A sugarloaf was the traditional form in which refined sugar was produced and sold until the late 19th century when granulated and cube sugars were introduced. A tall cone with a rounded top was the end product of a process that saw the dark molasses-rich raw sugar, which had been imported from sugar cane growing regions such as the Caribbean and Brazil, refined into white sugar.
The raw sugar was refined by a series of boiling and filtering processes. When, at the final boiling, it was considered ready for granulation it was poured into a large number of inverted conical moulds. These were usually made of either brown earthenware or sheet iron with an internal treatment of slip or paint respectively, and each stood in its own collecting pot.
The moulds, and so the sugarloaves, varied in size considerably ... the larger the loaf the lower the grade of sugar. The grade determined the price, though loaves were sold by weight and the sugar refiner was taxed on the weight of sugar sold. When a new batch of raw sugar was refined the best sugar came from the first boiling. After that, the waste and trimmings from the first boiling were returned to the beginning of the process and mixed with further raw sugar for the second boiling, and, as this was repeated to the end of the batch, subsequent boilings reduced slightly in quality. The finest of the loaves, maybe 5 inches (13 cm) dia and 5 inches (13 cm) high, were extremely expensive owing to the prolonged repeating of the whitening process, as were the somewhat larger double refined loaves from the first few boilings. Lower grades of sugar were more difficult to crystallise and so larger moulds were used, usually 10–14 inches (25–36 cm) dia and up to about 30 inches (76 cm) high, with loaves weighing up to 35 pounds (16 kg). The lowest standard refined grades were called bastards, though an even lower grade was often produced from the filtration scums, usually by a scumboiler at his own separate premises.
