Help with brown sugar "sand"

[Shirley Panek]

Hi. Y'all are such a resourceful bunch, I thought I'd ask. I went to grab my brown sugar to bake those Coconut-Macadamia Nut Cookies (mmmmmm! Delicious, by the way!), and found it very hard and "sandy". (It must have been open for a while.) There's no way I could pack this stuff. Is there any way to save it? Should I just hammer out all the lumps (literally) and measure it like granulated sugar, or should I give up and throw it away?

TIA.

http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif
Shirley

[Natasha]

Hi Shirley,

This has happened to me before. You might try microwaving the sugar for a little while (at med. power) in the hopes that it will soften up so you can pack it again. Once or twice, though, this hasn t worked and I have had no choice but to throw it out.

[sneezles]

Shirley
FYI in kitchen gadget stores they sell a little clay tile that is for putting in the brown sugar. You wet it and it helps keep the moisture in it. I also put mine in "tupperware" with the tile.

[sushibones]

A slice of bread in a closed container with the brown sugar will soften the sugar. The sugar will absorb the moisture from the bread, leaving a dry piece of bread and soft sugar. It will probably take several hours though, so the microwave might work faster.

[Marcie]

Those of us who live in Colorado and other dry climates have our sugar turn to cement all the time.

The bread trick above is really the best for getting the just-right amount of softness/moistness. To get it soft a little faster, put in a slice of apple. This will still take a day or two to soften the whole bag of sugar. I've also used the clay disk mentioned above, but I don't think it works as well as the bread.

I'd recommend the microwave option if you're in a hurry to use the sugar now. If that doesn't work, go buy a new bag of sugar to use while you wait on the bread/apple to soften your old sandy stuff. There really isn't a need to throw it away - it'll be good as new in a few days.

[HARRYET]

Marcie,

I'll have to 2nd you on this one, I live in Az and the best thing to work for me is the slice of bread. I've tried the little clay disks and they don't work very well here at all.

Ann

[AD]

I do know that for brown sugar, flour or anything else that can have a varying density (depending on how it's packed), the best way to get the right amount is to weigh it. If you get a kitchen food scale, you will find that 1 cup of brown sugar weighs about 7 ounces (200 grams).

[Natasha]

Marcie and others,

Thanks for the tip. I have used the bread/apple trick for other things (notably Christmas cookies), but not for brown sugar. I will have to give this a try if the sugar does get hard again in the future (every time we swear it won t, and then someone forgets to close the package airtight, and there you go...). http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif