care being taken to place all pieces that are dirty or bloody in a separate tank to be washed. The fat in the tanks should be covered with tepid water and soaked for an hour, when the water is drawn off and he fat thoroughly washed in cold water; then covered again with fresh cold water and allowed to stand an hour longer; the water is then again removed, and the fat thoroughly washed for the last time with fresh cold water, when it is ready for the next operation, which is the disintegrating or chopping process, which is done by passing it through a meat hasher or chopper, where it is cut by means of revolving knives very fine, aud forced through a fine sieve out of the machine into a tub. In the melting process, the fat is next removed to the melting tank, care being taken to drain off all the water remaining. It is heated by means of water surrounding the tank, until the tem perature reaches 116°. when the steam which heats the water is turned off. The water sur rounding the tank being much warmer than the melted fat, increases its temperature to about 122' to 124°, when the fat is completely melted. During the whole operation of melting, the fat must be constantly stirred to maintain an even temperature. The adipose membrane, called scrap, settles to the bottom, and a clear yellow oil floats on top. The melting process, when conducted rightly, takes two or three hours. The oil should then stand at least twenty-four or thirty-six hours to granulate, and the tempera ture of the room should be 80°. This is a. very important operation, and must not be hurried, otherwise the stearine in the oil will not have time to crystallize. For the pressing process, the refined fat is removed to the press room, which should be of a teinperature between 80° and 90'. It must not be so solid that it can not be easily worked with the fingers. It is next packed in cloths set in moulds, to form packages four inches wide, eight inches long, and one and one-half inches thick. These packages are then placed upon galvanized iron plates in the press at equal distances apart, and piled one above another until the press is filled. They are first subjected to a slight pressure, which is increased gradually until the oil begins to flow slowly. The oil is received in tin vessels, and the pressing is continued until no more oil cau be obtained. The pressure is then removed, the plates unpacked, when cakes of pure white stearine, about eight by five inches long, and one-fourth of au inch thick appear. The stearine is now ready for sale, while the oil obtained from the prcss is removed to a cool place until it reaches a tem perature of 70°, when it is ready for the next operation. The percentage of butyrine, caprine, caproine, etc., (essential oils of butter,) con tained is so very small, (being derived from the milk in the last churning process,) that it is not sufficient to make the butter become rancid when decomposed; but quite sufficient, says Prof. Mott, to give to the butter the so much prized flavor and odor. The analysis of Prof. 1VIott of the two compounds shows that natural butter contains 7.6 per cent. of those flavoring oils, while the artificial butter contains only .26 per cent. of them; and this small portion, which is obtained from the milk in the process of churning, has not much effect upon the taste; and can not be expected to have. The oil at the proper temperature of 70° is taken to the churning room; 100 pounds of' oil are put into the churn at a time, with from fifteen to twenty pounds of sour milk. About two and a half or three ounces of a solution of annatto, to which has been added from one-half to three-fourths of an ounce of the bicarbonate of soda, must now be added, and the whole churned twelve or fifteen minutes, until milk, coloring matter and oil are thoroughly mixed together, when the whole mixture is withdrawn ft,pm the churn, through a hole in one end, ancrallowed to fall into a tub containing pounded ice. As the oil flows on the ice it must be kept in constant motion until the tub is filled with solidified oil. Crystallization is by- this simple process com pletely prevented. The solidified oil, which now has an orange color, is left two or three hours in contact with the ice in the tub, when it is dumped upon an inclined table, where it is crumbled so that the ice may melt and leave the oil, which is crumbled by hand fine, and about thirty pounds at a time again introduced into the churn, with twenty or twenty-five pounds. of churned sour milk, and churned for fifteen minutes, when the solidified oil takes up a cer tain percentage of the milk, as also the flavor and odor, which were washed out by the ice after the first churning, and pure butter (?) is produced. This is now removed to the work ing table, where after draining it is salted to the extent of threc-quarters to one ounce of salt to the pound of butter. After proper work ing it is packed in firkins and is ready for sale. The following tables give the percentage of fat, oil and butter realized in the manufacture of oleomargarine. Percentages by the melting process in 100 parts: Refined fat 78.63 per cent.