16 FOODS AND FOOD ADULTERANTS. 



The common method of manufacture employed in this country is sei 

 forth by Armsby : l 



Although numerous patents have been taken out for the manufacture of imitation 

 butter, and a great variety of materials have been named in the specifications, tho 

 process as iio.w conducted is comparatively simple. Tho raw materials are beef- 

 tallow, leaf-lard, and the best quality of butter, together with small amounts of milk 

 or cream and of butter-color. 



From the beef-tallow is prepared the oleomargarine oil of M6ge. The caul fat of 

 freshly killed beeves is, after thorough washing first in tepid and then in iced water, 

 allowed to stand in a cold room until thoroughly cold. It is then rendered ;it a tem- 

 perature between 130 and 175 F. The resulting oil is allowed to cool slowly until 

 a considerable portion of the stearine and palmitin have crystallized out, and the 

 pasty mass is then subjected to hydraulic pressure. The still fluid (about two-thirds 

 of the whole) flows out into a tank of cold water, where it solidifies into a granular 

 mass which is known in the trade as "oleo " oil or simply " oleo " . The name " oil" 

 is somewhat misleading, as the product is a granular solid of a slightly yellow color. 

 Fresh leaf-lard treated in substantially the same way as the beef-tallow, yields the 

 " neutral lard" or "neutral" of the trade, also a granular solid of a white color. 



The objects of this treatment are twofold : first, to produce fats as free as possible 

 from taste or odor; second, to remove some of tho difficultly fusible stearine and 

 palmitiu, iu order that the finished product may melt readily in the mouth. 



Having thus secured the fats in proper condition, the manufacturer proceeds to mix 

 the "oleo" and "neutral", the proportions varying according to the destination of 

 product ; a warm climate calling for more "oleo," a cold one for more "neutral," and 

 to flavor the mixture with butter. This flavoring is conducted in large, steam- 

 jacketed vessels provided with revolving paddles, by which their contents can be 

 thoroughly agitated. Here the " oleo" and " neutral" are melted and thoroughly 

 agitated with a certain proportion of milk, or sometimes of cream, and a proper 

 amount of butter-color. Forty-eight gallons of milk per 2.000 pounds of product are 

 stated to be a common proportion. After sufficient agitation, the melted mass is run 

 into cold water, and as it cools is broken up by paddles so as to granulate the mass. 

 After thorough washing, it is salted and worked exactly like butter. The product 

 is known as oleomargarine. Although it contains hardly more than a trace of butter 

 fat, tho latter flavors tho whole mass so strongly that, when well salted, as it usually 

 is, it might readily pass with an inexpert or careless consumer for a rather fiavorles a 

 butter. Oleomargarine is the cheapest product made. By adding to the material in 

 the agitator or "churn" more or less pure butter, what is known as butterine is pro- 

 duced, two grades of which are commonly sold, viz, " creamery butterine" contain- 

 ing more, and "dairy butterine" containing less butter. 



The method of manufacture used by the firm of Armour & Co., of Chi- 

 cago, is thus described by Mr. Philip D. Armour: 2 



The fat is taken from the cattle in the process of slaughtering, and after thorough 

 washing is placed in a bath of clean, cold water, and surrounded with ice, where it 

 is allowed to remain until all animal heat has been removed. It is then cut into 

 small pieces by machinery and cooked at a temperature of about 150 until the 

 fat, in liquid form, has separated from the fibrine or tissue, then settled until it is 

 perfectly clear. Then it is drawn into graining vats and allowed to stand a day, 

 when it is ready for the presses. The pressing extracts the stearine, leaving the re- 

 maining product, which is commercially known as oleo oil, which, when churned 

 with cream or milk or both and with usually a proportion of creamery butter, the 

 whole being properly salted, gives the new food-product, oleomargarine. 



1 Science, vol. 7, pp. 471-472. 



2 Senate Mis. Doc. No, 131, Forty-ninth Congress, first session, p, 224, 



