HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A SUGAR PLUM?

You know, I’m talking about the ones mentioned in the poem, “Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house / Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; / The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, / In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there; / The children were nestled all snug in their beds; / While visions of sugarplums danced in their heads.”~Clement Moore

Traditionally, well, from 1823, at least, after a parent read these lines from Clement Moore’s 1823 poem, “A Visit From Saint Nicholas,” which is more commonly known as “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas,” I wondered why children would be dreaming of a sugar-coated fruit—as opposed to chocolates and candy canes on Christmas Eve? So, in all honesty, I checked and discovered that a sugarplum is not even a plum but is a small oval or even a round hard candy made from sugar. Traditionally, This was traditionally made by hardening sugar around nuts, seeds, or spices in several layers, and it probably got its name because the end product was similar to the shape and size of a plum. The candy was popular during the 17th through the 19th centuries.