[Sca-cooks] Sugar plate sotelties and Santoku knives

[Christiane]

Last night my husband and I went to Pennsbury Manor's Holly Night. The manor is the recreated 17th century country estate of William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania. We wandered the grounds, the paths of which were lit by candle lumieres, threw sprigs of holly into the bonfire for good luck, and toured the manor house, the first floor of which was decorated with holly and other greenery for a winter party (the Quakers really didn't celebrate Christmas). Everything was lit by candles. It was very pretty.

When we walked into the dining room, I was very pleased to see the sotelties on the table. There was a sugar-plate reproduction of the manor house in miniature, with sugar gravel and grass (all colored with natural dyes such as spinach and saffron), marzipan peacocks (peacocks wander the grounds during the clement months), William and Hannah Penn's initials done in sugar rope, and even more charming, plates and goblets made of sugar. 

In the kitchen, a very enthusiastic gentleman talked about how the sugar plate was produced, and how it was used. There were other things on his table; comfits of candied angelica and caraway seeds, and sugar-glazed crabapples.

All I could think of was, "Hmm. I know a few folks who would have been avidly asking questions." So I tried to ask some.
 
The sugar plate was produced with sugar, gum tragacanth, and rosewater. In Penn's day (the late 1690s), all of these ingredients had to be imported. Although there was a well-laid-out series of gardens in his day, he would have not had enough roses to distill his own rosewater. This would have made all of this sugar plate a very expensive display of wealth. Guests would have been given a sugar plate and a sugar goblet for the party. They'd have a wine-flavored sugar goblet to eat there, or later on. The sugar plate would have been produced months in advance, and packed away for when needed.

So, how far back does the use of sugar-plate eating and drinking utensils go? Was this a practice in period?

OK, on to another topic that is not in the least period, Santoku chopping knives. My father is enchanted by them, and I'd like to get him one for Christmas. What brand of knife is most recommended? Calphalon? Forschner? Furi?

Gianotta