# Yellow in margarine **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 21, 2005, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-in-margarine/327228 "2005-10-21T07:14:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-in-margarine/327228/1 "2005-10-21T07:14:37Z")
In the “things gone” thread, to be found [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=340627) is the mention of: > [@eleanorigby](#): > > This is actually from MY mother, but adding the yellow color to the margarine? Anyone know what this refers to? First guess is that it simply refers to some sort of olden-days “proper” thing to do, to dye your margarine yellow for the guests (perhaps to make them think you’re serving them real butter (for the few seconds before they knife it onto a slice of bread.)) Presumably, then, later the margarine companies would have caught on and started selling it yellow instead of white. Is that accurate? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-in-margarine/327228/2 "2005-10-21T07:28:49Z")
Nope. _I_ remember this, and forty is still looking comfortably distant… heh.) You’d get a block of milk-white margarine, and it came with a little packet of dye wrapped up with it. You’d let it soften, add the dye, and mix it up. This process always fascinated me. No idea what prevented it from coming premixed, but even into the early seventies it still came this way. It wasn’t for the guests, it was for us snot-nosed brats. It was just what you did. ---
**Author:** ![threemae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@threemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threemae)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-in-margarine/327228/3 "2005-10-21T07:45:13Z")
My understanding that this stupid bit about selling margarine with dye packets was due to protectionist legislation from dairy farmers. Basically, they were (and are) affraid of being undercut by margerine, so silly rules about not being able to sell yellow margarine came about. Namely, they didn’t want people getting butter and margerine, “confused.” I also vaguely recall a post from a Canadian Doper that directly recalled getting margarine that was died _black_, again due to protectionist dairy legislation. ---
**Author:** ![dqa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dqa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dqa)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-in-margarine/327228/4 "2005-10-21T07:48:53Z")
Laws were put in place by the dairy lobby to prohibit the sale of butter-colored margarine, so that you wouldn’t be fooled into thinking you were eating the real thing. From [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margarine), > [@](#): > > By the start of the 20th century eight out of ten Americans were unable to buy yellow margarine, and those that could had to pay a hefty tax on it. Bootleg colored margarine became common, and manufacturers began to supply food coloring capsules so that the housewife could knead the yellow color into margarine before serving it. To this day Quebec permits only non-butter-colored margarine to be sold. The alternative is white, although I’ve heard there is also school bus yellow. [Recent article.](http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/03/18/quebec-margarine050318.html) ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-in-margarine/327228/5 "2005-10-21T07:50:42Z")
Alright. _Why_ someone would go through the hastle of diluting their margarine is I guess more of an IMHO question, so we’ll just leave that one alone. …I think I would buy the black just to weird such people out. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-in-margarine/327228/6 "2005-10-21T13:18:35Z")
> [@dqa](#): > > Laws were put in place by the dairy lobby to prohibit the sale of butter-colored margarine, so that you wouldn’t be fooled into thinking you were eating the real thing. From [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margarine), To this day Quebec permits only non-butter-colored margarine to be sold. The alternative is white, although I’ve heard there is also school bus yellow. [Recent article.](http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/03/18/quebec-margarine050318.html) Iowa had such laws and all margarine as bought was uncolored. My mother used to alternately gripe and be amused that the producer couldn’t color margarine, but in the winter time the butter producer could color butter. ---
**Author:** ![Ezstrete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ea924/32.png) [@Ezstrete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ezstrete)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-in-margarine/327228/7 "2005-10-21T14:41:18Z")
> [@Sage Rat](#): > > In the “things gone” thread, to be found [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=340627) is the mention of: > Anyone know what this refers to? First guess is that it simply refers to some sort of olden-days “proper” thing to do, to dye your margarine yellow for the guests (perhaps to make them think you’re serving them real butter (for the few seconds before they knife it onto a slice of bread.)) Presumably, then, later the margarine companies would have caught on and started selling it yellow instead of white. > > Is that accurate? If you’ve spent any time on a farm you know that home churned butter has color that depends upon what the cow is feeding on. Summe graze butter is a differfent shade than barn and dairy feed feed butter. Still—all store bought butter is,generally, the same color. Go gigure! EZ ---
**Author:** ![Ezstrete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ea924/32.png) [@Ezstrete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ezstrete)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-in-margarine/327228/8 "2005-10-21T14:46:30Z")
> [@Ezstrete](#): > > If you’ve spent any time on a farm you know that home churned butter > has color that depends upon what the cow is feeding on. > > Summe graze butter is a differfent shade than barn and dairy feed feed butter. > > Still—all store bought butter is,generally, the same color. > > Go gigure! > > EZ Ol’ E apologizes for his spelling—whn the eyes reach the middle 80s the letterss and keys get smaller EZ ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-in-margarine/327228/9 "2005-10-21T14:53:33Z")
Wisconsin went for the blue margerine in it’s ancient history. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-in-margarine/327228/10 "2005-10-21T15:13:21Z")
> [@David Simmons](#): > > Iowa had such laws and all margarine as bought was uncolored. My mother used to alternately gripe and be amused… Unlike Wisconsin, Illinois allowed the sale of colored margarine. As a result, a number of shops opened in South Beloit where Wisconsinites could purchase Annato colored margarine, and smuggle it back to the Dairy State. I suspect that there were similar outlets serving Iowans, across the border in Moline. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-in-margarine/327228/11 "2005-10-21T15:22:30Z")
It got even sillier than that. From [Milk Is Not for Every Body: Living With Lactose Intolerance, by Steve Carper](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0816031274/qid=1129907798/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/103-2890993-5587865?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) > [@](#): > > Despite’s milk’s use in margarine manufacturing from the very beginning, milk lobbies around the world fought margarine with tactics that were as dirty as any of those of the steel or railroad barons. German food shops forced buyers to use a separate entrance for margarine purchases. Canada and New Zealand simply forbade the production of margarine. (Canada did not rescind that law until 1948 and still bans a variety of imitation dairy products.) [Or still did in 1995, although it’s changed since.] > > U.S. dairy interests had margarine labeled as a “harmful drug,” so that stores had to be licensed to sell it. Several states hit upon the subtler tactic of protecting the “purity” of the naturally lard-white margarine by prohibiting manufacturers from coloring it yellow. Bullying became farce in the five states that forced margarine to be dyed pink. ---
**Author:** ![threemae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@threemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threemae)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-in-margarine/327228/12 "2005-10-21T15:23:34Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > Unlike Wisconsin, Illinois allowed the sale of colored margarine. As a result, a number of shops opened in South Beloit where Wisconsinites could purchase Annato colored margarine, and smuggle it back to the Dairy State. I suspect that there were similar outlets serving Iowans, across the border in Moline. [comes in wearing trenchcoat and sunglasses] Hey buddy, wanna buy some hydrogenated vegetable oil? ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-in-margarine/327228/13 "2005-10-22T03:55:56Z")
I also remember getting white margarine that needed to be coloured, in Saskatchewan in the 1950s. The earliest I remember was a white brick with a paper packet of powdered dye, later replaced by a plastic bag of white with a little poppable bubble of liquid dye on one side. In either case, it took quite a bit of mixing to get a uniform colour. IIRC, it was required that the result _not_ be the same colour as butter, so we had a pretty garish yellow. (At least one neighbour would use half the packet of powder in an attempt to make her margarine look like butter. It didn’t really work.) ---
**Author:** ![Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/59ef9b/32.png) [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-in-margarine/327228/14 "2005-10-22T04:08:48Z")
I grew up in Oklahoma and Texas during the '60s and '70s. Our margarine was always yellow and pretty much the same yellow as butter. The odd thing is that my family always had margarine, but we were dairy farmers. We only made butter twice in my memory, both times when the refrigeration unit on the milk tank failed and a day’s milking was spoiled. IIRC, we got about 15-20 lbs of butter from 250-300 gallons of milk. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-in-margarine/327228/15 "2005-10-22T04:19:09Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > where Wisconsinites could purchase Annato colored margarine, and smuggle it back to the Dairy State. Well, it wasn’t necessary to “smuggle” it in. There was no law prohibiting consumers from bringing colored margarine into the state, only about selling it. [The Oleo Wars](http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/wmh/pdf/wmh_autumn01_strey.pdf), by Gerry Strey.