# Colored MARGARINE?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 4, 2001, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colored-margarine/96860 "2001-12-04T17:31:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FalconFinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@FalconFinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FalconFinder)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2001, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colored-margarine/96860/1 "2001-12-04T17:31:50Z")
Has anyone else seen this? I was at the grocery store Sunday and noticed that Parkay has come out with colored Margarine!! You can get blue or pink. Here’s an article about it that I found on the Web: [http://www.forbes.com/newswire/2001/10/16/rtr391173.html](http://www.forbes.com/newswire/2001/10/16/rtr391173.html) Is anyone else grossed out by the thought of melted blue or pink substances on their food? Ugh! ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2001, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colored-margarine/96860/2 "2001-12-04T17:35:26Z")
From what I’ve been told, margarine is naturally off-white, and they used to sell it with a little packet of coloring so you make it butter-colored. If it’s artificially colored anyway, what’s the diff? ---
**Author:** ![Opengrave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/919ad9/32.png) [@Opengrave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Opengrave)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2001, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colored-margarine/96860/3 "2001-12-04T17:37:19Z")
Slightly related to **bluethree** ’s comment: [http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/wis150/stories/0226sesq.stm](http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/wis150/stories/0226sesq.stm) NP: **Borknagar** - _The Olden Domain_ ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2001, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colored-margarine/96860/4 "2001-12-04T17:42:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bluethree \* > \*\*From what I’ve been told, margarine is naturally off-white, and they used to sell it with a little packet of coloring so you make it butter-colored. If it’s artificially colored anyway, what’s the diff? \*\* The difference is that margarine is a butter replacement. Butter is supposed to be yellow. Therefore, the proper color for margarine is yellow. I do not want my bread, my potatoes, and whatever else I put margarine on, to be tinted blue or pink. That is not the proper color. Would you want to eat a purple chicken breast? ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2001, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colored-margarine/96860/5 "2001-12-04T23:26:42Z")
Sure I’d eat a purple chicken breast. My siblings and I used to make green (scrambled) eggs, just like the book ( **Green Eggs and Ham** ). If we could have figured out how to make the ham green and still edible, we’d have done it. Now, I don’t see what the appeal of pink or blue margarine is, either. But why make it golden when it’s naturally white, for that matter? Once I put green food coloring in a glass of water and told my friend I was drinking straight Scope. ---
**Author:** ![Ross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@Ross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ross)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colored-margarine/96860/6 "2001-12-05T00:02:23Z")
My initial reaction, predictably, was “bleecccch”. But heck, why not? I eat so quickly I don’t see the food for very long anyway. Black margarine, anyone? Khaki? Brown? ---
**Author:** ![DMAAN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/278dde/32.png) [@DMAAN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMAAN)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colored-margarine/96860/7 "2001-12-05T00:17:59Z")
Related hyjack In the Province of Quebec our oh so wise govmint has seen fit to pass a law that makes it illegal to sell margarine the same color as butter. Any other color is legal. They say that they are doing this for our protection. The people could be fooled into buying margarine instead of butter. It seems that we are all fools in this province to mistake one for the other. Personaly I can’t stand margarine no matter what color it is. But blue or pink, yuck. d ---
**Author:** ![DarkWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee59a6/32.png) [@DarkWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarkWriter)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colored-margarine/96860/8 "2001-12-05T00:18:46Z")
I could see using it to make decorations on my kids’ pancakes or toast. Sheri ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colored-margarine/96860/9 "2001-12-05T02:39:56Z")
Colored Margarine??? What the hell would you wand colored margarine for? Food is not naturally blue, so why would you want fake blue fake butter? Fake pink fake butter? ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colored-margarine/96860/10 "2001-12-05T02:43:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mudshark \* > \*\*Food is not naturally blue, so why would you want fake blue fake butter? > \*\* Blueberries are food. I’m going to stick with yellow margarine, myself. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colored-margarine/96860/11 "2001-12-05T02:43:53Z")
Oh ewww. I don’t use margarine at all unless I’m cooking/baking. It’s butter or nothing, baby. I’ll take natural fats over trans-fatty acids any day. ---
**Author:** ![Hatter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/57b2e6/32.png) [@Hatter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatter)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colored-margarine/96860/12 "2001-12-05T03:33:50Z")
Well there was the Clear Pepsi released 4 or 5 years ago. I thought that was pretty strange. Or better yet… the green ketchup Heinz came out with not long ago? Pepsi Twist, etc. etc. Anything for a buck, right? It seems like all these products flop anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colored-margarine/96860/13 "2001-12-05T03:36:41Z")
I don’t think you are supposed to call it “colored” margarine anymore… Margarine-American perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colored-margarine/96860/14 "2001-12-05T03:47:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by racinchikki \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Mudshark \* > > \*\*Food is not naturally blue, so why would you want fake blue fake butter? > > \*\* > > Blueberries are food. > > I’m going to stick with yellow margarine, myself. \*\* Blueberries are more purple than blue. But that is just my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colored-margarine/96860/15 "2001-12-05T03:48:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hatter \* > \*\*Well there was the Clear Pepsi released 4 or 5 years ago. \*\* More like 8 or 9 years. (I remember because we had it at one of my birthday parties.) Anyway, I agree with the rest of your post. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colored-margarine/96860/16 "2001-12-05T03:52:50Z")
Well, I guess that green ketchup must have been a success. BTW–it used to be illegal to sell yellow margarine here in the U.S., too. That law was changed quite some time ago, though. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colored-margarine/96860/17 "2001-12-05T05:12:35Z")
My, who knew that the color of hydrogenated fats could be this fascinating? I believe that, at least in the past, both butter and margarine have been artificially colored yellow, although the butter in my refrigerator mentions only cream and salt as ingredients. The [Océ site](http://www.oceusa.com/html/cp_history.html) says: “Around 1877, [Venlo chemist Lodewijk van der Grinten] began large-scale production of [the butter-coloring agent he developed], which was used to color both butter and margarine,” and the [California Dairy Research and Information Center](http://drinc.ucdavis.edu/html/butter/butter-1.shtml), which has more than you ever wanted to know about butter-making, mentions the addition of color during the process. Interestingly, pink margarine is not a new phenomenon, although I’m surprised the manufacturers came up with the idea themselves. There’s a [margarine homepage](http://www.margarine.org/historyofmargarine.html) that says in 1902 “32 states and 80% of the U.S. population lived under margarine color bans. While the Supreme Court upheld such bans, it did strike down forced coloration (pink) which had begun in an effort to get around the ban on yellow coloring. During this period coloring in the home began, with purveyors providing capsules of food coloring to be kneaded into the margarine. This practice continued through World War II.” [The “Goatview Farm”](http://www.goatview.com/july15margarinepart1.htm) website adds this tidbit: “[D]airy extremists even had the audacity to attempt legislation that would have forced margarine manufacturers to dye their product pink. This would have made margarine even less appetizing than you might imagine. Today’s consumer may not be aware of the fact that pink milk is milk from a cow with mastitis, but yesterday’s consumer would have known that. The market for pink margarine would have been as small as the market for ‘E Coli-Free Ground Beef’ or ‘Worm-Free Blueberries.’” I probably should be doing something more useful with my life, or at least with my evenings. ---
**Author:** ![Ferggie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@Ferggie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferggie)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colored-margarine/96860/18 "2001-12-05T08:09:16Z")
The ONLY time my mashed potatoes should be tainted pink Is when they are sitting too close to the red Jell-O. ---
**Author:** ![FalconFinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@FalconFinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FalconFinder)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colored-margarine/96860/19 "2001-12-05T17:28:37Z")
This truly makes one wonder what’s next: Colored cooking oil? Dyed vegetables? Neon breads? Hey! Maybe I’m on to something here… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colored-margarine/96860/20 "2001-12-05T18:07:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Green Bean \* > \*\*Well, I guess that green ketchup must have been a success. > > BTW–it used to be illegal to sell yellow margarine here in the U.S., too. That law was changed quite some time ago, though. \*\* Makes sense. People used to do some rather horrid things to food to make it look fresh. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colored-margarine/96860.md?page=2)