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Bog butter is an ancient waxy substance found buried in
peat Peat is an accumulation of partially Decomposition, decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, Moorland, moors, or muskegs. ''Sphagnum'' moss, also called peat moss, is one of the most ...
bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and musk ...
s, particularly in Ireland and Scotland. Likely an old method of making and preserving
butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of Churning (butter), churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 81% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread (food ...
, some tested lumps of bog butter were made of dairy, while others were made of animal fat.


History

Bog butter is found buried inside some sort of wooden container, such as
bucket A bucket is typically a watertight, vertical Cylinder (geometry), cylinder or Truncation (geometry), truncated Cone (geometry), cone or square, with an open top and a flat bottom that is attached to a semicircular carrying handle (grip), handle ...
s,
keg A keg is a small cask used for storing liquids. Wooden kegs made by a cooper were used to transport nails, gunpowder, and a variety of liquids. Nowadays a keg is normally constructed of stainless steel, although aluminium can be used if it is ...
s,
barrel A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden stave (wood), staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers ...
s, dishes and butter churns. It is of animal origin, and is also known as butyrellite. Until 2003
scientist A scientist is a person who Scientific method, researches to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engag ...
s and
archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...
s were uncertain of the origin of bog butter. Scientists working at the
University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...
discovered that some samples of the "butter" were of
adipose Adipose tissue (also known as body fat or simply fat) is a loose connective tissue composed mostly of adipocytes. It also contains the stromal vascular fraction (SVF) of cells including preadipocytes, fibroblasts, Blood vessel, vascular endothel ...
/
tallow Tallow is a rendered form of beef or mutton suet, primarily made up of triglycerides. In industry, tallow is not strictly defined as beef or mutton suet. In this context, tallow is animal fat that conforms to certain technical criteria, inc ...
origin while others were of
dairy A dairy is a place where milk is stored and where butter, cheese, and other dairy products are made, or a place where those products are sold. It may be a room, a building, or a larger establishment. In the United States, the word may also des ...
origin. In Ireland, the practice of burying bog butter dates back to the first century AD, with bog butter found in
County Meath County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...
. On 28 April 2011, there were press reports of a find of approximately of bog butter in
Tullamore Tullamore (; ) is the county town of County Offaly in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is on the Grand Canal (Ireland), Grand Canal, in the middle of the county, and is the fourth most populous town in the Midland Region, Ireland, Midlands Reg ...
, County Offaly. Found in a carved wooden vessel in diameter and in height, it was buried at a depth of , and still bore a faint smell of dairy. In Scotland, the practice of burying bog butter only dates back to the 2nd or 3rd century AD. Bog butter was produced by interring butter or other fats within a
peat Peat is an accumulation of partially Decomposition, decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, Moorland, moors, or muskegs. ''Sphagnum'' moss, also called peat moss, is one of the most ...
bog after encasement within a wooden container, although augmentation of the latter with a deerskin bladder or layers of plant fibers was not unusual. The containers tend to be well-sealed with a convex surface, perhaps to prevent water from pooling and stagnating in direct contact with the packaging and/or contents. The original motivations behind the creation of bog butter are unclear. One widespread theory is that
food product Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin and contains essential nutrients such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is inges ...
s were buried in bogs to hinder spoilage. Peat bogs, being low temperature, low oxygen, highly acidic environments, have excellent preservative properties. Experiments conducted by researcher Daniel C. Fisher demonstrated that pathogen and bacterial counts of meat buried in peat bogs for up to two years were comparable to levels found in control samples stored in a modern freezer, suggesting that this could be an effective preservation method. An alternative hypothesis is "primitive food processing": it is possible that "chemical reactions in the soil helped to transform the foods to more palatable products than could be made fresh"—especially given the absence of salt in bog butters—or increase available nutrient content. In traditional cuisines, burial is a fairly common step in the preparation of highly perishable foods such as meat and dairy products; examples include century eggs (China), gravad lax (Scandinavia),
hákarl (short for ), referred to as fermented shark in English, is a national dish of Iceland consisting of Greenland shark or other sleeper shark that has been cured with a particular fermentation process and hung to dry for four to five months. I ...
(Iceland), the Inuit dishes igunaq and kiviaq, and Moroccan smen. Modern experiments in creating bog butter yield a product that seems to be an acquired taste, with "flavor notes which were described primarily as ‘animal’ or ‘gamey’, ‘moss’, ‘funky’, ‘pungent’, and ‘salami’. These characteristics are certainly a far cry from the creamy acidity of a freshly made cultured butter, but has been found useful in the kitchen especially with strong and pungent dishes, in a similar manner to aged
ghee Ghee is a type of clarified butter, originating from South Asia. It is commonly used for cooking, as a Traditional medicine of India, traditional medicine, and for Hinduism, Hindu religious rituals. Description Ghee is typically prepared by ...
" The practice of burying butter and other fats could also have arisen as a strategy for protecting vital provisions from thieves and/or invaders. For instance, in early medieval Ireland, there is no doubt that butter was a luxury food, with legal texts carefully delineating the quantity of butter which members of each socio-economic class were entitled to consume. Yet butter also had numerous, widespread non-culinary uses such as the payment of taxes, rents, and fines; facilitation of hospitality; care of the sick and infirm; and strengthening of social bonds. On occasion, butter might also have less prestigious applications, including waterproofing, and making candles or even cement. The frequency with which famines and animal epidemics struck would have necessitated development of storage techniques to protect this important product. It is possible many stashes were never retrieved due to enemy occupation.


See also

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Adipocere Adipocere (), also known as corpse wax, grave wax or mortuary wax, is a wax-like organic substance formed by the anaerobic bacterial hydrolysis of fat in tissue, such as body fat in corpses. In its formation, putrefaction is replaced by a perman ...


References


Bibliography

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External links


Peatlands: Occasional finds
from the Department of the Environment (Northern Ireland)
Bog Butter and other items found preserved in bogs
from ''
Wired Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "Wired ...
''
Bog butter from 3000 BC found in ancient underground store
from IrishCentral.com {{portal bar, Food Archaeological artefact types Bogs Butter