Man Finds 2,000 year old butter, And Its Still Edible
Butter is awesome whether you’re at home or out in the bush.
A 2,000-year-old orb of butter weighing 22-pounds was recently discovered in Co Meath, Ireland.
Ancient butter experts believe that it was once offering to the gods. It’s also “theoretically… still edible” according to Andy Halpin, one of the Irish National Museums’ assistant keepers.
Halpin describes the butter as ‘crumbly’ – and says that while some was buried to be dug up later, this one may have been left as a religious offering.
Haplin said, ‘These bogs in those times were inaccessible, mysterious places.
‘It is at the juncture of three separate kingdoms, and politically it was like a no-man’s-land – that is where it all hangs together.
It did smell like butter,” one person who held the giant lump told UTV Ireland.
“Bog butter” is butter that has been buried in a bog. The Irish Times describes it as a “creamy white dairy product, which smells like a strong cheese.” The earliest known examples date back almost 2,000 years, but there are records of people burying butter as recently as the 1800s. This one is estimated to be an early example but will be studied further to date it.
The 2,000 year old butter has been sent to the National Museum of Ireland for more research. Yum!
Think you’ll switch your ghee for some 2,000 year old butter on your next trip?
[Irish Times via Atlas Obscura]
){kind=link}