# When was the last time you saw a sugar cube? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 14, 2000, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-a-sugar-cube/45552 "2000-12-14T16:24:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-a-sugar-cube/45552/1 "2000-12-14T16:24:57Z")
Does anyone make them anymore? Typically we let kids give horses pieces of carrot for “treats” after a ride. Someone asked recently “Do you ever give them sugar cubes?” I said, “No, I’ve never even seen any.” (At least, not since my polio vaccine.) Have you seen any lately, and if so, where? (Not that it’s a big deal. Carrots are readily available, and probably cheaper.) ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-a-sugar-cube/45552/2 "2000-12-14T16:28:43Z")
Go directly to the baking aisle of your local grocery. See all those bags of white and brown sugar? Now look down and to either side, I promise they are right there. In fact, I use them all the time! ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-a-sugar-cube/45552/3 "2000-12-14T16:29:26Z")
**Mj,** you’ve got to eat in a better class of restaurant. (Smilie here) Sure they still make them, and finer eateries and hotels use them all the time. I’ll bet **Eve** won’t drink her afternoon tea with anything else. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-a-sugar-cube/45552/4 "2000-12-14T16:34:08Z")
It’s true, and she much prefers to take her LSD that way, too. She just HATES the blotter stuff. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-a-sugar-cube/45552/5 "2000-12-14T16:35:29Z")
I saw some yesterday at a local coffeehouse. They make a slightly smaller mess than sugar in paper packets. Robin ---
**Author:** ![Gundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Gundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gundy)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-a-sugar-cube/45552/6 "2000-12-14T16:42:36Z")
Yesterday. Got a whole big bag of 'em at work. Threw me a bit, though, when I saw them. ---
**Author:** ![jonas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/aeb1de/32.png) [@jonas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jonas)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-a-sugar-cube/45552/7 "2000-12-14T17:36:22Z")
I still buy them sometimes. There is a Russian store near my apartment that sells Russian sugar cubes and they are twice as big as the usual type. They are perfect for a quick sugar fix and less messy than a spoonful of sugar. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-a-sugar-cube/45552/8 "2000-12-14T18:38:30Z")
FWIW, I too have noticed that they do exist in the supermarkets, but elsewhere they are much less common than 20-30 years ago. My WAG is that in recent decades we’ve got much more sanitary and get grossed out by a pile of cubes that other people might have touched. Also there’s a trade-off: Packets are harder to open than cubes, but cubes are harder to dissolve. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-a-sugar-cube/45552/9 "2000-12-14T18:57:11Z")
I still see them often in restaurants/cafés in Switzerland. I imagine other european countries use them in public venues also. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-a-sugar-cube/45552/10 "2000-12-14T19:08:38Z")
A woman at my barn gives her horse a sugar cube when she bridles, so they must not be THAT hard to find (regular Domino brand and al). Personally, I perfer peppermints for your non-rotting horse treat. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-a-sugar-cube/45552/11 "2000-12-14T19:19:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Arnold Winkelried \* > \*\*I still see them often in restaurants/cafés in Switzerland. I imagine other european countries use them in public venues also. \*\* Yup. In Norway, coffee is sweetened with sugar cubes, tea with granulated sugar. Any decent cafe will offer both. Of course, this is backwards, logically speaking; tea is properly made with hotter water than good coffee, so the cubes would dissolve more easily in tea. But certain traditions are not to be trifled with. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-a-sugar-cube/45552/12 "2000-12-14T19:27:03Z")
I have a box of sugar cubes in my kitchen cupboard as we speak. I picked 'em up because, apart from sweetening coffee, the only thing I use sugar for is baking, and for that I keep a large bin of sugar. I’d rather not drag the bin out for a tablespoonful, and there’s no point in leaving a sugar bowl out on the counter, so cubes it is. Besides, like Cecil said, there’s just something about crunching 'em… ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-a-sugar-cube/45552/13 "2000-12-14T20:44:00Z")
[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2\_038.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_038.html) I had some recently too–pilfered by friends from a chi-chi Italian bakery/restaurant, they were wrapped in pretty paper. ---
**Author:** ![porcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac91a4/32.png) [@porcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porcupine)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-a-sugar-cube/45552/14 "2000-12-14T21:15:21Z")
I saw some today on the table in the very nice restaurant where I had lunch today. ---
**Author:** ![dragonlady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@dragonlady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dragonlady)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-a-sugar-cube/45552/15 "2000-12-14T21:50:13Z")
Tuesday, maybe Wednesday. Martha Stewart used them as bricks to make tiny, little houses. Very festive. ---
**Author:** ![JillGat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-a-sugar-cube/45552/16 "2000-12-14T23:59:55Z")
Bought some last week to build a Mexican pyramid for my kid’s school project. I highly recommend this. It’s a blast. ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2000, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-a-sugar-cube/45552/17 "2000-12-15T00:41:00Z")
Since it hasn’t been done yet, but must. . . I saw Bjork in a movie trailer for “Dancing in the Dark” a couple of weeks ago. . . ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2000, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-a-sugar-cube/45552/18 "2000-12-15T02:22:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jonas \* > \*\*I still buy them sometimes. There is a Russian store near my apartment that sells Russian sugar cubes and they are twice as big as the usual type. They are perfect for a quick sugar fix and less messy than a spoonful of sugar. \*\* \ Ahh, childhood. Gramma was from Poland. The Old Country, as she said. I’d never SEEN sugar cubes till I got to her apartment. She lived at 56 7th Ave in NYC. For those of you who are Chelsea dwellers, you know how great that immense pre-war building is. She’d make her cup of tea, then sit the teabag on a saucer to use again later. ( After all, who has such money that they use a new teabag each time? The Tzars? Feh !). Then, she’d hold a cube of sugar in her teeth,and suck the tea down. God help me, I miss her. Never had the guts to try that trick though. I assume it was just about as sweet as it could be with that approach. Cartooniverse