Days of future past

When it comes to breakfast spread the 21st century consumer has untold options. The days of having to decide between rich butter and thin, plastic margarine are long over.

In earlier eras, choices were limited.

In the 1920s you could have regular butter or butter that tasted like turnips. The problem was well known. Cows who fed on turnips produced milk and cream in which the vegetable’s distinctive flavour was apparent.

In 1902, during an anthrax scare, the poison was linked to crop bone dust manure used in the cultivation of turnips. These in turn had been eaten by cows.

The New Zealand Dairy Association issued a statement to reject all milk with a turnip odour. In 1909 an article appeared in the Waikato Argus which attempted to shed scientific light on the issue.

Research was quoted that supported the idea that pasteurisation dispelled the turnip flavour in milk but not in butter.

Poor hygienic practice was seen to be as relevant as the turnip feed itself. ‘‘Turnipy flavour in milk may be pardoned and rectified’’, the piece concluded, ‘‘but turnipy flavour in butter is a sign of germs and dirtiness’’. As late as 1924 the debate continued.

At a meeting of suppliers of the New Zealand Cooperative Dairy Company in Morrinsville it was clear that many farmers persisted in giving turnips to their stock. A softer variety or riper vegetables tended to result in turnip free cream but this was not the entire story.

A. J. Sinclair, the company’s assistant manager, presented the results of experiments carried out with cream sourced in Otorohanga that was known to have come from turnip fed cows. Free of taint in the Waikato, when the resulting butter was opened months later in Auckland, ‘‘the turnipy flavour was detected’’.

Solutions were seen to be limited. It was not possible to eliminate turnip feed entirely. It was agreed that if cows were fed turnips exclusively, turnip butter was inevitable.