Irish Butter: An Ancient Food Source

Ah, Irish butter. Rich and creamy (and loaded with calories), there are few substitutes as a toast topper for your breakfast. Apparently the ancients thought so too, and a recent article in Discovery News may put an end to the age-old question of how butter should be stored, and should it be refrigerated, or merely buried in the local peat bog?

A 3000 year old oak barrel has been discovered in Ireland containing what appears to be fairly well-preserved iron age butter. Found buried in a peat bog by peat farmers John Fitzharris and Martin Lane, the butter has since turned to what could only be described as a white wax. When asked what to do with the barrel, the two men told reporters:

"It's a national treasure. You can't be going hacking bits of it off for your toast."

Read the entire article here.