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Salt vessel-sugar sprinkle-butter cup

Salt vessels for the set table were not common until the 18th century.

Presumably the food was so salty before it was served that it was not necessary. Simple, round salt vessels were made at Nøstetangen, Hurdal and Gjøvik. Sugar was placed on the table in sugar bowls or in sugar sprinkles. Cans of oil and vinegar were also on the set table.

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Salt was a necessity for preserving both meat and fish. On Vallø near Tønsberg, there was a saltworks that produced salt from evaporated seawater. But salt was also imported in large quantities. 

Sugar was imported, but was also refined in Norway. The sugar refinery in Halden was one of the major industrial companies of the time. Production was based on sugar cane from the West Indies. Raw sugar was transported to Norway as part of the "triangle trade".

Ships sailed from Denmark-Norway to West Africa with weapons and other goods. There it was bought or captured by Africans, who were sailed to the West Indies, where they were sold as slaves to the sugar plantation owners. The ships were then loaded with sugar cane which was transported to Denmark - Norway. 

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