Sugar cube
Sugar cubes are white sugar granules pressed into small cubes. It is usually used by individuals to sweeten drinks. There are two main ways of using the sugar cubes: directly dissolving the cubes in the drink or placing the cube into the mouth while drinking. Size and packaging The typical size for each cube is between and , corresponding to the weight of approximately 3–5 grams. However, the cube sizes and shapes vary greatly, for example, playing card suits-shaped pieces are produced under the name "bridge cube sugar". The typical retail packaging weight is 0.5 kilogram (1 pound) or 1 kilogram / 2 pounds. In 1923 German wholesaler Karl Hellmann started packaging pair of cubes into individual wrappings with advertisements or collectible pictures on the sleeves. Originally very popular in cafés, they were quickly replaced in the beginning of the 21st century by granulated sugar in packets and sticks. Manufacturing When making the cubes, the granulated sugar is slightly (2–3%) moistened, placed into a mold and heated so that the moisture can escape. The firmness, density, and speed of dissolution of the cube are controlled via the crystal size of the granulated sugar, amount of water/steam added, molding pressure, and speed of drying. The dissolution speed is important, as the consumers that place the sugar into their mouths prefer denser, slower-dissolving sugar. The input material usually requires a wide distribution of sizes (from 500 microns and up) for the cube stability. The cubes are made on the highly automated lines capable of processing up to 50 tons of sugar per day. Typically, one of the three common processes is used to produce the more popular soft cubes: Vibro process of Swedish Sugar Corporation (from the late 1950s) utilizes vibration to fill the molds and to get the formed cubes out. Heat radiation oven is used for drying; Chambon process was invented in France in 1949 and uses a rotating molding unit and a vertical dryer; Elba process is similar to Chambon. History Because sugarloafs were hard to break into manageable pieces, dangerous tools were used in the process (apparently, Jakub Kryštof Rad, the inventor of the first sugar cube, started his effort after his wife hurt herself while chopping the sugarloaf). The resulting pieces were irregular in size; if the piece was too large, either sugar nips had to be used, or the piece had to be dunked into the tea cup like a donut, and after sufficient dissolution taken out to dry for the next use (the latter option was described by Lev Tolstoy in his "Where Love Is, God Is": "Stepanich drank his glass, turned it upside down and set the leftover bit of sugar on it"). Rad had made the first sugar cubes in the early 1840s by pressing moist sugar into a tray resembling the modern ice cube trays and letting the cubes dry. Despite Rad obtaining a patent in 1843, his business was ultimately unsuccessful. The next breakthrough came almost 30 years later, when Eugen