Sweeties

The Scots, it has been computed, eat more sweets than any other people in the world, the Swiss coming a not too close second. The simple explanation of this not altogether enviable reputation is that since 1680, when sugar began to be shipped in bulk from the West Indies, sugar-refining has been an important West of Scotland industry. Greenock is Scotland’s town of sugar, or ‘Sugarapolis,’ as Neil Munro has called it, ‘whose numerous factories spread sweetness everywhere.’

It is generally conceded that one of the special skills in the Scots kitchen is sweet-making and sugar work. Originally most of the sweeties popularly enjoyed were made by simple processes over an open fire.