July: Margarine
Art and mystery of making wax and tallow candles |
In 1869 on July 15th, margarine was patented by Hippolyte Mège Mouriés in France (No. 86489). He won the contest held by Emperor Napoleon III to find a substitute for butter used by the French Navy. His formula included a fatty component that mixed to a pearly luster, so he named his product after the Greek word for pearl - margaritari. His margarine was manufactured from tallow. Although the prize winner, it was not until F. Boudet patented a process for emulsifying it with skimmed milk and water (1872) that margarine was made sufficiently palatable to be a commercial success.
The U.S. dairy industry opposed the introduction of margarine in the U.S. For years, they pressed Congress for many legislative restrictions on its production.
Amongst its collection, the library has these two books on this topic:
- Margarine by William Clayton, 1920
- Townsman's Food by Magnus Pyke, 1952
The image (from the RSC image collection) shows candles being made from tallow, which was also used to make margarine.
