History/Info: In 1941 seas were filled with freight and cargo ships carrying troops and battle supplies. America no longer had the luxury or the resources to import goods such as sugar. Shortages raged throughout the country, forcing Uncle Sam to begin rationing sugar in 1942. Homemakers turned to a sugar substitute called saccharin, which had been discovered years before. By 1950 saccharin use was so popular in our households that numerous inventive companies using imagination frosted with whimsy, designed special tableware to stash this treasure. Saccharin and its dispensers became an essential table requirement for the modern post war hostess.
Saccharin is a synthetic, white, crystalline powder about 550 times sweeter than sugar cane. Surprisingly, saccharin was developed almost twenty years prior to today's aspirin compound.