Margarine, also called oleomargarine, is a butterlike food made from vegetable oils or animal fats, or both. Many people cook with margarine and use it on bread and other foods. Many bakeries and other food manufacturers also use it.
In the United States, people use more than twice as much margarine as butter. Margarine usually costs less than butter, and it can be processed so that it has the same food value. It also contains a greater proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acids and much less of a fatty substance called cholesterol. Many doctors warn that too much cholesterol in the blood can lead to a heart attack. See Fat (Fats and disease).
How margarine is made.
The U.S. government requires that margarine contain at least 80 per cent fat. The fat must be emulsified (evenly distributed) in milk, water, or a type of milk made from soybeans. Margarine also must be fortified with vitamin A at a level equal to that in butter. Most margarine also contains butterlike flavoring, salt, vitamin D, and yellow coloring. Preservatives are added to prevent decay. One or more vegetable oils provide the fat content of most margarine. Soybean oil is the most commonly used oil. But processors also may use corn, cottonseed, palm, peanut, and safflower oils. Some margarine is made with animal fats.
To make margarine, manufacturers emulsify melted oils with milk or water and chill the resulting substance until it hardens. Most household margarine is made in sticks or is packaged in small tubs. Manufacturers also make large blocks of hard margarine for commercial bakeries, and fluid household margarine in plastic squeeze bottles.
History.
Hippolyte Mege-Mouries, a French chemist, developed margarine in the late 1860’s as a substitute for butter. He called it oleomargarine because its chief ingredients were beef fat, called oleo, and margaric acid. The product was introduced into the United States in the early 1870’s. Almost immediately, U.S. dairy farmers protested that it would ruin the butter market. As a result, Congress put a tax on margarine in 1886 to discourage its sale. By the 1930’s, many states had banned the sale of yellow-colored margarine. Such margarine was more popular than the natural white variety.
People bought margarine despite the restrictions, and criticism of the federal tax increased. Congress ended the tax in 1950. By 1967, all state bans on colored margarine had also ended. Margarine sales more than doubled from 1950 to 1970.
