Sugar tongs

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Sugar tongs Zuckerzange ornamentiert.JPG
Sugar tongs

The sugar tongs are small serving utensils [1] used at the table to transfer sugar pieces from the sugar bowl to the tea cups. [2] The tongs appeared at the end of the 17th century, [3] and were very popular by 1800, with half of the British households owning them. [2] The decline of the formal tea party led to the disappearance of the sugar tongs, in the 21st century they are considered an oddity at the table in their original role, but had acquired a new meaning: the tongs now represent Englishness (somewhere along with Miss Marple). [4] Also, these tongs still can be used to serve small candy, string beans, slices of cucumber, celery sticks. [1]

Contents

Terminology

Evolution of sugar tongs: from nippers dating back to the reign of George I through highly decorative bows (1750s) to more modern tongs Evolution of sugar tongs.png
Evolution of sugar tongs: from nippers dating back to the reign of George I through highly decorative bows (1750s) to more modern tongs

Terminology is inconsistent. Egan Mew [5] follows the evolution of the utensil through:

Construction

The early tongs were scissor-like, occasionally in fancy shapes like storks with long beaks [8] or puppets grabbing the sugar with their hands. [3] The majority at the time were "sugar bows" with two elaborately decorated hands with openwork that were joined by a flexible arc hammered into a spring, so that the hands opened when no pressure was applied to the arms. [8] The latter part of the reign of George II and early reign of George III exhibited a very large variety of patterns pierced and chased onto the tongs. [9] In the late Georgian era piercing popularity had declined, and the thongs were made to match the contemporary spoon designs (for example, with the fiddle pattern). [10]

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