Bog Butter - History

History

Bog butter is found buried inside some sort of wooden container, such as buckets, kegs, barrels, dishes and butter churns. It is a hydrocarbon of animal origin, also known as butyrellite. Until 2003 scientists and archaeologists were not quite sure of the origin of bog butter. Scientists working at the University of Bristol discovered that some samples of the "butter" were of adipose/tallow origin while others were of dairy origin. It has been proposed that bog butter has been formed by food products buried in an attempt at an archaic form of refrigeration, as the peat creates a hygienic seal around the buried matter.

In Scotland, the practice of burying bog butter dates back to at least the 2nd or 3rd century. Until recently, Ireland's oldest recorded find of bog butter is a carved hanging bowl dating back to the 6th or 7th century AD. On April 29, 2011, there were press reports of a find of approximately 100 pounds of bog butter in Tullamore, Co. Offaly, thought to date back about five millennia.