HISTORY OF BUTTER

Taranaki Daily News, 11 September 1934, Page 17 (Supplement)

HISTORY OF BUTTER

WIDE VARIETY OF USAGE.

PROGRESS THROUGH CENTURIES.

When and how the actual manufacture of butter , began cannot be stated. Of its use, however, there, are many records. The Hindus used it, for the greatest and holiest sacrifices in their worship. The Greeks and Romans did not at first use butter as a food but as a remedy for skin troubles. The soot of burned butter was regarded, for instance, as a remedy for sore eyes. ‘ The Romans used it as an ointment to enrich the skin and as a dressing for the hair. The Macedonians annointed themselves with “milk oil” and there are records of other people using butter in the bath. In Scotland and England butter was used for smearing sheep, also as oil for lamps. Besides being applied externally it was used internally for various troubles. In Spain in the 16th century a “medicinal and economic treatment of butter” sets forth in detail the value and iise of butter as a remedy, and even today in rural Germany fresh unsalted butter is much used as a. cooling salve for burns. It seems quite evident that the art of butter-making originated in Asia and Europe and spread from there to other parts of the world. What is certain is that among the tools and implements used by earlier peoples the churn, in various forms, has been a constant companion of man in his evolutionary progress. The word churn is thought to be derived either from the Finnish word Kirnu, which means churn, or from the

Arabian kirba or girba, a hose made of leather for holding'milk, wine or other liquids. It is thought probable that butter-mak-ing was discovered by accident. Simple beating of milk turned sour by standing separated butter, and this probably led to the construction of simple (churn) devices for the regular production of butter. It is a far cry from swinging the milk in leather saddlebags to the modem “combined churn •and worker,” but the same object is still being pursued, namely, the separation of the fat in milk from the other con- , stituents. Since those primitive days the designs of chums have been legion, but the principle underlying their use has been the same throughout the ages. For at least some centuries buttermaking has been part of the routine of farming in Europe. Until the middle of last century it was as individualised an industry in Great Britain as it was in Taranaki. Every farm made its butter in its own way, though there were certain districts, such as the south-west of England and the lowlands of Scotland, where specialisation of herds and in manufacture was making headway. With the arrival of the mechanical age in Britain and the researches of other European countries, the invention of the separator, and the use of artificial refrigeration the modern system of butter-mak-ing came into existence. It has been subjected to certain regular processes though it is generally admitted that research may yet indicate better methods. From an ancient Hindu temple 5000 years ago *o a modem factory in Taranaki stretches a long road along which j mankind has travelled. The dairy industry of to-day shows the progress that has been made, and stimulates speculation as to the future of an occupation so . entwined with the growth of civilisation. |