ABSTRACT
The processing of milk to produce butter has been known for thousands of years. A Sumerian frieze from about 4000 BC shows milk being processed and, according to archaeologists, the milk was being whipped to form butter. Initially, butter was produced manually by agitating and beating the milk in simple wooden chums. The invention of margarine in the 1860s is attributed to the French chemist Hippolyte Mège Mouries, in response to a competitive challenge initiated by the French government under Napoleon III for a less expensive and less perishable substitute for butter. Liquid margarine is used primarily for frying and is available particularly in markets such as the United States, Germany, and Sweden, where butter or margarine are normally used for frying. Apart from margarines produced specifically for cake and pastry production, baking fats can also take the form of shortenings or compounds. Fat fulfills a number of roles when used in baked products.
