Most people recognize the word sugarplum even though almost no one has ever seen one. The term survives in songs and stories, yet the thing itself has disappeared from everyday experience. The name suggests a plum covered in sugar or a candy shaped like fruit, but neither image is accurate. The modern ear knows the sound of the word better than the taste it once described. Its endurance owes more to tradition than to flavor. Each December it reappears in conversation and carols as a signal of sweetness and nostalgia rather than a reference to an actual confection. Tracing where that association began reveals a small object that once carried great meaning. To understand the broader history of Christmas imagination, one must begin with the forgotten candy that helped define it.
Early Mentions and Meanings
The earliest references to sugarplums appeared in seventeenth-century England, where the word already suggested extravagance. Period writings described sugarplums as small, hardened sweets reserved for people of means. A 1608 pamphlet titled The Gaping Gulf used the term as slang for a discreet payment, a bribe given to ease a transaction. The association made sense because refined sugar cost more than many household staples at the time. Imported from colonial plantations and sold through apothecaries, sugar marked privilege and access. In this context, the word plum meant any desirable reward rather than fruit.
From Medicine to Confection
The first sugarplums resembled what later confectioners called comfits, small seeds or nuts coated with many layers of crystallized sugar. These were not created as desserts but as remedies. Apothecaries made them to freshen breath and ease digestion. Each piece began with a seed set in a rotating pan placed over gentle heat. Thin streams of syrup were poured in gradually so the sugar hardened in even layers. The method demanded attention and steady motion, and a single batch could take days to finish. Because the ingredients were costly and the labor continuous, comfits were reserved for those who could afford such care. By the end of the seventeenth century, they appeared at banquets and holiday gatherings as symbols of refinement. The change from medicinal remedy to holiday confection marked a new understanding of sweetness as a source of enjoyment and social display.
New Meaning
As language changed, the word sugarplum began to signify more than a type of candy. It became a figure of speech for things that brought pleasure or reward. The plum within the term expanded in meaning until it described any prize or advantage. Expressions such as “a plum job” or “a plum offer” preserved that connection between sweetness and good fortune. Writers and storytellers adopted the word to express warmth and generosity during the winter season. By the nineteenth century, the sugarplum no longer referred to a specific recipe. It survived instead as a familiar symbol of comfort and expectation that returned each year with the holidays.
Language, Desire, and Memory
The history of the sugarplum reveals how a small object can outlive its physical form. Few people today have tasted one, yet the word continues to appear each December as part of seasonal language. It represents delight and goodwill rather than sugar or fruit. A treat that once demanded time, labor, and expense has become a shared emblem of comfort. The change from tangible candy to enduring idea shows how memory can preserve what taste and touch have forgotten. Even without its recipe, the sugarplum remains a token of generosity that links the imagination to the rituals of celebration.
Season Greetings
Inside Season Greetings, you’ll find inspiration for planning joyful gatherings and decorating a festive home.
