I don't think I knew before today that it used to be illegal to color margarine yellow. Internet research showed me that, as I suspected, it was the dairy industry which pushed for the laws.
I'm thinking the quarter-pound wrapped sticks were called "prints" because the tablespoon and ounce markings were printed on the wrapper == though the picture in the ad that talks about "prints" didn't show anything printed on the wrapper like that.
Butter used to be imprinted by wooden stamps for decoration and identification. Some fancy restaurants still provide pats of butter with designs imprinted on them. You can buy the old wooden imprinting molds in antique stores.
The only reason yellow margarine was banned in some states is because it looked like butter. It had nothing to do with what was in the dye.
when margarine first came out, it was so cheap that it really hurt the dairy farmers business. So the dairy farmers lobbied the states at first to ban margarine, but when that didn't work they lobbied to ban the sale of yellow margarine. Because the margarine cut the sales of their butter.
so what was in the dye had nothing to do with the banning of the sale of the yellow margarine, instead it was the dairy farmers lobby.
This is true. In the states (like Wisconsin) where yellow margarine was illegal, it was often sold with a small packet of yellow dye, so you could color it at home. People simply didn't want to eat it if it wasn't yellow!
As a very little boy, I remember the this: The brand we bought was in a big plastic envelope like ziplock bag...somehow you broke a seal or the dye was in a gelatine caplet, and you squished it until you mixed all the dye throughout the margerine. We preferred butter in my Wisconsin household, but I remember doing this at the grandparent's in Gary, Indiana.
According to the National Association of Margarine Manufacturers, it was c. 1902 that the SCOTUS upheld state laws banning yellow color in margarine, but struck down laws requiring margarine to be colored pink.
My mom remembers her mom coloring the margarine with a mixer. There was a packet of dye included in the box and you had to beat it all together in the mixer. She also remembers when the "knead the bag" type came out -- much neater and grandma let her do it.
It started out white and actually looked a lot like lard or shortening. Which makes sense, because they are all are just differently flavored forms of solid fat. But the yellow margarine was just considered more appetizing.
Also, there were a lot of unexpressed ideas packaged in with the color of the butter. There was "winter butter" which was very pale yellow, because the cows were fed hay and oats in the winter, and "summer butter" which was much deeper yellow because the cattle ate fresh grass and grains. Summer butter was considered much better tasting and more healthy. You'll see the same contrast today if you have access to "yard eggs" or eggs from free range chickens. The yolks are a deep orange instead of the pale lemon yellow of commercial eggs.
Then too, the recently discovered vitamins were a big deal. People were learning that yellow and orange foods were rich in vitamin A and hence healthier. Notice the second ad makes a point to say that their margarine has the same vitamin A content all year. This was in contrast to natural butter that had less vitamin A in winter.
Yes, that was underlying my question, why would people actually want that yellow colour in their fake butter? But I am of course a child of my time, and the idea of the lesser ingredients the better, did not exist as such in the late 40s, 50s.
People used to dye butter too during the time of year it didn't come out too yellow. These ads always make me think of "Little House in the Big Woods" where Laura and Mary got to help with churning the butter. Ma would grate a carrot into the buttermilk to give it a good color. This is much the same principle.
hee hee. "pinch the berry" ... I know it's wrong, but these ads are making me really hungry for some warm baked good slathered in margarine. of course, my margarine happens to be organic, non-hydrogenated, and not artificially colored so that makes it... ok...?
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vintageads2010-08-15 12:32 am
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when margarine first came out, it was so cheap that it really hurt the dairy farmers business. So the dairy farmers lobbied the states at first to ban margarine, but when that didn't work they lobbied to ban the sale of yellow margarine. Because the margarine cut the sales of their butter.
so what was in the dye had nothing to do with the banning of the sale of the yellow margarine, instead it was the dairy farmers lobby.
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I can't read these ads without imagining the margarine getting stuck to the roof of my mouth... LOL!
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http://www.margarine.org/historyofmargarine.html
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Also, there were a lot of unexpressed ideas packaged in with the color of the butter. There was "winter butter" which was very pale yellow, because the cows were fed hay and oats in the winter, and "summer butter" which was much deeper yellow because the cattle ate fresh grass and grains. Summer butter was considered much better tasting and more healthy. You'll see the same contrast today if you have access to "yard eggs" or eggs from free range chickens. The yolks are a deep orange instead of the pale lemon yellow of commercial eggs.
Then too, the recently discovered vitamins were a big deal. People were learning that yellow and orange foods were rich in vitamin A and hence healthier. Notice the second ad makes a point to say that their margarine has the same vitamin A content all year. This was in contrast to natural butter that had less vitamin A in winter.
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