page_title: Margarine
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Margarine / History
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: Prijslijst: Margarine-Boterfabriek Joh. Jurgens, Osch, Rotterdam.
context_page_description: Margarine is a spread used for flavoring, baking and cooking. It was named oleomargarine from Latin for oleum and Greek margarite but was later named margarine.
  Butter is made from the butterfat of milk, whereas modern margarine is made mainly of refined vegetable oil and water. In some places in the United States, it is colloquially referred to as oleo, short for oleomargarine. In Britain and Australia, it can be referred to colloquially as marge. Margarine consists of a water-in-fat emulsion, with tiny droplets of water dispersed uniformly throughout a fat phase in a stable crystalline form. In some US jurisdictions, margarine must have a minimum fat content of 80 percent to be labelled as such, the same as butter. Colloquially in the United States, the term margarine is used to describe "non-dairy spreads" with varying fat contents.
  Due to its versatility, margarine can be used as an ingredient in other food products, such as pastries, doughnuts, cakes and cookies.
context_section_description: First made in France in 1869, it was created by Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès in response to a challenge by Emperor Napoleon III to create a butter substitute from beef tallow for the armed forces and lower classes.
  Margarine originated with the discovery by French chemist Michel Eugène Chevreul in 1813 of margaric acid (itself named after the pearly deposits of the fatty acid from Greek μαργαρίτης or μάργαρον (margaritēs / márgaron), meaning pearl-oyster or pearl, or μαργαρίς (margarís), meaning palm-tree, hence the relevance to palmitic acid). Scientists at the time regarded margaric acid, like oleic acid and stearic acid, as one of the three fatty acids that, in combination, form most animal fats. In 1853, the German structural chemist Wilhelm Heinrich Heintz analyzed margaric acid as simply a combination of stearic acid and the previously unknown palmitic acid.
  Emperor Napoleon III of France offered a prize to anyone who could make a satisfactory butter alternative, suitable for use by the military  and the poor. French chemist Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès invented a substance he called oleomargarine, which became shortened to the trade name margarine. Mège-Mouriès patented the concept in 1869 and expanded his initial manufacturing operation from France, but had little commercial success. In 1871, he sold the patent to the Dutch company Jurgens, now part of Unilever. In the same year a German pharmacist, Benedict Klein from Cologne, founded the first margarine factory "Benedict Klein Margarinewerke", producing the brands Overstolz and Botteram.
  The principal raw material in the original formulation of margarine was beef fat. In 1871, Henry W. Bradley of Binghamton, New York received U.S. Patent 110,626 for a process of creating margarine that combined vegetable oils (primarily cottonseed oil) with animal fats. By the late 19th century, some 37 companies were manufacturing margarine in opposition to the butter industry, which protested and lobbied for government intervention, eventually leading to the 1886 Margarine Act imposing punitive fees against margarine manufacturers.
  Shortages in beef fat supply combined with advances by Boyce and Sabatier in the hydrogenation of plant materials soon accelerated the use of Bradley's method, and between 1900 and 1920 commercial oleomargarine was produced from a combination of animal fats and hardened and unhardened vegetable oils. The economic depression of the 1930s, followed by rationing in America and the United Kingdom, among other countries, during World War II, led to a reduction in supply of animal fat and butter, and, by 1945, "original" margarine had almost completely disappeared from the market. In the United States, problems with supply, coupled with changes in legislation, caused manufacturers to switch almost completely to vegetable oils and fats (oleomargarine) by 1950, and the industry was ready for an era of product development.
  While butter that cows produced had a slightly yellow color, margarine had a white color, making the margarine look more like lard, which many people found unappetizing. Around the late 1880s, manufacturers began coloring margarine yellow to improve sales.
  Dairy firms, especially in Wisconsin, became alarmed at the potential threat to their business and succeeded in getting legislation passed to prohibit the coloring of the stark white product. In response, the margarine companies distributed the margarine together with a packet of yellow food coloring. The product was placed in a bowl and the coloring mixed in manually. This took some time and effort, and it was not unusual for the final product to be served as a light and dark yellow, or even white, striped product. During World War II, there was a shortage of butter in the United States, and "oleomargarine" became popular. In 1951, the W.E. Dennison Company received U.S. Patent 2,553,513 for a method to place a capsule of yellow dye inside a plastic package of margarine. After purchase, the capsule was broken inside the package, and then the package was kneaded to distribute the dye. Around 1955, 
caption: Dutch margarine advertising, 1893
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