"Bryan J. Maloney" > wrote in message . 193.32>...
> Olivers > nattered on
> :
>
> > We (hosts) serve to ourselves and to guests sweetened
> > foods/sauces/condiments as part of ancient cultural memory, that we
> > were of an affluence which allowed us to purchase sweeteners (in a
> > time when sugars were vastly more expensive/harder to get than today).
>
> And in the present day is a symbol of poverty, given that salt, sugar, and
> fat are the hallmarks of the lower-class/prole diet.
>
> > venues in which it is most often available. Unsugared hams are hard
> > to find
>
> But thank the Powers that Be that they still can be found. (Indeed, even
> unsmoked--just cured and aged.)

I wrote a two part article on sugar for Food History News. The
article covered a bit of sugar history, the various processes used in
the 19th century to produce different types of sugar, how to make your
own sugar loaf, and a glossary of the various types of sugar.

Virginia Mescher