Yummy! 2000 year old butter is still edible

The egg-shaped lump of butter, weighing 10-kilograms, is 2,000 years old according to the County Cavan Museum, which Jack Conway (the farmer who found the butter) contacted after the find.

The lump, which has a smell of a strong cheese, is believed to be about 2,000 years old.

After several thousand years, the chunks more closely resemble cheese in its texture more than the butter consumed now, said Andy Halpin, assistant keeper in the Irish National Museum’s antiquities division, in an interview with the Irish Times.

Haplin also said that the bog butter was significant as it was found in the Drakerath area, which where, in ancient times, inaccessible and extremely mysterious places.

Bog butter was frequently buried, often to be excavated later on. And despite its age, the butter still smells like butter, and feels like butter. On June 1, Conway was “cutting turf for fuel in Emlagh Bog, County Meath”, according to Mashable, and in his endeavors, he came across an odd object approximately the shape of a rugby ball.

More than 400 ancient balls of butter have been found in Ireland and Scotland within the past years, and each one has been provided to scientists to collect data about the interesting tradition.

Because butter was a highly valuable substance long ago, it was not uncommon for people to bury it in peat for later use.

And while the butter is still edible, you may want to steer well clear. Kevin Thornton, a well-known celebrity chef in Ireland, claims to have tasted a bit of 4,000-year-old bog.

This is not the first time people have been finding buried bog butters in Ireland.

“Theoretically the stuff is still edible”, added Mr Halpin, “but we wouldn’t say it’s advisable”.

Donohoe said she could not put a monetary value on the butter, it is fantastic for the county’s history and heritage and “makes it [the job] all worthwhile”.