Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-10-14
SELLING BOGUS BUTTER.
REVENUE AGENTS LOOKING
AFTER THE DEALERS.

On0rT LIcShso fritcE
Nov. I-Ssvannah Grocers Say They
Do Not Handle the Product - Some
Facts About Its Manufa cture, and How
to Tell the Difference Between 1t and
Butter.
There is scarcely any article OF food for
which the average citizen entertains such
a dread as bogus butter. He will take
chiocory in his coffee, sand in his sugar
and glucose in about everything else, but
he draws the line on oleomargarine. The
butter plate, too, is subjected TO more sus-
picion than all the other dishes on the
table.
Mr.. JEFF u. Dunwody, Deputy Collec-
tor of Internal Revenue for this division,
was asked yesterday how many grocers
in Savannah sell oleomargarine. He re-
piled that he has found but one dealer in
the city who admitted selling it.
The Deputy Collector has Just finished
an inspection, during which he tried to
ascertain what grocers handle the coun-
terteit article.
at may be-" said he, THAT some of the
grocers handle oleomargarine without
knowing what it is. A number, no" ever.
keep the stuff"
SOLD UNDER A LICENSE.
After next month all dealers in it will
be required to have license, and Will be
required to stamp all of the oleOMarga-
rine they have as such. They may
now possibly, in some instances.
buy without knowing what they are
getting, but after Nov. / the manu-
facturers Will have to stamp all
of the packages they sell, and In
that way the buyers cannot help
seeing what they get. If manufacturer,
grocer, or any one sells oleomargarine
after that date, without stamping the
packages it is in, they will be liable to
severe penalty. Few men pretend to be
able to tell the counterfeit butter from
the genuine product of the COW, but it has
been claimed that their better halves can
readily detect the bogus grease.
A good many people who live at hotels
and boarding houses think that the land
ladies can tell the difference. and that
they order the patented article instead of
the other on which the letters expired
many years ago.
SHE COULD TELL 1T.
Mr.. Dunwody tells of a mistake made
by a merchants wife down in one of the
lower counties. She CHANGED to be in the
store when the Deputy Collector inquired
If Oleomargarine was sold there. In a
conversation that followed she declared
that she could rot be deceived by the best
brand OF Oleomargarine on the market.
ThereupOn her husband brought out two
or three samples of what looked like
prime butter. She daintily scooped
of tiny lump from
each sample with spoon and critically
tested each sample. Then she held them
one after the other up to her nose and
smelled them. Each was pronounced
butter. The merchant smiled, and said
that one was oleomargarine. His wife
declared that it was exactly the same
that was being used on his table. Then
he got the bill from the shippers and
showed that the article had been shipped
as oleomargarine and he was selling 1t as
Western butter and had sent some to his
home to be tried there. The wife con-
fessed that she had been mistaken, but
she remembered that she had thought
that there was something the matter with
the butter all along. The Deputy Col
lector was a little sur rised TO see that
the Savannah merchant who had sold the
imitation TO the country dealer was one
who had denied handling Oleomargsrine.
HOW TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE.
The only sure way of telling oleomar-
garine and butterine from butter ls said
to be by chemical analysis. Cream, milk
and genuine dairy butter are now used to
q considerable extent in the manufacture
of the counterfeit, and much of the oleo-
margarine on the market is cleaner and
perhaps quite as wholesome as good bit
of country butter of poor quality. 1t
costs not less than $1,000 or sc, 900 to start
an oleogarmarine factory even in connec-
ton with slaughter house or pork pack
ing establishment. Lard Is used largely,
especially in winter.
The oleomargarine made from beef fat
being TOO brittle in cold weather, owing,
principally, to the excess of stearine not
being removed, lard is added to overcome
this defect.
HOW THE STUFF rs MADE.
In making oleomargarine the selected
fat taken from cattle in the process of
Strengthening is used. After a thorough
washing the fat is placed in a bath OF
clean, cold water and surrounded with
ice, where 1t is allowed to remain until
all animal heat has been removed. it is
then cut into small pieces by machinery,
aud melted at an average temperature of
$50 degrees until the fat in liquid form has
separated from the tibrine or tissue, and
then settled until it Is perfectly clear.
Next it is drawn into draining watts, and
allowed TO stand day, when it is ready
for the process. The pressing ex-
tracts the stearine, leaving the remaining
product known as cleo oil. 1t is this
article which. when churned with cream
or milk or both, and sometimes with a
small amount OF creamery butter, the
whole being properly sailed, gives oleo-
margarine. Each beef yields an average
OF 40 pounds OF Oleo oil.
WHAT BUTTERINE Is.
In the best butterine neutral lard is
used. This neutral lard, which Is made
from selected leaf lard, and which Is a
beautifully white and odorless product, is
cured in salt brine from two to three DAYS
at an ice water temperature. 1t is then
taken and with the desired proportion Of
oleO oil and the finest creamery butter ts
churned with cream and butter, producing
an article which, when properly saJted
and packed, is ready for tue market. The
same cOloring matter is used that is used
by butter makers. In cold weather
little salad oil. made from selected cotton
seed. is used in both butterine and oleo-
margarine for the improvement OF their
texture. Five pounds of neutral lard Is
the average obtained from hogs.
OieomArgarine is mainly made OF cleo
oil exclusively, but sometimes per cent.
OF the finest butter is added, which is
churned with the oil, milk and cream TO
improve the flavor.
Creamerne butterine usually has one
fourth creamery butter, besides some
milk.