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10 Ways To Soften Hard Brown Sugar
It happens to the best of us: rock hard brown sugar. How to soften it? Ten easy tips below:
- Place the brown sugar in an airtight container with a slice of fresh bread placed on top. Seal and leave overnight. It should be soft and fresh again in the morning, if not just let it sit another day or two.
- Sprinkle a few drops of water over the chunk of hardened sugar, place in a plastic bag, seal, and let sit for a couple days.
- Place brown sugar in an open container, then top with a moistened cloth (paper towel works too). Let sit overnight.
- Place the hardened sugar in an airtight container with a few apple slices. This should soften the sugar within the next day or two. Remove apple slices once sugar is soft again.
- Use foil or plastic wrap to cover the top of the sugar. Then set a dampened sheet of paper towel (not dripping wet) on top of the foil. Place in an airtight container and seal. Let sit overnight or a few days as needed. Remove foil and paper towel once the towel is dry and sugar is fresh again.
- Buy a clay disc or if you have a pottery piece on hand (from a broken clay pot, etc.), set it in water for about 30 minutes. Dry the piece so it isn’t dripping wet. Put the clay piece in a container with the sugar and seal. Check after a few days. Keep the piece in with your sugar for months if you’d like–will keep it soft.
- Quick Tip #1: Need the sugar soft now? Put the brown sugar in a container and place in the microwave with a small bowl full of water beside it. Microwave for about 1 minute–check. If it’s still hard, try for another 30 seconds. You can keep doing this until the sugar is soft, but watch that you don’t melt the sugar.
- Quick Tip #2: Place the hardened sugar in a baking pan and set in oven (temperature at about 250° F). Check after 5 minutes. If still not soft, continue checking every few minutes until it’s soft and ready to use.
- Quick Tip #3: Place the brown sugar chunk in a microwave safe plastic bag. Take a square of paper towel and moisten with water (not dripping wet–wring out excess). Place the wet paper towel in the bag with the sugar and seal. Place in the microwave for approximately 20 seconds. If still not soft, microwave for a few seconds more, repeating until the sugar is ready to use. Be careful not to melt the sugar.
- Quick Tip #4: Stick chunks of the brown sugar in a food processor or blender and chop/pulse until useable.
For best results, make sure to store brown sugar in a sealed, airtight container. A clay disc kept in the container can keep it soft for months (see tip above for clay disc).
Brown sugar can also be stored in the freezer and thawed a few hours before using.
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What a terrific blog! Enjoyed it:)
Thank you Rebekah
Isn’t it dangerous to microwave plastic wrap / ziploc-type bags? Otherwise, good tips!
Yes Dani, microwaveable ziploc bags, plastic bags and plastic wrap for the microwave are safe, here’s a link from the FDA: Plastics and the Microwave. Here’s a ziploc link too saying that bag is microwaveable: ziploc
I’ll add ‘microwaveable bag’ to the above direction to be prudent, I shouldn’t assume someone would only put microwaveable items in the microwave
.
If you’ll fold the top of the bag down and clip it closed with a clothespin for storage, brown sugar won’t get hard in the first place. Just fold the top as far down as you can, getting the air out of the bag and then clip it shut. It will remain soft and pliable for you.
actually, rolling bag down tight will not prevent bs form hardening, If it has not hardened on you it is because of the environment it is in .. temp and humidity etc make a difference … BS can be in a sealed, unopened box and still get hard. It all depends on the environment.
What a lifesaver! I’m making candied yams and my brown sugar is a BRICK. Thanks! Going to nuke it soft right now!
THANKS for providing the solution-in-a-few-days and the right-now-solution… and several of each! I thought I was doomed to have to buy more but apparently the answer is as simple as my microwave!
Keep the tips coming
I have used several of your way to soften brown sugar and they are great. I have a 10 bag of HARD white sugar, what is the best way to soften it? Thanks
oh this is wonderful! I’ve had a very hard time dealing with my hard brown sugar. I will definitely be trying the bread thing with this:)
When I buy a new box, I place the sugar in a plastic bag (no particular seal) and save a piece of the cardboard from the box, soak it in water, and put it in the bag with the sugar. Works if you don’t have a piece of pottery on hand. I’m in high desert climate–very dry–even wet bath towels dry in short time.
great tips thank you. However the microwave w/bowl of water technique took me about 5 minutes.
I keep my brown sugar sealed in a glass jar and it keeps very well.
Any concerns with this ???
Another way to let the sugar NEVER get hard is to use a vacuum sealer. Do it in a canister though, because if you seal it in a vacuum seal bag, the sugar will be a BRICK.
Someone said not to vacuum seal brown sugar in the plastic bags but use a canister or it will be brick. Those get a little expensive if you are storing very much. Can you seal it in a glass jar and keep it soft long-term?
When using the clay disk or pottery shard, be sure that the clay does not contain lead, as the lead can leech into the sugar and cause lead poisoning!
You are awesome! What a great life saver. I have put a piece of bread in with my cookies for years and now I have a new “trick” for brown sugar.
Thanks!
I needed a sprinking of brown sugar for a dry rub marinade. I used a simple wooden handle grater and grated my chunk of rock hard brown sugar right over the meat. Worked perfectly, easily, and quickly.
I always keep my brown sugar in the freezer for storage. It never gets hard and once thawed is ready to go. Never hard or clumpy. I have done it for years and it has never failed me.
I think I have magical powers. I’ve been baking since I was a child and never once have I had hard brown sugar. My mom keeps it in a glass jar, and I usually keep mine in a jar or a plastic container, since it gets messy in the bag. I think if you keep it sealed up it won’t get hard.
Excellent tip! Just placed the brown sugar w/ a damp paper towel in the microwave and it really was ready to use in just seconds!
Thank goodness for some good old fashion tips for making life simpler. I was ready to get out my chain saw!
I don’t know where Nancy Gulliver lives, but where I live, no matter what you do to keep brown sugar soft, from getting out all the air from the original package and clipping it closed, to putting it in an air tight container, everyone who lives around me eventually gets the hard-as-a-rock brown sugar. I have used some of these tips and they really do work.
I agree … only way to keep bs from getting hard is with a clay disk or keeping it in the freezer. Freezer means thawing though, so clay disc in a glass or clay jar is the best way I can think of.
I tried the microwave with water as I needed to sofen my brown sugar immediately. It worked great! HOWEVER; Most of us have probably received the email forward talking about how water can become superheated and explode. This is true, it happened to me while trying to soften the brown sugar. Fortunately this happened while in the microwave and the door was closed. I heard a pop and opened the microwave to find an empty bowl and water everywhere inside the microwave. Thank God I was not burned!!! Take care and throw a few toothpicks in your water to break the surface and allow the water to boil properly. This should be done anytime you microwave a cup or bowl of water.
Quick tip 1 worked like a miracle! Thanks!
This isn’t really a baking tip, but in reference to the top two comments, I’ve seen a number of news articles citing studies that agree that microwaving any sort of plastic or styrofoam, “microwaveable” or not, gives off carcinogenic (cancer-causing) chemicals. Even if it’s being overblown in the media, I still try to curb cancer where I can…
Saturnyn, I agree … plastics in general are more harmful then people think or then the FDA claims. Chemicals do leach into foods, it is a matter of what amount the FDA deams safe. I would rather avoid all together, but then I have never had a microwave either because of health concerns.
Fantastic! By brown sugar in the oven for a few minutes worked. Thanks!!!
I just used the microwave version and it worked great. I’ve bookmarked this site now. Thanks!
I didn’t have to go past tip #1! The bread worked for me right away, thanks!
Good tips, but I found while reading them that breaking off chunks and eating conglomerates of sugar was great fun! I’ll have to remember this experience. Thanks a lot.