Wisconsin Waged War on Margarine, and the Dairy Industry Won

Back in the day, your great-grandma'due south margarine may have been dyed pink. Why on earth? Information technology wasn't a mode statement. It was required past law—ane that some people even skirted by smuggling. (That didn't stop her from making this crazy-amazing java cake1)

Here's what happened:

The Dairy and Margarine Industries Get to War

When margarine was invented in 1870, Wisconsin'due south legislators did not take kindly to the new butter substitute, and neither did the strong dairy lobby. To protect rural dairy farms, they passed an 1895 bill banning the sale of margarine dyed yellow to expect like butter. Because margarine was less expensive than butter, lawmakers hoped this would keep the dairy industry from collapsing.

That law was part of the beginning of the Oleo Wars, named afterward oleomargarine, another name for margarine. The battle raged not only in Wisconsin merely also in other states with potent dairy lobbies. That's when pink margarine started showing upward on grocery store shelves in states like Vermont, New Hampshire and South Dakota. (Can you imagine eating bubblegum pinkish shortbread cookies?) Each state's laws against margarine were different, but they were all designed to support local dairy farmers.

Psst!We tested all the top brands and found the best butter for your buck.

What Happened Next?

Yellow margarine was banned in Wisconsin until 1967, the last ban of its kind. The law was overturned but after one land senator (who was peculiarly anti-oleo) agreed to a blind taste test. He chose margarine over butter and immune the law to be reversed. It turns out that, for health reasons, his family was secretly serving him margarine smuggled in from another state, which is why he idea it was butter!

Today, Wisconsin notwithstanding has some margarine laws. Restaurants cannot legally serve margarine unless they also offer butter. Schools and prisons must serve butter to students and inmates, unless a doctor provides a valid health reason. Breaking these laws can bring fines and even jail time, just the laws are almost never enforced anymore.

So, the next time you're debating what to spread on your morning waffle, remember near this hard-fought battle. And if you opt for margarine, just be glad information technology isn't pink.

Try these large buttery desserts.

Big & Buttery Chocolate Flake Cookies

My take on the classic cookie is inspired by a bakery in California called Hungry Deport. It's large, thick and chewy—truly the best chocolate chip cookie recipe. —Irene Yeh, Mequon, Wisconsin

Kentucky Butter Block

I found this Kentucky butter cake recipe in an old cookbook I bought at a garage sale and couldn't wait to try it. I knew it had been someone's favorite because of the well-worn page. —Joan Gertz, Palmetto, Florida

Buttery 3-Ingredient Shortbread Cookies

With just a few ingredients, these butter shortbread cookies are so unproblematic to set up. —Pattie Prescott, Manchester, New Hampshire

Chocolate-Tipped Butter Cookies

These wonderfully moist morsels are also tempting to resist. They cook right in your mouth. Rather than sprinkling the chocolate tips with nuts, you can roll them in carmine and dark-green jimmies or leave them plain. —Charolette Westfall, Houston, Texas

Browned Butter Spice Cookies

If you similar spice block, y'all'll love this recipe! Browned butter, night chocolate and a splash of rum produce an unconventional spice cookie that's guaranteed to delight. —Kristin Kenney, Newport Beach, California

Old-Time Butter Crunch Candy

Both my children and my grandchildren say the season wouldn't exist the aforementioned without the big tray of candies and cookies I fix. This one'southward the well-nigh popular function of that collection. We love the nutty pieces draped in chocolate. —Mildred Duffy, Bella Vista, Arkansas

Buttery Coconut Bars

My coconut confined are an American version of a Filipino coconut block called bibingka. These are a crispier, sweeter take on the Christmas tradition I grew upwards with. —Denise Nyland, Panama City, Florida

Pecan Butter Tarts

I searched for the perfect butter tart for ages. After many attempts, I discovered this favorite that begs for a scoop of ice foam on pinnacle. —Susan Kieboam, Streetsboro, Ohio

Butter Cookies

This great butter cookie recipe is a favorite of my nephews, who love the creamy frosting. —Ruth Griggs, South Hill, Virginia

Assistant Butter Pecan Kabobs

Desserts with bananas remind me of Grandma. She and my mom taught me to melt. I rarely mensurate. For this dish, I set out pecans and butterscotch with kabobs and then anybody can customize. —Crystal Schlueter, Northglenn, Colorado

Browned Butter Cereal Confined

Crispy rice treats were ane of the first recipes I ever fabricated every bit a kid. For this version, I wanted to make something similar but more special. Friends and family unit call up using Cap'n Crisis and browned butter is genius, but I just call them delicious.—Kelly Krauss, Lebanon, New Jersey

Buttery Orangish Sugar Cookies

My married man's grandmother made a variety of cookies every year for her grandkids at Christmastime. She would box them upwards and give each child his or her own box. This well-baked, orange flavored cookie is one of my favorites from her collection.—Heather McKillip, Aurora, Illinois

Butter Pecan Fudge

Toasted pecans add a nutty crisis to this creamy fudge, perfect for holiday giving. People always seem to rave well-nigh its wonderful caramel flavor. —Pam Smith, Alta Hill, California

Cranberry Orange Scones

Moist and scrumptious, these scones come out perfect every time. I savour the chewy stale cranberries and sweet orange coat. In that location's cypher better than serving these remarkable scones warm with the frail orange butter. —Karen McBride, Indianapolis, Indiana

Maple Butter Twists

My stepmother passed on the recipe for this delicious yeast coffee cake that's shaped into pretty rings. When I make it for friends, they always ask for seconds. —June Gilliland, Promise, Indiana

Lemon & Rosemary Butter Cookies

Cooling lemon and aromatic rosemary make these butter cookies stand out at the holidays. I utilize them to punch up the cookie trays for potlucks or as gifts.—Elizabeth Hokanson, Arborg, Manitoba

Red Apple Butter Confined

Fall means apple-picking fourth dimension, and we dear using the fresh fruit to bake up these bars. The streusel on superlative makes them even ameliorate. —Nancy Foust, Stoneboro, Pennsylvania

Tiger Butter Bark Processed

Fans of tiger butter fudge will revel in this version that'southward very like to bark candy. The chocolate swirls are pleasing to the eye, and the creamy peanut flavor is a treat for the taste buds.—Philip Jones, Lubbock, Texas

Frosted Butter Rum Brickle Bites

The rum, real butter and toffee bits made these cookies my husband's new favorite. If you'd similar them less sweetness, skip the frosting and sprinkle the cookies with confectioners' carbohydrate while notwithstanding warm. —Cindy Nerat, Menominee, Michigan

Coconut Italian Cream Cake

I'd never tasted an Italian cream cake earlier moving to Colorado. Now I bake for people in the surface area, and this beauty is one of my nearly requested treats. —Ann Bush, Colorado City, Colorado

Lemon Butter Cookies

These tender cutout cookies take a slight lemon season that makes them stand out from the rest. They're very easy to roll out compared to other sugar cookies I've worked with. I know you lot'll savor them equally much as we practise. —Judy McCreight, Springfield, Illinois

Downward Due east Huckleberry Buckle

This buckle won a competition at my daughter'south college. The prize was four lobsters, simply the real reward was the smile on our daughter'due south face up. —Dianne van der Veen, Plymouth, Massachusetts

Frosty Peanut Butter Pie

With only a handful of ingredients, this peanut butter pie promises to deliver well-deserved compliments. Whenever I bring this flossy, make-alee pie to get-togethers, I'm asked for the recipe. —Christi Gillentine, Tulsa, Oklahoma

Chocolate Flake & Cookie Butter Thumbprints

I wanted to make a more than festive version of chocolate bit cookies for the holidays. Since my mom'southward thumbprints are what I look forward to well-nigh, I decided to combine the two. —Crystal Schlueter, Northglenn, Colorado

Chocolate & Coconut Cream Torte

My grandmother passed this recipe down to me years ago and at present I brand it for my own grandchildren. When preparing, make sure the chocolate layer is properly chilled before adding the adjacent layer, or the coconut volition sink into it. —Jason Purkey, Sea Metropolis, Maryland

Get Bananas Whoopie Pies

I love anything with peanut butter, so when I saw this recipe for soft banana cookies with a yummy peanut butter filling, I had to make them. Use a cookie scoop to continue them nicely rounded and all the same size. —Jessie Sarrazin, Livingston, Montana

Buttery Bubble Breadstuff

Homemade bread can be fourth dimension-consuming, difficult and tricky to make. Simply this fun-to-swallow monkey breadstuff, baked in a fluted tube pan, is easy and almost foolproof. If I'm serving it for breakfast, I add some cinnamon and drizzle information technology with icing. —Pat Stevens, Granbury, Texas

Chewy Peanut Butter Pan Squares

With seven of usa in our family, including 2 teenage boys, these peanut butter squares never last long! Information technology'due south difficult to believe how simple they are to prepare. —Deb DeChant, Milan, Ohio

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Kourabiedes (Greek Butter Cookies)

I had to bake something from my heritage for school. And so, I made this heavenly kourabiedes recipe. —Rebecca Sprague, St. Louis, Missouri

Buttermilk Block with Caramel Icing

This fabulous cake and caramel frosting are and so tender, information technology melts in your oral cavity. It's been a family favorite since the '70s and it goes over actually well at church potluck meals. —Anna Jean Allen, West Liberty, Kentucky

Buttery Ganache Cookie Cups

Our family wanted to share our dearest of ganache-filled cupcakes, then we made them into cookies. Even better: we bake the cookies in muffin cups, fill up with ganache, and go the best of both worlds! —Adela Srinivasan, Parker, Colorado

Palmiers

It takes merely 2 ingredients to make these impressive but easy-to-do French pastries, which are frequently called palm leaves. —Taste of Home Test Kitchen, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Aunt Rose's Fantastic Butter Toffee

I don't live in the land, but I love everything near it—especially skillful sometime-fashioned habitation cooking! Every year, you'll find me at our canton fair, entering a different contest. This easy toffee recipe is a family favorite. —Kathy Dorman, Snover, Michigan

Buttermilk Pound Cake

Now that I've retired from teaching, I have more time to bake. This buttermilk pound cake is the one I make most frequently. It is a truly southern recipe, and one I retrieve tin't be topped—once people gustatory modality it, they won't get back to their other recipes with buttermilk. —Gracie Hanchey, De Ridder, Louisiana

Butter Pecan Layer Block

Pecans and butter give this cake the same irresistible season as the popular butter pecan ice cream flavor. —Becky Miller, Tallahassee, Florida

Peanut Butter Cream Pie

During the warm months, information technology'southward dainty to take this fluffy, no-broil peanut butter pie that's a snap to make. Packed with flavor, this pie gets gobbled up fifty-fifty after a big repast! —Jesse & Anne Foust, Bluefield, W Virginia

Easy Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Subsequently trying a few buttercream frosting recipes, this like shooting fish in a barrel buttercream frosting takes the cake with its unmatchable homemade taste. With a few simple variations, you can come up with dissimilar colors and flavors. —Diana Wilson, Denver, Colorado

Java 'n' Cream Brownies

A friend gave me the recipe for these rich cakelike brownies topped with a flossy java-enhanced filling and a chocolate glaze. I like to garnish each foursquare with a coffee edible bean. —Michelle Tiemstra, Lacombe, Alberta

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Source: https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/wisconsin-waged-war-on-margarine-and-the-dairy-industry-won/

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