These are not the best example of sugar nippers. The best are finely made with spring to open and clips to hold them closed and a little post on the handle to protect your knuckles.
Sweets are a passion of man. Bees provide honey. The Sugar Maple gives the sap that reduces into maple syrup and sugar. Sorghum makes the poor man's molasses. Sugar beets are the northern latitudes sweetener. The king of sugars come from sugar cane. The most prolific growing area for sugar cane is the Caribbean. Spain disappointed in finding no riches of gold and silver in the Caribbean none the less exploited the region for its sugar production.
Sugar was shipped as molasses or in cone shaped blocks. Cones of sugar were commonly wrapped in indigo dyed paper and tied with string. The indigo was soaked from the papers to use as dye or as laundry bluing. Those cones of sugar, 1 to 3 pounds each, would contain a lot of molasses and foreign matter and before use the household would need to clarify the product by melting and skimming. Sugar cutters were needed to break up the cones. These were boxes with a drawer underneath and holes drilled in the divider above with a strong attached cutting knife. At the table, to sweeten your coffee or tea, you might use table sugar nippers to break a big piece into something usable.
These are not
the best example of sugar nippers. The best are finely made with spring to
open and clips to hold them closed and a little post on the handle to protect
your knuckles.
This is a better
example.
Frontier America Trading Company