Sugar in Colonial Connecticut: Availability and Use

A Sweet but Costly Import

Yes, sugar was present in colonial Connecticut, but it was a luxury commodity, not a household staple.

Sources

• Imported: Muscovado (unrefined brown) and loaf sugar from Caribbean plantations (Barbados, Jamaica) via Boston, Newport, New York merchants.
• Local attempts: Some colonists experimented with sugar maple sap (maple sugar) and sorghum, but cane sugar did not grow in Connecticut's climate.

Uses

• Sweetening tea, coffee, chocolate (expensive imports themselves).
• Preserving fruits (jams, jellies) and meats.
• Baking for special occasions (election cakes, wedding cakes).
• Medicinal preparations (syrups, lozenges).

Economic Context

• Price: 10–20 shillings per pound (days' wages for a laborer).
• Stored under lock and key in wealthy homes.
• Molasses (cheaper byproduct) was more common for rum, baking, animal feed.

Post-Revolution Shift

After 1783, U.S. trade with British Caribbean restricted; maple sugar promoted as patriotic alternative. Cane sugar became widely affordable only after 1830s Louisiana production and later Cuban imports.

So, sugar existed—but sparingly, symbolically, and mostly for the better-off.