Cruet Sets
from Italian Traditional Food

General information on cruet sets

Check out these great Italian ideas at Amazon for Italian food and kitchen ideas.

Collecting cruet sets

Collecting cruet sets can be fun and interesting, too. Collecting items of tableware on a limited budget has its problems, but it's worth considering such things as mustard pots, cruet bottles and sugar casters. These often have silver tops and seem to be classified as neither strictly silver nor glassware. As such cruet sets are often passed over by the more specialised investor and are not usually expensive. Even a late Victorian or Edwardian cruet set, with it's cut or moulded glass bottles and metal stand of handsome proportions, can lend dignity to a modern table.

"Diamond cruets" were advertised by George Ravenscroft as early as 1677, but these were merely glass bottles with loosely fitting silver tops, used for oil and vinegar and selling for the princely sum of two shillings each.

They bore little relation to the magnificent cruet sets, holding bottles for oil, vinegar, sugar, salt, two kinds of pepper and a mustard pot, created during the first twenty years of the 19th century.

From about 1765, fashion dictated that the silver casters for pepper and sugar - salt still had its separate cellar- as well as the glass bottles for vinegar and oil, should be replaced by matching, pear-shaped containers made of opaque, white glass. These were often richly decorated with enamels, and their success prompted silversmiths to replace their erstwhile silver casters with completely matching sets of mounted glass.

Muffineers

Some of those little cut-glass "dredgers" that look like pepper pots with metal tops may turn out to be "muffineers", used towards the end of the 18th century for sprinkling cinnamon on the hot buttered muffins bought from the street vendor for afternoon tea. Look out, too, for standish bottles. These look like small, squat cruet jars, but have fewer, larger holes in the silver tops. They come from inkstands and were meant for the desk and not the table.

Then there are the smaller pieces of pierced silverware - salt cellars, mustard pots and even sugar bowls - popular throughout the Georgian era. These are punched with ever more elaborate lattice-work patterns and contain liners of rich, deep "Bristol" blue glass which contrast happily with the polished silver fretwork. Later copies, of nickel plate, were made in the same, pleasing style, and are worth finding. Trust that you enjoyed this short article on cruets sets.

Read more Italian traditional food related articles here

Tweet

• herbs
• cook
• vegetables
• dessert
• italian traditional food
• recipes
• meat
• olive oil
• fish
• bread
• sauce
• italian
• traditional
• meal
• dish
• recipe
• pasta
• cheese
• food
• cooking

Copyright © 2009 - . All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Italian Traditional Food

You may not reprint articles from this website without the written permission of the site owner.

Disclaimer: Articles on this Website are provided for information purposes only. Italiantraditionalfood.com does not accept any responsibility or liability for the use or misuse of the article content on this site or reliance by any person on the site's contents.