Alan wrote in message
...
On Sun, 14 Dec 2003 15:42:58 -0500, Diogenes
wrote:

On Sun, 14 Dec 2003 21:28:55 +0200, "Opinicus"
wrote:

Frogleg said:

I've read that wartime (WWI) oleo
came with dye pellets to knead in to make the (presumably white) fat
look more like butter.

Not just during wartime. I remember being regularly given the kneading
job
around 1952 or so. I would have been 7-8 years old at the time. The
undied
margerine was ghastly white and looked (and tasted) like Crisco. (I
remember
trying that too.)

I recall buying margarine with the separate coloring pellet in a small
Canadian trading post while on a fishing trip ~1960. My mother
commented that she hadn't seen that since the end of WWII.
----
Diogenes )

The wars are long, the peace is frail
The madmen come again . . . .


We had that stuff when I was a kid, but I don't think the real reason
was the war. At the time, the dairy producers didn't want margarine
on the market. While they weren't able to keep it off the market,
they were able to keep it from being yellow, like butter.

Hence, the dye 'pill'.

This was in Illinois in the middle-to-late '40s.



I remember ours coming in a oblong plastic bag with a dye pellet and my mom
would let us knead it. I hated the stuff!

Never use anything but butter now.