Bog butter
Bog butter is an ancient waxy substance found buried in peat bogs, particularly in Ireland and Scotland. Likely an old method of making and preserving butter, some tested lumps of bog butter were made of dairy, while others were made of animal fat.[1]
History
Bog butter is found buried inside some sort of wooden container, such as
In Ireland, the practice of burying bog butter dates back to the first century AD, with bog butter found in County Meath. On 28 April 2011, there were press reports of a find of approximately 50 kilograms (110 lb) of bog butter in Tullamore, County Offaly.[4] Found in a carved wooden vessel 30 centimetres (1 ft) in diameter and 60 centimetres (2 ft) in height, it was buried at a depth of 2.3 metres (7.5 ft),[5] and still bore a faint smell of dairy.[4] In Scotland, the practice of burying bog butter only dates back to the 2nd or 3rd century AD.[citation needed]
Bog butter was produced by interring butter or other fats within a peat bog after encasement within a wooden container, although augmentation of the latter with a deerskin bladder[6] or layers of plant fibers [7] 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.[8]
The original motivations behind the creation of bog butter are unclear. One widespread theory is that
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"
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.[11]: 254–5 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.[11]: 254–6 On occasion, butter might also have less prestigious applications, including waterproofing, and making candles or even cement.[12] The frequency with which famines and animal epidemics struck would have necessitated development of storage techniques to protect this important product.[11]: 254 It is possible many stashes were never retrieved due to enemy occupation.
See also
References
- ^ a b "Bog Butter Mystery Solved?". 2004-04-02. Archived from the original on 2011-07-19. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
- ^ "Bog Butter test". New Scientist. 2004-03-20. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
- ^ Prudames, David (23 March 2004). "Experts Get To The Bottom Of Ancient Bog Butter Mystery". Archived from the original on 2012-09-29. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
- ^ a b "For Peat's Safe: Bog Butter Unearthed with Turf". Irish Times. 28 Apr 2011. Retrieved 15 Aug 2015.
- ^ "Bog Butter Find from Co. Offaly". Irish Archaeology. 28 Apr 2011. Retrieved 15 Aug 2015.
- ^ Earwood, Caroline (1997). "Bog Butter: A Two Thousand Year History". The Journal of Irish Archaeology. 8: 25–42.
- ^ Williams, James (1966). "A Sample of Bog Butter from Lachar Moss, Dumfriesshire". Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquities Society. 43.
- ^ a b c d Reade, Ben (30 Oct 2013). "Bog Butter: A Gastronomic Perspective". Nordic Food Lab. Retrieved 15 Aug 2015.
- ^ Pobojewski, Sally (8 May 1995). "Underwater Storage Techniques Preserved Meat for Early Hunters". The University Record. Archived from the original on 26 February 2019. Retrieved 15 Aug 2015.
- .
- ^ a b c Sexton, Regina (2003). "The Role and Function of Butter in the Diet of the Monk and Penitent in Early Medieval Ireland". In Walker, Harlan (ed.). The Fat of the Land: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cooking 2002. Bristol: Footwork. pp. 253–269.
- .
Bibliography
- Smyth, Jessica; Berstan, Robert; Casanova, Emmanuelle; McCormick, Finbar; Mulhall, Isabella; Sikora, Maeve; Synnott, Chris; Evershed, Richard P. (2019). "Four millennia of dairy surplus and deposition revealed through compound-specific stable isotope analysis and radiocarbon dating of Irish bog butters". Scientific Reports. 9:4559 (1): 4559. PMID 30872699.
External links
- Peatlands: Occasional finds Archived 2010-01-18 at the Wayback Machine from the Department of the Environment (Northern Ireland)
- Bog Butter and other items found preserved in bogs from Wired
- Bog butter from 3000 BC found in ancient underground store from IrishCentral.com