A sugar packet is a delivery method for one serving of sugar or other

sweetener {{Wiktionary, sweetener A sweetener is a substance added to food or drink to impart the flavor of sweetness, either because it contains a type of sugar, or because it contains a sweet-tasting sugar substitute. Many artificial sweeteners have been ...

. Sugar packets are commonly supplied in restaurants, coffeehouses, and

tea house A teahouse (mainly Asia) or tearoom (also tea room) is an establishment which primarily serves tea and other light refreshments. A tea room may be a room set aside in a hotel especially for serving afternoon tea, or may be an establishment wh ...

s, where they are preferred to sugar bowls or sugar dispensers for reasons of neatness, sanitation, spill control, and to some extent portion control.

Statistics

A typical sugar packet in the contains 2 to 4 grams of sugar. Some sugar packets in countries such as Poland contain 5 to 10 grams of sugar. Sugar packet sizes, shapes, and weights differ by brand, region, and other factors. Because a gram of any

carbohydrate In organic chemistry, a carbohydrate () is a biomolecule consisting of carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) atoms, usually with a hydrogen–oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 (as in water) and thus with the empirical formula (where ''m'' may or m ...

contains 4 nutritional calories (also referred to as "food calories" or kilo-calories), a typical four-gram sugar packet has 16 nutritional calories. The amount of sugar substitute in a packet generally differs from the volume and weight of sugar in a packet. Packets of sugar substitutes typically contain an amount of sweetener that provides an amount of sweetness comparable to a packet containing sugar. Packets are often colored to provide simple identification of the type of sweetener in the pack.

History

The sugar cube was used in restaurants until it began to be replaced directly after World War II. At this time, machines were made that could produce small packets of sugar for nearly half the cost. The sugar packet was invented by

Benjamin Eisenstadt Benjamin Eisenstadt (December 7, 1906 – April 8, 1996) was the designer of the modern sugar packet and developer of Sweet'N Low. He was the founder of the Cumberland Packing Corporation and a notable philanthropist. Personal life Benjamin Ei ...

, the founder of Cumberland Packing best known as the manufacturer, distributor and marketer of Sweet 'N Low. Eisenstadt had been a

tea bag A tea bag, or the compound teabag, is a small, porous, sealed bag or packet, typically containing tea leaves or the leaves of other herbs, which is immersed in water to steep and make an infusion. Originally used only for tea (''Camellia ...

factory worker, and became irritated by the task of refilling and unclogging all the sugar dispensers in his Brooklyn cafeteria across from the

Brooklyn Navy Yard The Brooklyn Navy Yard (originally known as the New York Navy Yard) is a shipyard and industrial complex located in northwest Brooklyn in New York City, New York. The Navy Yard is located on the East River in Wallabout Bay, a semicircular bend ...

. He did not

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

the idea and lost market share after discussions with larger sugar companies. However, Sweet 'N Low artificial sweetener packets were an outgrowth of that business.

Collecting

The hobby of collecting sugar packets is known as sucrology. Sucrologists normally collect the small packets of sugar that are most commonly found in restaurants, hotels and airlines. Collectors can, for example, focus on the variety of types of sugar or

brand name A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

s. Sugar packets are also handy forms of advertisement for businesses. There are numerous sucrology themed clubs in Europe. The most notable club is the UK Sucrologists' Club. Clubs may hold annual meetings locally or internationally, where sucrologists from around the world gather to trade sugar packets and meet fellow sucrologists. The most important international meeting is held in Italy in Pieve di Cento (Bologna) and brings together 150 exhibitors from 14 different countries. Sweet sugar world exchange sugar meeting Italy

Sweet sugar world exchange sugar meeting Italy

Guinness World Record

On May 14, 2013, a world record was made by Ralf Schröder in Germany whose collection consists of 14,502 sugar packets. Previous record belonged to Kristen Dennis of Chicago, USA who logged 9,596 sugar packets in 2012.

References

Sugar American inventions Food packaging {{sugar