Sugar-plums and Sherbet: The Prehistory of Sweets - Softcover

Mason, Laura

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1903018285 ISBN 13: 9781903018286

Publisher: Prospect Books, 2003

Synopsis

The hardback edition of this book was published in 1998 and gained universal praise: A fascinating account said the TLS; echoed by national and local press; A fascinating book full of off-beat information wrote Derek Cooper.

Sugar-plums and Shebert looks beyond the brilliant colours of the sweet-shop shelf and considers the ingenuity of sugar boiling and the manufacture of those intriguing avatars of British childhood happiness: the humbug, the gobstopper, the peardrop and the stick of rock. As well as a history, it is also a recipe book, with twenty tried and tested methods for sweets ancient and modern.

There have been quite a number of studies of modern-day sweeties and candies, and their immediate antecedents. This goes further back than that, tracing development from sugar's first appearance in Britain in the late Middle Ages. It is as much a study of sugar and its historical place in the western diet as it is a history of sweets. Illustrated throughout with contemporary prints and drawings.

About this title

About the Author

Laura Mason is also the author of Traditional Foods of Britain (Prospect) and many other studies in food history, published in journals such as Gastronomica and Petits Propos Culinaires.

Edition details

• Publisher: Prospect Books
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1903018285
• ISBN 13: 9781903018286
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 250