Bog butter

The containers tend to be well-sealed with a convex surface, perhaps to prevent water from pooling and stagnating in direct contact with the packaging and/or contents.

Experiments conducted by researcher Daniel C. Fisher demonstrated that pathogen and bacterial counts of meat buried in peat bogs for up to two years were comparable to levels found in control samples stored in a modern freezer,[9] suggesting that this could be an effective preservation method.

[8] In traditional cuisines, burial is a fairly common step in the preparation of highly perishable foods such as meat and dairy products; examples include century eggs (China), gravad lax (Scandinavia), hákarl (Iceland), the Inuit dishes igunaq and kiviaq, and Moroccan smen.

[8] Modern experiments in creating bog butter yield a product that seems to be an acquired taste, with "flavor notes which were described primarily as ‘animal’ or ‘gamey’, ‘moss’, ‘funky’, ‘pungent’, and ‘salami’.

[11]: 254–5  Yet butter also had numerous, widespread non-culinary uses such as the payment of taxes, rents, and fines; facilitation of hospitality; care of the sick and infirm; and strengthening of social bonds.