Coldengham, New York
Store of Cadwallader Colden, Jr.
Sugar
Samuel Clark purchased seven pounds of sugar on this day, 250 years ago. Over the prior six months, Colden sold over 1000 pound of sugar!
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| Loaf Sugar with sugar nippers. |
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This article is one in a series of a daily accountings of Colden Store transactions. Be sure you read the first installment for an introduction to the store. You should also read this article which appeared in the Journal of the Orange County Historical Society.
If you have ever been to a colonial cooking demonstration you have undoubtedly seen the cones of sugar, referred to as "loaf sugar", and the nippers used to remove a piece. (see image above.)
Colden sold loaf sugar (about 10% of his sales), but he sold sugar in other forms that were larger in quantity and half of the price (8d per pound vs. 16d). Loaf sugar was more refined and hence a lighter shade of white. The raw sugar sold by Colden was probably brown. There are also four entries for "Brown Sugar" in the DayBook among the more than 300 sugar sales. This is likely a lower quality sugar similar to what is called Muscovado. In two of the sales it sold for 7.5d vs 8d for regular sugar, but in the other two sales of 'Brown Sugar' the price was identical to normal 'sugar.?
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| Muscovado Sugar at top. Image courtesy of Moe Rubenzahl, Wikimedia Commons. |
The raw sugar probably came in seven-pound containers as purchases of seven and fourteen pound were common.
The largest purchase by far was by Doctor John Hill, who purchased twenty three and three quarter pounds of Loaf Sugar on New Year's Eve of 1767!
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