The Ultimate Fix for Rock-Hard Brown Sugar
- Lifestyle
- Exienent
- · Updated
To soften rock-hard brown sugar, put it in an airtight container with a slice of fresh, soft bread and leave it overnight. The sugar pulls moisture out of the bread, and by morning it can be soft and scoopable again.
What should you do when brown sugar turns rock-hard?
Don't throw it away. You can be halfway into a batch of chocolate chip cookies, with the flour, butter, eggs, and vanilla extract ready, only to find the brown sugar bag feeling exactly like a solid brick.
Chipping away at it with a spoon is a bad idea that can end with a bent spoon and no usable sugar. All you need to revive it is a simple slice of sandwich bread. Yes, really. Just plain old bread.
How do you soften brown sugar with a slice of bread?
Use an airtight container, one slice of bread, and a night of waiting:
- Find an airtight container: Take the solid block of sugar out of its plastic bag and place it in a large, sealable Tupperware container. You need something that will trap moisture.
- Add the bread: Lay one slice of regular white sandwich bread right on top of the rock-hard sugar block. It doesn't matter what kind of bread it is, as long as it's fresh and soft.
- Seal it up and wait: Put the lid tightly on the container and leave it on the counter overnight.
What happens by the next morning?
By the next day, the bread and the sugar have essentially traded places.
The slice of bread, soft and squishy the night before, can be completely dried out and stale. The brown sugar, on the other hand, can be soft, fluffy, and scoopable again, much closer to how it was when it came from the store.
Why does bread soften brown sugar?
Brown sugar gets hard when it loses its moisture. The molasses in the sugar dries out, causing the sugar crystals to stick together like cement. When you put a slice of fresh bread into an airtight container with the sugar, the sugar basically steals the moisture from the bread. The bread dries out, and the sugar rehydrates!
What can you use instead of bread?
If you don't have a slice of bread handy, other options include:
- A few apple slices: This works on the exact same moisture-stealing principle.
- A damp paper towel: Place a slightly damp (not dripping!) paper towel in a small plastic bag, leave the bag open, and put it in the container with the sugar overnight.
I think the bread method is the easiest of the three, though. It's mess-free and takes almost no effort. Next time you find a brown sugar brick in your pantry, skip the frustration and grab a slice of bread!
