"It's a living . . . " The author's hard-working brown sugar bear.
Claire Walter observed in a recent comment:
Keeping brown sugar moist is a challenge for me. I read that slice of bread in the sugar bag or container keeps it moist and usable. I tried that and it helped — a little. Suggestions?
Ahhh . . . brown sugar sedimentary rock prevention — a chore familiar to all of us in the West. Brown Sugar is the culinary bane of dry climates (and forgetful people in humid climates). Though we westerners may be able to make divinity on a whim, and our crackers, cereals, and chips stay fresh until their oils go rancid, brown sugar tends to mineralize no mater what we do.
It is true that a slice of bread will work — for a while (coincidentally, I have also heard that apple slices work). After the bread slice is completely dry the brown sugar will start drying out once again. It seems there are few plastic bags that don’t have microcracks, and the water vapor that keeps brown sugar soft will find these cracks and escape. I’ve tried double bagging my brown sugar — and that also doesn’t work. I’ve even had unopened bags of brown sugar with no visible cracks get hard after they sat around long enough.
In my experience, there are two ways to get around this.
- Continually supply moisture. That’s why bread works, but also why you have to keep replacing the bread after a few weeks. There are a few downsides — the brown sugar will adhere to and crystalize on parts of the bread. Plus I like to save those odd bread slices for French toast, bread pudding, etc. in the freezer (although, as my friend Ben P. points out, dried-out bread with some brown sugar adhered is by no means no longer a candidate for bread pudding). A similar method is to buy a terra cotta brown sugar bear (see top of post), or for those more economically inclined, find a piece of a broken terra cotta flower pot and file down the sharp edges. You simply soak them in water for 20 minutes, wipe them off, and toss them in with your sugar. You have the same problem (as with bread) with some of the sugar adhering and crystalizing on the bear, but all in all the method works well for a few weeks or months. But eventually those microcracks will get you and you’ll have to recharge the bear. Still kind of annoying.
- Find some sort of NASA-grade hermetically sealed containers. Those glass jars with the rubber-gasketed clamped-on lids seem like they would do the trick. Or some really kick-ass tupperware. In this case, you are preventing any moisture from leaving whatsoever. The down side is that you are limited to storing however much brown sugar will fit in your container. So I’d recommend buying a big one.
Whatever you do, don’t microwave the sugar unless you will be using it right away. Microwaving brown sugar will soften it temporarily, but in the end only removes more water from the sugar, and once it cools it will become even harder than before.
Anyone else care to chime in?
I guess solution #3 would be to cook/bake A LOT of items that call for brown sugar in short order after bringing it home. Interestingly, purchasing larger quantities of staples is usually economical. In the case of brown sugar, so much of which is tossed, it would be nice to buy it in small quantities. Or perhaps some sugar company will eventualy pack it in single-use quantities like gelatin.
Interesting – I never noticed that. Probably because brown sugar goes in my daily oatmeal … clearly a sign that I’m using too much. Time to bust out the measuring spoons.
I’ve given up on this one. I’d love to see brown sugar sold in smaller quantities for those of us who are not using it daily. It’s not a bargain to get a lower per pound price if we only get to use a small amount before it goes bad anyway. I’d rather pay a little more and get a reasonable amount that will be used.
Just wanted to pop in and say LOVELY BLOG! You have yourself another reader, I’m hooked! :-)
As far as the brown sugar dilemma, I’ve stopped buying it myself. And if I do buy it for a special occation, I take the opportunity of making myself and my friends an Irish Coffee to use the last bit of brown sugar.
Jennifer,
What a timely post! I just pulled out a year-old bag of brown sugar, kept in its original bag and then in another plastic bag. It was still soft but I tend to use brown sugar so seldom that it is hard by the time I need it. (It was my husband’s statement that he would eat more oatmeal if he could put brown sugar on it that made me pull out the bag.) I like the terra cotta idea and have plenty of flower pot shards, so I may give that a try. Thanks for this very practical post.
Melanie Mulhall
http://www.melaniemulhall.wordpress.com
Keep the sugar in a sealed container. When it starts to harden, wet a piece of kitchen roll and place it in the container to add moisture. To stop the sugar sticking to the kitchen roll I tend to stick the wet paper to the inside lid of the container.
When the sugar hardens again repeat.