P.ACTERIA AND BUTTER-MAKING 221 



mixed in proportions to give a constituency to the final product, 

 which is adapted according to the climate where it is to be used. 

 If, for example, the material is to go to a warm climate a larger 

 amount of stearin is included, while if it is to go to a colder 

 climate, more lard. These oils are melted and mixed, and then, 

 after the milk just mentioned above has become fully ripened, 

 it is mixed in the oils in definite proportions, one to five being 

 not uncommon. After thorough mixing the product is drawn 

 off under cold brine, where it immediately hardens into a product 

 resembling butter in most respects, except the color. The mate- 

 rial was formerly artificially colored to resemble butter more 

 closely. As a result of the present law the coloring matter is 

 usually left out, and the oleo products are white. The oleo- 

 margarine itself consists of oils which have very little flavor, 

 but the mixture is flavored by the products of bacteria growth 

 in milk. The flavoring is, therefore, essentially identical with 

 the flavor of butter. 



As long as the manufacturers of this product were able to 

 color their product so as to imitate butter in appearance, the 

 product which they manufactured was very easily sold as but- 

 ter. It is sometimes of such high grade that it is almost impos- 

 sible to distinguish it from butter by taste or smell, and only by 

 chemical means can it be detected. The product is perfectly 

 healthful, and in some respects even more wholesome than but- 

 ter. The manufacturers of this product are usually more care- 

 ful in their processes than the ordinary farmer. The oleo con- 

 tains less filth, and there is less chance of its containing disease 

 bacteria than there is in ordinary butter. In short, so far as 

 cleanliness and wholesomeness are concerned, a good oleo product 

 is superior to much of the butter on the market. Now that a 

 law practically prevents the coloring of oleomargarine it is no 

 longer possible for it to be sold on the market as butter. It 

 appears, therefore, as an oleo product, and in this form nothing 

 can be said against it as a wholesome substitute for butter. 



