OLEOMARGARINE, 6V-6-mar/pa-tin (from Lat. oh-um. oil. Eng. no/rya/inf., from Lat. »itt r t (1. from Gk. pop; api 7,/c, m rya r i I Cs, pearl, from pitiryapoc, ieirgal'OS, pea rl -oyster BUTTER, or BU 'ITEM?: E. An artificial or manufactured substitute for dairy butter, made from and other fatty substances worked together with coloring matter. The material originated in France, as the result of a prize offered at the instance of Napoleon III. for the best substitute for butter. This W;IS awarded in 1569 to llippolyte whose process, erably modified, is still employed in the manu facture of oleomargarine. In the fat that •is removed from beef animals at the time of slaughtering is thoroughly washed in warm water, and chilled and hardened by means of ice water. It is then finely eut up by ma chinery and melted in steam -jacketed caldrons at about 16i1° P. (71° C.), after which it is allowed to settle. Salt is spattered over the surface of the fat, which accelerates the settling of the fibre or After the first settling the -liar oil is sipInmed to a second series of jacketed caldrons, where more salt is added and the temperature controlled until the second set tling is completed. \N hen it is siphoned into vats, in which it is allowed to stand from three to five days at a temperature favorable to the crystal lization of the stearin. The mass is then thor oughly mixed. wrapped in cloths and submitted to powerful pressure, which separates the oleo-oil from the stearin. Several grades of oleo-oil are made, the quality depending upon the grade of animals and the part of the body from which the fat is obtained. Nentral lard, or 'neutral,' another important constituent of oleomargarine, is prepared from the leaf and the back fat of the the best grade coming from the leaf. Cotton seed oil enters quite largely into the composi tion of oleomargarine, especially of the cheaper grades. These fats are mixed in various pro portions by different manufacturers, each hav ing his own working formula. So depends on the handling of the oils and the regula tion of the temperature at (Tell suecessive stage, that different manufacturers using the same grade of oils in similar emnbinations will secure quite ditierent results. Tlif• 011•0-oil and iln• neutral lard are each melted in separate tanks. and are piped into a mixing tank mounted on scales. so that the exact proportions called for by the formula limy be used. If cottonseed oil is used. it is added at this stage. The mixed fats are piped to the churn, where the Melted butter, cream or milk, and the coloring matter are added. is used much more commonly than butter or cream, and this is 'ripened' or fermented with a special culture of bacteria to give a pronounced lactic-acid flavor resembling that of butter. The mixture is then churned. and the liquid oleomargarine is drawn into a vat of ice water, which chills and hardens it before it can crystallize; after which it is softended by standing in the 'tempering room,' Nro Ike( I in a machine butter-worker, salted, and put up in tubs or rolls.
There are various grades of oleomargarine, de pending upon the grades and proportions of the materials used. The cheapest grades are made from low-grade oils obtained from 'scrap' fat and made firm by the addition of stearin or sim ilar substance, so that a greater proportion of cottonseed oil can be employed. Such grades are churned with skim milk, or buttermilk, and glycerin is sometimes added to improve the ap pearanee of the product. The highest grades are made from pure oleo-oil and neutral lard of the best quality, with little or no cottonseed oil, and arc churned with whole milk, cream, or creamery butter.
buttering is a commercial name for oleomar garine, which was originally used to indicate a product of a higher grade or containing a con siderable proportion of butter. The term now has no special significance in trade, and is not used in the oleomargarine laws, although still employed by sonic dealers for obvious reasons.
When made front good stock, oleomargarine is a cleanly, wholesome, and nutritious article of food. Numerous experiments have shown it to possess a food value practically equal to that of butter, and it has the advantage of keeping better and longer than butter, as it does not tend to become rancid. It has not the delicate flavor of the best butter, but with most people the ob jection to it is founded on sentiment and on its fraudulent sale. a large proportion of it being sold to the retail consumer as butter. Stringent laws have made to regulate its manufacture and sale, requiring it to be labeled and taxing it heavily cobired in imitation of butter. Th object of these laws has, however, been very largely defeated by the ingenuity of manufac turers, and oleomargarine is now placed on the market which apparently eontains no arti ficial coloring matter, and yet imitates the color of Butter very closely.
The prodnetion of oleomargarine in the "United States has increased enormously in recent years. lit 1590 there were, according to the census, 12 factories. In 1900 there were 21. The output for the fiscal year 1890. as shown by the returns of the Treasury Dep:irtmvnt, was 92,924.092 pounds: in 1900 it was 107,045,028 pounds; and in 1902. 120.310,13G pounds. In the fiscal year 1900 the taxes paid into the 'Treasury Depart ment by the industry amounted to $2,5.13,785. The exports of oleomargarine in the fiscal year 1900 amounted to 4,182,5313 pounds. valued at $409,053; and of oleo-oil, 140,739,081 pounds, valued at $10.503,850. The oleomargarine went largely to the British West Indies, t:orinany. and the United kingdom; the oleo-oil, for use in manufacture of oleomargarine. was s taken by Hol land (over (10 per cent.), Germany. Norway. Sweden. Denmark, the United Kingdom, and Belgium. Consult reports of the United States Treasury Department, and Census Bulletin No. 138 (1902), on oleomargarine.