Bog butter is a fairly common find in Ireland and Scotland. Around 500 bog butter discoveries have been recorded in Ireland.
The cool, highly acidic, and low-oxygenated environment provided the perfect conditions to preserve butter naturally.
Boyle’s butter is currently being analyzed at the National Museum of Ireland. It is hoped that the butter will later be returned to the local area so the community can appreciate it.
“The slab of butter wouldn’t mean anything to anybody visiting a national institution, but it certainly would mean an awful lot to the local community here in southwest Donegal,” Harvey said.
She added that she had tried a small portion of the dairy product and noted that it tasted like unsalted butter.
In 2016, another Irish farmer found a hunk of butter buried in his local bog. The butter was smaller than Boyle’s but was still of a substantial size.
The buttery lump weighed 22 pounds and was shaped like a rugby ball. It had been stored in the bog for about 2,000 years. The butter was moved to the National Museum of Ireland for conservation.
