SUNNY CANE SUGAR – 1937

 Die-Cut Recipe Pamphlet

In a previous posting I mentioned how the value of a recipe pamphlet is determined in part, to its uniqueness. Die-cut pamphlets are just one type of unique design that has allowed many recipe pamphlets to grow in value for collectors.

This particular pamphlet – “Sunny Cane Sugar” is not only a unique, collectible pamphlet, it’s also a really good vintage cookbook containing approximately 125 recipes, an interesting history of sugar and the manufacturing of sugar, and a ton of hints for using the product. Graphics are somewhat limited but the 88 page die-cut recipe recipe pamphlet is a real keeper. I purchased it off of eBay in 2003 for $8.75 (with shipping) and value it today at $18-$20. The pamphlet measures 6” x 4”.

Sunny Cane Sugar(1) – 1937

Sunny Cane Sugar

The History of Sugar

Sugar today plays such an important part in our daily lives and is such a necessity that few have ever considered how changed our modes of living would be without it.

Modern menus which have contributed so much to the health and happiness of humanity would never have been possible without sugar. Imagine, if you can, a day without this essential. Bread, rolls and muffins, as we know them, would be missing as would also cookies, pies, cakes, jellies, ready-to-eat cereals, sauces, flavorings, dressings, syrups, many beverages and most desserts.

There are references to sugar cane in the Old Testament as “honey bearing reeds,” but knowledge regarding it was most limited. Honey was the most generally used sweetening agent of ancient races, but even this was so scarce that they dreamed of “The Promised Land” as “a land flowing with milk and honey.”

The art of making sugar from sugar cane is accredited to the Bengalese about 400 A.D. and information regarding “Indian Salt,” as it was called, was brought back to Europe by those few adventurous travelers who had journeyed that far successfully.

Knowledge of sugar-making spread westward into Arabia, Persia and Egypt. The Crusaders encountered it here during the Middle Ages and small quantities were brought back to European countries as a curiosity for Royalty.

Cultivation of sugar cane spread rapidly throughout the world following the explorations and discoveries of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The Spanish, the French and the Portuguese all introduced this highly desirable commodity into tropical countries under their control, where humidity and fertility permitted its cultivation. It was introduced into Cuba as early as the sixteenth century, but was not introduced into Louisiana until 1751 by Jesuit priests who carried it from San Domingo.

Sugar, a curiosity of the fourteenth century, had become the luxury of kings and queens in the eighteenth century. Indeed as late as 1842 sugar was far too expensive to be considered in any other class than a luxury. An old hand-bill printed at that time, listing the prices of food commodities in London, gives the market price of sugar at $2.75 per pound!

If sugar refining processes had not been vastly improved and made a thousand-fold more efficient, sugar might still be selling at this price. But, thanks to modern science and increased efficiency, the price has been steadily lowered and consumption increased until today sugar is a necessity of life and one of the largest single items of food to pass through the hands of wholesale and retail grocers.

The W.J. McCahan Sugar Refining & Molasses Co. – 1937

Sunny Cane Sugar(2) – 1937

Roast Cured Ham

Wash and dry a 12 lb. Cured Ham. Place in roaster, fat side up, cover bottom of pan with hot water, about 1 quart. Cover roaster and bake in a slow oven, allowing not less than 21 minutes to the pound. When more than half done remove the the rind. Sprinkle the fat surface with 1 teaspoonful mustard and 1/2 teaspoonful paprika, add 1/2 cup vinegar to liquid in the pan and continue cooking, basting frequently. About 3/4 hour before serving sprinkle fat surface with 1/2 cup Sunny Cane “Old Time Brown” sugar, dot with whole cloves. Place about six washed and cored red apples around and continue baking uncovered without basting.

Well folks, once again I thank you for stopping by. If you’re new here, please leave your name and email so I can keep you informed of new postings. New subscribers will also receive a free download of my popular vintage cookbook – “100 Unique Recipes from the Past”

Tim Mack

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Tags: cane sugar, die-cut, history of sugar, Roast Cured Ham, sugar, Sunny Cane Sugar, vintage advertising pamphlet, vintage recipe pamphlet

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