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piloncillo n

|ˌpilonˈsiə| and varr; see quots 1967, 1981
Also pelonce, peloncillo, pilonce, pilonci, pilonsillo[MexSpan; dimin of pilon a loaf of sugar]chiefly Texas

Unrefined sugar, usu in the form of a cone or loaf.

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contains DARE survey quotes
  • 1844 Gregg Commerce 1.173 NM, When short of means they often support themselves upon only a real each per day, their usual food consisting of bread and a kind of coarse cake-sugar called piloncillo.
  • 1845 Green Jrl. Texian Exped. 264, Our cook brings us in . . two and a half pounds of brown sugar, ‘pilonci.’
  • 1854 in 1932 SW Hist. Qrly. 35.310, Gathered some quinces and stewed them with Pelonce or Mexican sugar.
  • 1875 Fur Fin & Feather 108 NM, You are all the nights at fandangoes, and all the days eating piloncillo and learning Spanish with the senorites [sic].
  • 1892 DN 1.193 TX, Pilón: a loaf of sugar. The usual forms in Texas are pilonce and piloncillo; they are applied to small loaves of unrefined Mexican sugar in the form of a truncated cone three or four inches high, which come generally wrapped in yucca or palm leaves. They taste very much like maple sugar.
  • 1898 Canfield Maid of Frontier 207 (DA), ‘Peloncillo,’ crude brown sugar, in a stick.
  • 1940 Writers’ Program Guide Arizona 206 cAZ, In the show cases are Mexican candies: Pilonsillos, brown, cone-shaped, and made from pure cane sugar.
  • 1967 DARE
    Qu. H82b, Kinds of cheap candy that used to be sold years ago
    Inf TX5, Piloncillo [ˌpɪlonˈsio]—raw sugar (unrefined) in shape of cone with stick in it; TX11, Piloncillo [ˌpilonˈsijə]—dregs from sugar mill formed into a cone.
  • 1981 Pederson LAGS Basic Materials , 1 inf, csTX, [ˌp‘iᵻḷṇˈsi·əl͔]—Made from boiling sugar cane and molding it into cones. It’s brown, like brown sugar. Used for sweetening by chipping off pieces for coffee, lemonade, etc; 1 inf, csTX, [ˈp‘ɛ˄·l͕ənˌsi˅·ə·z̥]—Piloncillos = unrefined sugar loaves.
  • 1985 Fierman Guts & Ruts 68 NM (as of c1850), Chocolate is a very popular drink of the affluent. Sugar is used, but not the refined variety; rather, coarse brown sugar is molded into cakes called peloncillo.
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