Everyday Systems

I don't know if this is true or not, but I just read this on another forum.

Until very recently in human history (the mid 1800's), sugar was such an exceedingly rare and expensive commodity that only the wealthy had any access to it at all - and it was treated like the precious substance that it was - kept locked in a piece of furniture designed to prevent theft. The housewife carried the keys with her wherever she went.

The thought of eating sugar every day, or even on a monthly basis (and by the poor) would have shocked our ancestors (even only a few generations ago).

Just thinking....since today is an S Day, those who eat sugar can unlock the "sugar drawer."

Yes, refined cane sugar was very expensive, indeed, and only the well-to-do used it at all.

You can get a great feeling for this by reading Little House on the Prairie where Laura describes actually SEEING white sugar and being allowed a taste. By then, sugar was more commonly available, but the Ingalls struggled pretty badly financially through most of Laura's childhood.

You'll notice in Little House in the Big Woods, though, that when available, people did use other sweetners: Obtaining honey and/or making maple syrup were both major events and cause for celebration among Laura's family. So sweets were still rarer, more expensive (in terms of labor if not money) and more prized than they are now by an order of magnitude.