Margarine
semi-solid oily spread often used as a butter substitute
Margarine is a spread used for flavoring, baking, and cooking. It is most often used as a substitute for butter. Although originally made from animal fats, most margarine consumed today is made from vegetable oil. The spread was originally named oleomargarine from Latin for oleum (olive oil) and Greek margarite ("pearl", indicating luster). The name was later shortened to margarine, or sometimes oleo (particularly in the Deep South region of the United States).
Margarine consists of a water-in-fat emulsion, with tiny droplets of water dispersed uniformly throughout a fat phase in a stable solid form. While butter is made by concentrating the butterfat of milk through centrifugation, modern margarine is made through a more intensive processing of refined vegetable oil and water.
Margarine can be used as an ingredient in other food products, such as pastries, doughnuts, cakes, biscuits and cookies.
History
Invention and early distribution
French chemist Michel Eugène Chevreul in 1813 discovered margaric acid. Scientists at the time regarded margaric acid, like oleic acid and stearic acid, as one of the three fatty acids that, in combination, form most animal fats.
“Margarine” enters the record as semi-solid oily spread often used as a butter substitute. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Margarine, semi-solid and oily can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4287. The first chronological checks are 1813.
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This entry incorporates text from “Margarine” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.