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I put a clothes pin on my opened bags of brown sugar and keep them in a dark pantry at room temperature. Since I don't use it very often, it becomes hardened. My work-around is to use a grater to grate it but it would be useful to avoid the problem in the first place.

How should I store it to prevent hardening? Do I put it in the freezer? If so, does it need to come to room temperature before using it?

apaderno
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  • got the same problem just today. – Stefano Borini Aug 01 '10 at 20:30
  • I was going to vote to close as a duplicate of http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/8902/ but then realized that doesn't talk about prevention. Thought I would post it here as a comment so you could reference those suggestions for un-bricking. – stephennmcdonald Jan 06 '11 at 17:10
  • Thanks hobodave! I knew I had seen a similar question before but could only find the one I posted as a comment. – stephennmcdonald Jan 06 '11 at 17:21
  • @stephen: Yea I usually scan the top 10 or so in the Related section if I think it's a duplicate. – hobodave Jan 06 '11 at 17:24
  • @hobodave: Gah, I always forget that's over there. Stupid sidebar blindness. Good idea! – stephennmcdonald Jan 06 '11 at 19:26
  • I believe that for all practical purposes this is identical to the question about brown sugar; technically they are different types of sugar but the answers would be exactly the same. Please comment/reply if you believe there to be a significant difference between this question and the dupe. – Aaronut Jan 30 '11 at 15:54
  • @aarornut To me, brown sugar is Demerara sugar (which stores no problem in a normal sugar jar), but it appears that after reading that other question that this is one of those cases where differnt countries call different things by the same name. – Rowland Shaw Jan 30 '11 at 17:24

8 Answers8

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Storing brown sugar in a tightly sealed container (such as tupperware, rubbermaid, etc.) is the best method.

Once it dries out however it can be re-moisturized by placing a piece of apple or bread with it inside a tightly sealed container. After a day or two the brown sugar will soften and the bread will dry up or the apple will shrivel.

This is due to the hygroscopic nature(ability to absorb moisture from the surrounding atmosphere)of brown sugar.

You'll see "brown sugar keepers" in gourmet and cookware shops that are round decorative unglazed ceramic or terra cotta disks. The concept is to soak them in water for an hour or two and then dry and place in the brown sugar. Save your money and use a piece of bread or apple when the brown sugar is drying up.

You can also soften it for immediate use by microwaving for a little bit. This should only be used for immediate use because after the sugar cools it will have lost more moisture (due to the fact that microwaves are heating the moisture in food).

Darin Sehnert
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    you can use the bread trick on keeping cookies moist too – adambox Aug 01 '10 at 17:56
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    I think hygroscopic is your favorite word, and I'm going to remember it if it kills me. I wonder why it's hygro- and not hydro- – Ocaasi Aug 01 '10 at 20:29
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    @Ocaasi: Actually you're right...another favorite (although I haven't used it here) is "organoleptic" which would be the technical term for "mouth feel". "Butter leaves a more palatable organoleptic quality on the palate than shortening" As for "hydro" vs. hygroscopic...there is no such word as hydroscopic....don't know why but that's the case! – Darin Sehnert Aug 01 '10 at 23:01
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    Organoleptic. It's almost a mystery why it never caught on. MMmm... that fried chicken, what organoleptics! Where are these terms from--I mean, are they commonly used in culinary schools, or are they more of a food-science/food-industry jargon. – Ocaasi Aug 02 '10 at 02:13
  • +1 for the bread trick. This is what I've always done when our gets too hard and it's magic – Dinah Aug 02 '10 at 22:02
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    I resorted to the "brown sugar keeper" as my bread kept coming apart in the brown sugar. Though for cheap (about $1) you can get cute ones at any craft sale. For instance I have a worm. :D – Kyra Aug 03 '10 at 21:29
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    I have a "brown sugar keeper" and it works flawlessly. I just keep it in the brown sugar jar all the time and moisten it if the sugar's getting a bit hard. Frankly I think it's worth the cost if this happens to you a lot as it's extremely convenient and not very expensive. – Mr. Shiny and New 安宇 Jan 06 '11 at 19:51
  • @Ocaasi: because in Greek *hygr-* (ὑγρ-) means wet, moist, while *hydr-* (ὑδρ) is water. – nico Jan 05 '13 at 06:58
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I use a ziplock freezer bag and get as much air out as I can, and generally it keeps pretty well, 6 months or more. When it does get hard, slice a piece of apple and put it in the bag with the sugar for a couple of days.

There are also ceramic disks you can buy that you can put in the bag with the sugar that will keep it soft for much longer, but I've never used one myself so I can't vouch for it.

Tim Sullivan
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I've found the best way to prevent it from happening is by keep a terra cotta stone in my bag/tupperware holding the brown sugar.

Something like this or this (the latter says it keeps for 3) works great for me. You wet it and leave it in there and it keeps the brown sugar from drying out. You'll have to re-soak it every so often, but it's not weekly or even monthly in my house, and I open the brown sugar so often it's easy to remember to do it when I notice the stone is dry.

stephennmcdonald
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For a quick fix, you can re-soften it easily by putting a slice of apple in with it for a bit. Don't forget about it though, or the apple will go mouldy and ruin the sugar (I speak from experience on this one!).

A better option with no such downside is a "brown sugar disc". It's a piece of clay that you soak in water for 15 minutes, then put in with the sugar. It will help keep the sugar soft, without getting it too moist. You can usually find these easily in kitchen shops (or even grocery stores, sometimes). Every few months you may need to re-soak the disc.

Allison
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i happen to have one of those seal-a-meal vacuum sealers, and i use one of their container options and store the opened bag in that. i have heard that the apple/bread slice trick works, too, so would give that a shot instead of buying some special thing.

franko
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My mum used to store sugar in sealable pots with a layer of dried rice at the bottom. The idea was the rice would act as a desiccant.

These days you could watch out for one of those little packets that seem to often come with electronic products like hard drives etc. Those little sachets are full of silica granules which are highly absorbent. You might toss one of those in to the top of the canister. Don't worry, they are totally harmless to food and may even help with odour contamination as well.

octonion
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    Brown sugar is usually fairly moist, though - I'd guess keeping white sugar dry keeps it from clumping or misbehaving, perhaps that's what your mum was after, but brown sugar usually gets harder to work with when dry, and other workarounds tend to keep the brown sugar a little bit moist to keep it workable. – Megha Feb 20 '17 at 03:39
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I have found those Lock n Lock containers make THE BEST storage for brown sugar. I have had brown sugar out of the bag stored in one for over a year without it hardening. No clay discs, no bread pieces, no apple slices....nothing. Awesome containers for this kind of storage.

Marcy Timmreck
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A great way to make your brown sugar stay nice and moist is to cut a piece of bread and put it in your brown sugar bin. What happens is the brown sugar will soak up the moisture after time and your brown sugar will last a lot longer! just make sure that you are changing your bread every so often.

princessmakeup
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