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yappledapple t1_j6i4acp wrote

My brother called me up one day, after I had given him some of our grandmother's cookie recipes. He tried several stores looking for 'oleo', and nobody knew what it was.

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Buck_Thorn t1_j6iao9y wrote

That's what we called it when I was a kid. And it came in a plastic bag with a little button in the center that contained yellow food coloring. It was my job to smash that button and knead the bag until the whitish "oleo" was colored uniformly yellow like butter.

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dishonourableaccount t1_j6iow44 wrote

The white color makes sense if it was named after being pearl-like.

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Buck_Thorn t1_j6ip6j3 wrote

That has nothing to do with it, though. It was because of the dairy farmers in the midwest. They didn't want people to think that it was actual butter.

> Dairy farmers also successfully lobbied for restrictions that banned the use of yellow dyes to make margarine look more appetizing. By 1900, artificially colored butter was contraband in 30 U.S. states. Several states took even more extreme measures to turn consumers away from margarine—they required the product to be dyed an unappealing pink color.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/25638/surprisingly-interesting-history-margarine

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JUYED-AWK-YACC t1_j6jhc6z wrote

I think they mean the natural white color is why we still call it margarine. Your facts are correct though. My wife did this as a kid in Iowa, where dairy ruled over all.

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Buck_Thorn t1_j6jhqjk wrote

But it isn't white anymore. They have been coloring margarine yellow for many years now.

Huh? Why is this being downvoted without any comments? Is margarine still white in some places? If I'm wrong, tell me, don't simply downvote and leave.

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JUYED-AWK-YACC t1_j6lnanf wrote

Yeah so what? We all know what color margarine is.

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Buck_Thorn t1_j6lpmlj wrote

Apparently we don't all agree on what color margarine is. That is the current discussion if you'd care to join in.

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yappledapple t1_j6ivm1w wrote

Interesting, I have never heard of that. There is a gap between me and my younger brother, so I knew what is was from baking with my grandmother.

My introduction to margarine was in elementary school, and it was horrid. For whatever reason, I was embarrassed to leave the uneaten pat on my tray, and so I would stick it to the bottom of the cafeteria table, which ticked off the janitor, but I was never caught.

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WakingOwl1 t1_j6kq54w wrote

My Mum told me about doing the same when she was a little girl back in the 30s.

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Buck_Thorn t1_j6l93fk wrote

I went that far back? My experiences with it would be in the mid 1950s

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WakingOwl1 t1_j6ld7xy wrote

When my Mum said “ when I was a little girl” it usually meant pre 1940, though it could have been the early 40s.

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Buck_Thorn t1_j6lpsq7 wrote

And when you say 'my Mum', I'm assuming you're somewhere in the U.K. I'm in the U.S. Maybe that has something to do with it. Or maybe it was going on for some time before I became aware of it. I was pretty young then.

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WakingOwl1 t1_j6n4so5 wrote

I’m in the US but my Mum was originally from Nova Scotia.

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WelcomeScary4270 t1_j6iefar wrote

You must be ancient. I googled it and the only images are old-timey handdrawn adverts.

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Buck_Thorn t1_j6ii0yz wrote

With any luck, you will be ancient one day, too.

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WelcomeScary4270 t1_j6ijmqp wrote

I already feel like I am, every time I sit up and something creaks.

Didn't mean it as an insult though. I thought your comment was funny is all.

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fvillion t1_j6jeh8q wrote

I remember oleomargarine and having to mix in the yellow coloring from the WW II (early '40s) days when I was a child. And if that makes me seem ancient to you, then I deduce that you are callow indeed.

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ncconch t1_j6kwqc3 wrote

That’s what my grandmother called it.

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