Blaze Poll: Would You Eat 2,000-Year-Old Butter? One Chef Tasted It — Hear His Review

Why was such a large ball of butter placed in the bog? Two of the most popular theories waver between refrigeration and religion.

One group believes the bogs were used to store and preserve foods in the days before refrigeration. The other thinks the butter (which was a valuable commodity at the time) was offered as a tribute to the gods to curry favor for the local people.

Despite being in the ground for an estimated two millenia, you might still be able to eat the butter.

Andy Halpin, one of the museum's experts, told the Irish press, "Theoretically the stuff is still edible, but we wouldn't say it's advisable."

Kevin Thornton, one of Ireland's leading chefs actually tasted the 2,000-year-old butter. He shared the experience with the BBC.

TheBlaze contacted Chef Thornton, asking for further clarification on his experience with the ancient butter. We wondered if, after tasting it, had he cooked with it?

Thornton emailed TheBlaze:

"I did taste the bog butter in its raw state and it was a flavor not in any way familiar - in fact totally unique. The immediate initial flavor was rancid which then changed (as it moved through my mouth) to what I would describe as earthy. I did cook a pigeon dish using the bog butter we found and the sequence appeared on the Andrew Zimmern Bizarre Foods show (I think it was episode 3 of 2014 series). I used a little of the butter as a rub for the pigeon skin. I then smoked the whole pigeon using bog oak shavings and then oven roasted it. The pigeon skin flavour was deliciously sweet at a result. Andrew tasted it too and we are both still alive!"

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