Quaker Sugar

It's Fun to Cook with Quaker Sugar (not dated, 36 pages) was a promotional recipe booklet published sometime in the late 1940s or 1950s. It's filled with recipes for cakes, fillings and frostings, cookies and pies, quick breads, desserts and candies, jams and jellies and fruits and beverages.

Up until the end of 1947, Quaker Sugar was a brand of the Philadelphia Sugar Company. It was manufactured by the Pennsylvania Sugar Division of the National Sugar Refining Co beginning in 1948. The packaging of the product shown in the illustrations of this booklet reflects the latter brand ownership.

The front of the booklet tells how the sugar cane was grown in Cuba and transported from the fields to the sugar mill in oxen-drawn carts. The sugar cane was cut and crushed to extract the juice and then cleaned of impurities. The raw sugar, which looked something like wet sawdust, was then packed into burlap bags where it was loaded on to New York-bound ships. After further refining at the sugar refineries in New York and Philadelphia it was packaged by machines. It was then loaded onto trucks to be distributed to grocery stores throughout the country.

The above process is illustrated by a series of black and white photographs. The packaging machines and their operators are shown in the photo below.


The booklet states that there was "A Quaker Sugar for every purpose." Small color illustrations are shown of Granulated, Verifine, Light Brown, Dark Brown, Confectioners' Super X and Tablet varieties. The white sugar was packaged in red boxes and the brown sugar in brown boxes. The product packages are shown in a group on the rear cover.


Under the title "Some Facts You Should Know About Sugar," the company worked to dispel any negative thinking related to sugar consumption:

• Sugar is a wholesome food.
• Eat sugar for energy.
• Is sugar fattening? [No]
• Is sugar harmful to teeth? [Don't blame sugar]

This sugar facts page is illustrated with small black and white illustrations. In the one here, a mother, wearing a sundress and high heels is waving goodbye to her children as they go off to school or play.

The pages of the booklet are also decorated with small line drawings of a woman in Quaker garb baking and serving desserts or pies and whatnot.


There are also eight full-page color photographs of many of the prepared dishes. Four of the pages display dishes that could be appropriate for each of the four seasons. "Summer" is shown below and pictures the Lemon Chiffon Pie, Meringues, a Refrigerator Cake made with strawberries and vanilla wafers, Mint Ice and tall glasses of Plantation Punch.


REFRIGERATOR CAKE

(Serves about 8)

1 quart strawberries
1 cup Quaker Granulated Sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon gelatin
3 tablespoons cold water
1 cup heavy cream, whipped
24 vanilla wafers

1. Wash, hull and slice strawberries.
2. Add Quaker Granulated Sugar and lemon juice
3. Line greased loaf pan with waxed paper. Soften gelatin in water. Dissolve over hot water.
4. Drain juice from berries and add to gelatin. Stir into whipped cream. Fold in berries.
5. Cover bottom of pan with mixture. Add layer of wafers, alternately in this way until all strawberry mixture is used, finishing with layer of wafers.
6. Chill overnight in coldest part of refrigerator. Turn out on platter. Remove waxed paper.
7. Garnish with sliced strawberries and whipped cream, if desired.

There are several recipes for jams, jellies and preserves. The photo below pictures a five pound box of Quaker Sugar with jars of Grape Jelly, Canned Pears and Sweet Watermelon Pickles.