Butter vs. Margarine Experiment

Remember when I talked about the difference between butter and margarine (here) and why butter is so much better for you? It’s healthier, it’s made from whole foods, and I don’t think anyone will argue with the fact that it tastes MUCH better.

Well, I’ve been wanting to conduct an experiment. I heard once that if you put a stick of butter and a stick of margarine outside, the animals and bugs will eat up the butter but basically ignore the margarine. The idea is to prove that even those critters will choose butter over margarine, because it’s a real, whole food. To them, the highly processed margarine is not even a food, so they will avoid it.

So, today is the day! I have no idea what the outcome will be, but hopefully my hypothesis is correct. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. I bought Land-O-Lakes Pure & Creamy Margarine, and Organic Valley Pasture Butter (those lucky squirrels!). The ingredients in each of these are below:

Margarine: liquid soybean oil, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, water, buttermilk, salt, soy lecithin, sodium benzoate, vegetable mono and diglycerides, artificial flavor, vitamin A palmitate, colored with beta carotene

Butter: organic pasteurized sweet cream, salt, microbial cultures

I labeled 2 paper plates and placed the butter and margarine in the middle of the yard. I decided it was only fair if they were next to one another, so the animals could explore both options and make a choice. I may move these plates to the sidewalk later today to give the insects better access.

Stay tuned this week to see what happens! I have no clue if this will take one day or all week, but I’ll keep you updated. Also, it’s supposed to be in the 90s today in Denver, so that could make things interesting as well – the animals may be drinking their butter and margarine!

(My neighbors definitely think I’m crazy…)