Darra Goldstein

Sweet Crinoline

Appears in
Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets
Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets

By Darra Goldstein

Published 2015

  • About

Starch, a sugar polymer, lends stiffness and shape to fabric, expanding the ways in which it can be fashioned into clothing. See starch. The stiffness of starch should not, however, distract from the more playful—and seductive—ways in which sugar is incorporated into apparel.

Cellulose can be digested only by bovine, ovine, or caprine diners. Insofar as it refers to a straw boater, the expression “I’ll eat my hat” thus cannot be applied literally. Nevertheless, a variety of edible “hats,” mostly cakes shaped and frosted accordingly, have made it possible to swallow one’s words.