Don’t you hate it when you go to get some brown sugar for that special recipe and find it all stuck together and as hard as cement. Well, my mom taught me two little tricks that I along with many others have been using for years. Just add a slice of bread or a slice of apple to the sugar container/bag and it will help to moisten hardened sugar and keep fresh sugar in that moist state. However, I have found that the sugar immediately surrounding the bread/apple seems to get a bit hard and chunky and even discolours a bit. The rest of the jar is nice and moist as was the intent. I usually end up tossing that bit of sugar that has been effected. At one time I even purchased one of those terra cotta brown sugar savers and it worked great, but you have to soak it in water every once in a while to replenish the moisture in it. Somehow in this process, mine got tossed in the garbage.

The other day, I came across yet another solution for the hardened brown sugar ~ a jumbo marshmallow! What could be easier than tossing a marshmallow into a jar and the best part is that after over a week, there has not been any adverse effects on the sugar. It does the job perfectly. I can’t comment on how long it will be before I need to replace the marshmallow, but it certainly seems to do the trick.

You will notice that my brown sugar actually looks a little funny, almost two-toned in the picture. That’s because it is. I generally prefer the “golden” sugar that is a finer grain of sugar and lighter in colour, but my husband came home with the dark coarse sugar and so the two are intermingled in my brown sugar canister. (I used commercial sized pickle jars to make this set of canisters ~ here’s the link if you’re interested in checking out my Upcylced Pickle Jars.)

If you are in a hurry and you have found yourself face to face with sugar that has solidified into a brick, no worries as there is a quick fix as well. Just pop the sugar in a microwave-safe both with a damp paper towel, cover the bowl with a lid or plate and microwave for 20 seconds. The heat and damp paper towel help to transfer the moisture back into the sugar. Don’t forget to add a marshmallow to the remaining sugar to soften it up for future use.

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