Solidified Brown Sugar

[VivreManger]

I can't remember how to repair a box of dark brown sugar that has dried up and solidified into an unhospitable mass.

[Jinmyo]

Piece of apple.

[Rachel Perlow]

If you need it in a hurry, you can grate it.

[laura]

Sometimes, depending on the decrepitude of the contents, microwaving helps

[tsquare]

I recall something along the lines of a damp paper towel and a closed container?

[mamster]

I don't have any suggestions, because here on the West Coast, brown sugar isn't sold in boxes. It's sold in Ziploc-style bags, and it never gets hard. So for next time, if you live in an area with paleozoic packaging, transfer the contents of the sugar box to a gallon-sized Ziploc as soon as you open the box. You could also use a canister, but Ziplocs tend to be more airtight, and it's incredibly easy to measure: you reach into the bag with the measuring cup and pack the sugar into it with your other hand from the outside of the bag.

[tsquare]

I don't have any suggestions, because here on the West Coast, brown sugar isn't sold in boxes.  It's sold in Ziploc-style bags, and it never gets hard.

!!! What's that in my pantry?

[Allura]

Microwaving worked well recently. I think 2 minutes on high on a low/older microwave, for about a cup of sugar, I think. It softened the chunks up enough to work with.

[Dana]

A piece of bread also works well. Just leave it in there all the time.

[mamster]

I don't have any suggestions, because here on the West Coast, brown sugar isn't sold in boxes.  It's sold in Ziploc-style bags, and it never gets hard.

!!! What's that in my pantry?

Okay, I was exaggerating for effect. But as far as I know you can't buy it in the Ziploc on the east coast.

[Anna N]

I store my brown sugar in the freezer in a plastic bag and it never gets hard.

Anyone else try this?

[Dana]

I do. If I store it in the pantry, it sometimes gets little wigglies in it. uugghhh.

Here in the south, we get it in ziplocs, but only in the 2 lb size.

[VivreManger]

Report on the apple slice technique.

Up here in the frozen North, we get brown sugar in a heavy plastic bag in a box. After it is opened, without a ziploc bag, one is dependent on the uncertain strength of a bag tie. A few twistings of that and it is useless, particularly at the start of the bag when the top of the bag is too small to give the necessary purchase. Obviously the immediate solution is to transfer the sugar to a zip-lock.

That is what I did before adding not one, but two small apple quarters. I left them in for 24 hours and miracle of miracles, almost all of the sugar was back in its happy state. After I removed the apples, the rest followed suit on the accumulated moisture.

Two problems: 1) I should have used one slice of apple. 2) The excess of apple did leave moisture that wet some of the sugar. However apples removed and bag resealed after another 24 hours of quiet contemplation, the sugar was dry, fluffy, happy, and the entire block was usable.

Edited December 28, 2002 by VivreManger (log)

[seawakim]

I keep my brown sugar in a decorated jar (which may or may not be airtight) and I keep it with a terra cotta (sp.) brown sugar disc soaked in water for a few minutes. They really work well. I've gone many months without resoaking the disc and the sugar is always perfectly moist.

[Anna N]

I keep my brown sugar in a decorated jar (which may or may not be airtight) and I keep it with a terra cotta (sp.) brown sugar disc soaked in water for a few minutes. They really work well. I've gone many months without resoaking the disc and the sugar is always perfectly moist.

I have often wondered if a shard from a terra cotta plant pot would work as well - anybody any experience?

[blue_dolphin]

Resurrecting an ancient thread here!  I haven't seen this trick mentioned here and thought it was worth sharing.

 

I recently had a chance to try the quick water/microwave method of softening brown sugar that Stella Parks wrote up on Serious Eats last month.

Check the link for details, but basically you put the sugar in a zip-top bag, add 3.5 g water/8 oz sugar, seal the bag, microwave for 15 sec and then knead it through the bag until all the lumps are gone and it's soft. 

I had my doubts as my hunk o'sugar was hard as a rock but it worked like a charm and the sugar was soft and ready to go after just a few minutes of kneading.

[andiesenji]

On 12/30/2002 at 0:02 PM, Anna N said:

I have often wondered if a shard from a terra cotta plant pot would work as well - anybody any experience?

unglazed terra cotta works just fine.

I used to have a portion of a 6" pot in one of my Cambro containers, most the bottom and a triangular piece that included about 1" of the rim.  I had it so the top edge of the rim protruded above the level of the sugar.  About once a month I would put a couple of drops of water on that exposed edge so there was no need to take the shard out and soak it.  I managed to break it when shifting the sugar in that container to another after I did something stupid and cracked the top edge of the container. 

As it was in several pieces, I just put them in the trash and never replaced it.  

Glad you reminded me, I should buy another pot and do the careful breaking of the unwanted parts.  (I score the pot with a carbide file and then use tile clippers).

 

[lindag]

I keep my brown sugar(s) in a plastic Lock n Lock container which doesn't seem to be air right.

seems like every time I open it (which isn't often) my sugar has dried out quite a bit.  Then I re-soak my sugar bear and seal it in again.  But I'm really glad to read about the plastic bag/water trick because its only a matter of time until I'll need it.

[lindag]

I got out my container of brown sugar the other day to make a tin of mini pineapple upside down cakes and found the sugar very dry and hard.  Despite having it in a (Lock 'n Lock) container with a clay bear inside.

My question is, is there a container out there that is really airtight?  Mine clearly is not and I don't use the brown sugar often enough to keep it moist (by rehydrating it with the clay bear).

 

[cakewalk]

I use the container that came with my immersion blender. I use the blender primarily for soups when the soup is still in the pot. One day I made some baba ganoush and didn't have a container to store it in, so I took the plastic container and lid that had come with the immersion blender, put the baba ganoush into it, and stored it in the fridge. A couple of days later I was in the living room and I heard this loud BOOM! Turns out it was the baba ganoush in the fridge. I guess gasses from the garlic or whatever built up and it exploded, and i realized that that container must really be air tight. So I started using it for brown sugar. Works like a charm. It is small, but I don't use brown sugar that often so I buy the one-pound boxes. I keep the sugar in the plastic bag it comes in and put the whole thing into the container then cover it with the lid. It always keeps the sugar moist and fresh. 

[andiesenji]

1 hour ago, lindag said:

I got out my container of brown sugar the other day to make a tin of mini pineapple upside down cakes and found the sugar very dry and hard.  Despite having it in a (Lock 'n Lock) container with a clay bear inside.

My question is, is there a container out there that is really airtight?  Mine clearly is not and I don't use the brown sugar often enough to keep it moist (by rehydrating it with the clay bear).

 

Do you have a vacuum sealer?  When I was doing a lot of baking, I had a bunch of vac-sealed bags in a larger container in the freezer. Most were 1-cup, some were 1 1/2 and a few for huge recipes were 2 cups.  When I would get prepped to measure out dry ingredients for several batches of holiday cookies I would take the big container out of the freezer and the brown sugar was always soft.  I don't buy it in big batches now so just use my smaller Cambro for the stuff I am going to use up within a few weeks.  For long term storage of brown sugar, the freezer is best.

 

To rapidly soften it, chisel out some and put it in the microwave - nuke it on HALF-POWER for 8 seconds - check it and if still hard do an additional 8 seconds and try sticking a fork in it to break it  up more.  

If you have a couple of days, throw in some marshmallows, they will soften it better than bread or your wetted clay bear.  

[scubadoo97]

On December 26, 2002 at 4:54 PM, mamster said:

Okay, I was exaggerating for effect. But as far as I know you can't buy it in the Ziploc on the east coast.

 

I've bought brown sugar in ziplock plastic bags in the grocery stores here in Florida

[Thanks for the Crepes]

Does anyone know if the microwave works with Panela. I love the taste, but it is most recalcitrant to even chipping of a piece with a grapefruit spoon for tea. Once you get a piece off, it dissolves fine in the tea, but it is horrible to get that piece off.

[andiesenji]

9 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

Does anyone know if the microwave works with Panela. I love the taste, but it is most recalcitrant to even chipping of a piece with a grapefruit spoon for tea. Once you get a piece off, it dissolves fine in the tea, but it is horrible to get that piece off.

Not really well.  I use a grater - I got this one in Mexico about a hundred years ago (actually in 1971 when I went on an archaeological dig to Palenque in Chiapas (when it was just beginning to be cleared).  

I use it for panela and for jaggery.  It's much tougher than most graters.  It's still very sharp after all these years.  

They are not easy to find but a very efficient substitute - and one I have used when I couldn't find Aligrater - is a coarse wood rasp.

Wrap the "handle" with several layers of duct tape to make it easier to hold.  Amazon used to have them but not now.  it's cheap and shipping is reasonable.  

Will save you a lot of time and grief.

[Anna N]

 Just love your Aligrater!