Having been raised on margarine (but we called it “butter”), it was all I knew until I started eating out at some places and later married my husband whose family usually used butter.
In fact, just in recent years I switched the family from margarine to butter. There was resistance, let me tell you. The kids did NOT like the taste of butter at first, but over time, they became accustomed to it and now LOVE butter.
For some reason the subject of butter versus margarine came up with some family members recently. One of them said that butter was so expensive. The same one also mentioned that butter was unhealthy. Is it?
Think about it. Not many years ago, butter was a no-no. So were eggs and bananas and all kinds of other real foods that depending on WHO you ask, they may or may not be acceptable at this time.
History of Margarine
I had my own ideas of what I thought I had read why margarine was created. I thought it had something to do with World War II and food rations. That was partly true.
Margarine was actually created in 1869 when Napoleon III offered a prize to anyone who could develop a cheap butter substitute for his poorer subjects and navy during the Franco-Prussian wars. Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès, a French chemist, called it “oleomargarine” and was made using salty water, milk, and margaric acid to soften beef tallow (aka, fat). It quickly came to the United States. By the turn of the century, the tallow was replaced by vegetable oils.
There was a war against margarine in the late 19th century waged by the dairy industry. They were feeling threatened by the margarine producers and felt it was a fake product. Through lobbying, taxes were place on margarine and licensing fees were imposed upon those who produced it and sold it. The tax was two cents per pound making it cost a dime….so it was quite a tax hike!
Many in the margarine industry were adding yellow coloring to make its natural, unappetizing white state look more like butter. In Virginia, margarine had to be colored pink to persuade consumers from buying it. By 1900, thirty states were outlawed from coloring their margarine themselves, so they eventually sold packets of food coloring for you to knead yourself into your tub of margarine.
Think that is strict? From 1886 until 1948, Canada prohibited banned any and all margarine with the exception of a few years during World War I when butter was in shortage.
In a surprise move, President Truman passed the Margarine Act of 1950 on March 16 to end the discriminatory laws against “the other spread.” Sales took off and by 1958 more margarine was consumed than butter causing a significant change in the American diet.
Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt even got on board with the margarine makers as they turned to television to make their case. "Years ago, most people would never dream of eating margarine, but times have changed," Roosevelt said in a 1959 commercial. "Nowadays, you can get a margarine like the new Good Luck, which really tastes delicious. That's what I've spread on my toast. Good Luck. I thoroughly enjoy it."
Other Interesting Facts
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| This cartoon showed all the nasty stuff the Big Butter folks wanted others to think went into margarine. |
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| John McMonigle served two stints in federal prison for bootlegging margarine. He sold margarine as butter. We still don't like to buy false food....am I right? |
Color of Butter and Margarine
Milk fat or cream tends to have a pale yellow color to it. You can see that in the post Kristy did on how to make butter. I have also made butter from raw milk fat and had the same experience. You can even buy heavy cream from the grocery store and make butter using it instead.
The color of butter, however, is determined by the food the cows are eating. Used to be when cows grazed in the spring and summer on green forage, their milk had a more yellow color meaning butter made from it would be the same. Yet in the winter when they were eating dried feed, the butter made from their milk would be paler and not quite as much flavor per the butter experts.
Costs
As you know by now, to make butter you need really only one ingredient. Milk fat. (I like mine with salt though.) Butter contains 80% milk fat by weight. It takes 11 quarts to make one pound of butter! If four quarts make a gallon, then eight makes two gallons and 11 quarts is almost three gallons of milk (or milk fat in this case). That’s a lot. No wonder if cost more than margarine.
So Which is Healthier For You?
“Margarine is one molecule away from being plastic.” Just in case you have heard this like me, know this: it’s meaningless. Even the slightest variation in molecular structure can make a world of difference in substances. Salt is one atom shift away from being hydrochloric acid. Keep this in mind if you hear similar claims such as “the difference between Cool Whip and Styrofoam is one molecule” or “Pam spray is one molecule from being plastic”, etc.
All margarines are not created equal. Margarine is any vegetable oil-based, butter-flavored spread that contains 80% oil; anything with lower oil and fat content is considered a “soft margarine spread.” To stay solid at room temperature, vegetable oils are hydrogenated, which creates trans fatty acids that can raise LDL, or bad cholesterol. Most solid sticks of margarine contain trans fats and/or saturated fat. A gram or two of trans fats may not seem like a lot, but even small amounts are bad for your heart.
While most are made with unsaturated vegetable oils and contain trans fat, you can find them without trans fat. The brands that tout they reduce your cholesterol absorption require you to eat 2 to 3 tablespoons a day for the benefits which would add a lot to your caloric intake. These “healthier” spreads tend to be costly too. Eating enough of this to make an impact in your health is not the best way to fight cholesterol levels. Look at the big picture and your overall diet. Some of these “heart healthy” spreads are patented and you cannot really know all their ingredients.
Because butter is an animal product, it contains cholesterol amounting to 30 mg per tablespoon or 10% of the USDA recommended allowance. It also contains saturated fat which up until now was considered unhealthy when it comes to your heart. Newer studies in 2014 have disputed this. No matter the brand of butter sold at your grocery store, most have 100 calories per serving which seems steep but most heart-healthy oils such as olive oil has the same amount if not more.
The Winner (For Me!)
So see, there has been a war between butter and margarine. For my family’s health, we choose real butter. (Well, Mama made that choice but they like it now. ;)) Not even low fat or whipped butter which sometimes has added ingredients and preservatives. We are trying to consume real food on a daily basis. A stick stays on the counter at all times ready at the perfect spreading consistency for when a hot roll is ready for a pat or I am going to scramble eggs or caramelize onions.
No matter what you choose for you or your family,
as with everything, moderation is key!
Another healthy option, if you want to stay away from margarine AND butter, is to choose to use nut butters and avocado on sandwiches. If you like buttered noodles, trying use olive oil and some seasonings such as garlic powder, onion powder, or herbs. Use tahini or olive oil or coconut oil (and other nut and vegetable oils but NOT vegetable oil) on your bread.
Oh, and the one who started it all – Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès – turns out Napoleon III’s sum wasn’t so princely, he died a pauper in 1880. And to think the most popular margarine-producing brand, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, sold more than $200 million in product in 2011.
“In the seemingly unending duel between butter and margarine, butter is winning the latest round: as of 2014, butter had surpassed margarine as America’s favorite spread. We’re now each eating on average 5.6 pounds of butter a year, as opposed to a dwindling 3.5 pounds of margarine. New evidence has shown that the trans fats in margarine may be worse for us health-wise than the saturated fats in butter. There’s also the upswing in the public’s preference for natural foods in favor of processed products—and a lot of people say that real butter just plain tastes better.”*What about you? Margarine or butter? Did you grow up eating one and now eat the other? Tell me about it below!
Some recipes I've shared using butter. Yum!
Chicken Bryan which has a delicious sun-dried tomato and butter sauce
Flourless Chocolate Torte starts out with one and a half sticks of butter and two cups of chocolate chips....can it get any better?
Sources
http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/butter.asp
http://mentalfloss.com/article/25638/surprisingly-interesting-history-margarine
http://www.culinarylore.com/food-science:margarine-myths-feed-turkeys-and-more (This link gives more info on how Mège-Mouriès made his oleomargarine.)
https://books.google.com/books?id=pt-o5xnJXvkC&pg=PA101&lpg=PA101&dq=1950+president+truman+margarine&source=bl&ots=btouXmehfw&sig=NtlKxLrWPfnHxcntDTEUa2h3JBA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=i5PjVMWzDMqeggTPmoLIBA&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=1950%20president%20truman%20margarine&f=false
http://www.healthy-weight-loss-help.com/butter-vs-margarine.html
http://www.slate.com/blogs/crime/2013/03/27/hippolyte_mege_mouries_a_brief_history_of_the_bootleg_margarine_trade.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/almanac-a-tax-on-margarine/
*http://theplate.nationalgeographic.com/2014/08/13/the-butter-wars-when-margarine-was-pink/
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