The Eighteenth Century Confectioner
Discover how sugar suddenly became this new must have ingredient
As the demand for sugar grew, an increasing number of cookbooks aimed for an eager middle class were published.
Sugar was not only used as a precious delicacy, but also became a fundamental ingredient in European recipes.
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By the eighteenth century, sugar was a NECESSITY.
Britain’s daily consumption had grown from 4lbs of sugar a day at the beginning of the century to 17lbs by the end. At one point in time it became so valuable, sugar was locked in a sugar safe!
A Sugar Safe
James Gillray Cartoon of soldiers eating in a confectioner’s shop, 1797.
Image @Library of Congress
A reconstruction of an eighteenth century confectioner's window display
A CONFECTIONER
The art of confectionary became one of the most highly regarded trades by 1800, with a confectioner considered a higher ranking profession than a chef or baker!
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Most confectioners found full time employment in stately homes, as personal confectionary chefs to the elite Gregorian families of England or opened shops that sold a variety of sweet delicacies including biscuits, cakes and dungaree (sugared nuts).
High society dictated that an elegant grand dessert was the essential conclusion to any important meal.
All raw materials of early confectionary, such as citrus, sugar, spices and almonds, were sourced from the Mediterranean and the Middle East- A sense of the 'exotic and unusual' drove a high cost and gave its use an elite status.
By 1781, there were 8 confectioners in York alone, a small city that only had 17,000 inhabitants at the time!
For such a small city, it sold a lot of sugar!
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Confectionary shops in eighteenth century England sold expensive porcelain and glass table ware as well as fresh exotic fruit like pineapple and sugared sweets made for wealthy clients. These sweet treats included: cake, biscuits, sugared almonds, jellies and preserved jams to be eaten on the premises or taken home. Some of the most favoured items for sale were intricately carved oranges and lemons which could be placed in pride of place in a sweet meat glass.
ICE CREAM
Ice cream or ‘ice’ according to eighteenth century vocabulary, was the highest regarded elite refreshment that these confectioners made. This 'Ice' would also be made from both exotic and local fruits. For example, ‘Gooseberry Ice’ would be much cheaper to purchase than ‘Pineapple Ice’. The more you paid, the more exotic fruit you got!
Many confectioners also sold ices moulded in the form of the fruit, using fruit-shaped pewter moulds. The most common eighteenth century mould for making an ice cream was in the shape of a pineapple, designed to replicate the pine-cone-shaped body of the fruit without any leaves. When the frozen ice was removed from the mould, real leaves salvaged from the fruit, were attached to the top, making a very convincing ‘pineapple in ice form’.
ADVERTISING
Trade cards were the most popular method to advertise the exotic sweet foods sold by confectioners. One of the most famous confectioners was an Italian pastry cook named Domenico Negri, who opened a shop in 1757 at 7-8 Berkeley Square, London under the sign of ‘The Pot and Pineapple’.
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Trade card from Domenico Negri Confectioners. © The British Museum.
Zoomed in version of image of the pineapple and pot
The pineapple was used extensively as a logo for confectioners to represent the exotic, foreign produce on sale!
Negri’s impressive trade card not only featured a pineapple, but it advertised that he was in the business of making English, French, and Italian wet and dry sweetmeats. This particular confectioner shop employed famous apprentices like Frederic Nutt, William Jarrin, and William Jeanes, who all later wrote their own cookbooks.
The art of confectionary also filtered into the domestic kitchen of elite households. The production of confectionary and the ability to order and set a banquet/dinner table had been a socially acceptable activity for high ranking ladies since the sixteenth century and seen to be one of the necessary skills of a ‘complete woman’.
'Giving directions for a grand desert would be needless, for those persons who give such grand deserts, either keep a proper person, or have them of a confectioner, who not only has every thing wanted, but every ornament to adorn it with, without giving any trouble to the family, when supposed to be taken up with other affairs; though every young lady ought to know how to make all kind of confectionary and dress out a desert; in former days, it was look’d on as a great perfection in a young lady to understand all these things, it it was only to give directions to her servants; and our dames of old, did not think it any disgrace to understand cookery and confectionary.'
- Hannah Glasse, The Complete Confectioner (1760) advocated the art suitable for a young lady
The Complete Confectioner (1760)
The eighteenth century saw the rise in the publication of books about the art of confectionary, written by professionals for hostesses and their housekeepers who wanted to improve their skills.
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The most notable of the period are Robert Abbot, The Housekeeper’s Valuable Present (1790) and Hannah Glasse, The Complete Confectioner (1760).
The books detailed various recipes and skills needed to make good quality confectionary as well as how to arrange them in a fashionable style that was sort after in England at this time!
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The eighteenth century was truly a century that experienced a growth in popularity for all things sweet! Confectionary was considered an art form, enjoyed by the elite and replicated in their own homes!
