Barley Sugar or Clear Toys

Old-time candymakers (they called themselves sugarbakers) once used barley sugar almost exclusively for casting candy figures, first because it was the most reliable quality of sugar for this purpose, but second and most imporant, because barley sugar was cheaper than imported cane sugar. It was imperative that the candy be cheap because it had to be affordable to children, its main consumers.

Even after cane sugar became cheaper than barley sugar—certainly the case by 1818 w