Janoschka magazine Linked_V8_2023

74
t o t e l l t h e t r u t h
issue #8 ©
l i n k e d
75
A 150-YEAR-OLD
SUCCESS STORY
The writing in a foreign language seemed
exotic. And then there were the ones from
closer to home with picture series: couples
in traditional local costume, views of small
towns, or signs of the zodiac. Perhaps less
exciting were those simply advertising the
name of a café, restaurant or hotel. But
whether they had collectable pictures or
advertising on the wrapping, sugar cubes
were a standard feature beside every cup
of coffee or tea, alongside the spoon.
So where have they gone? Slowly but
surely, without anyone really noticing, the
double packets of sugar cubes in their
pretty wrapping became a rarity – no
longer accompanying the hot beverage
ordered in a restaurant, ice-cream parlour
or teashop. Just as espresso, cappuccino
and latte macchiato have replaced good
old filter coffee, so sachets of sugar have
usurped the place of the angular, prettily
wrapped lumps on the saucer.
How on earth did this come about? Invented
in 1842, sugar cubes were an unadulterated
success story for the next 150 years – right
up until the 1990s when sugar manufacturers
saw their sales fall dramatically. Before the
invention of sugar cubes you could only buy
sugar in so-called sugar cones (or sugar loafs).
These bore little resemblance to today’s packaged
sugar. They were rock-hard blocks, some
of them the size of a small child, carefully
stored in the larders of middle-class housewives.
It took a hammer and chisel to break
off small pieces, which were then served in
little tins with coffee or tea. There’s a story
that Juliane Rad, wife of the director of a sugar
factory in what is now in the Czech Republic,
injured her finger while engaged in this arduous
task. This prompted her to come up with
the not so far-fetched idea of producing sugar
in smaller portions, which she then presented
to her husband, Jacob Christoph Rad. He, in
turn, invented a machine that compressed
ground, still moist sugar into small rectangular
moulds. Once the sugar had dried, out came
the world’s first-ever sugar cube. Rad recognised
the potential of his invention and in 1843
had it patented. Local consumers loved the
new “tea sugar” and “Viennese cubed sugar”.
Rad sold his patent to sugar factories all over
Europe. What happened after that is a classic
example of European cooperation.
The Rads might well have been the
Pierre and Marie Curie of beverage
sweeteners, but it actually took
decades before the sugar cube became
widespread in Europe.
By the 1800s, stores sold sugar already broken up
into random-size pieces. But these chunks could
be inconvenient at teatime.