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Hard brown sugar can be softened by placing it in an airtight container with a slice of bread, apple slices, or a damp cloth overnight. It can also be softened quickly in the microwave or oven, but be careful not to overheat. To prevent hardening, place a small piece of ceramic in the sugar container.
Almost everyone who cooks with brown sugar has tried reaching for the sugar container only to find that it has hardened since the last time it was used. While hard brown sugar can be irritating, especially when you discover the problem while preparing a recipe, there are several ways to deal with the problem quickly and effectively. If you need to soften brown sugar, here are some tips you can try.
Assuming you’re not in the middle of cooking, there is an established method that can help soften both light brown sugar and dark brown sugar. Place the hard sugar in an airtight container. Before sealing the container, place a slice of fresh white bread on top of the sugar. Seal the container and put it back in the closet. In a day or two, the bread will help soften the sugar and make it easy to use once again.
If you don’t want to use bread as a softening agent for hard brown sugar, you can use a few apple slices. The moisture from the apple chunks will interact with the molasses content of the sugar and cause it to soften overnight. As long as the container is sealed properly, the desired consistency should be restored in no more than a day or two.
Hard brown sugar can also be softened using a bowl and a damp cloth. Just place the sugar in the bowl. Wet the cloth thoroughly and wring out any excess water. Place the damp cloth on top and let the bowl sit overnight. The sugar should be soft the next day.
When you need to use hard brown sugar right now, use your microwave. Put the sugar in a microwave safe container. Make sure you leave the lid off the container. Place a small bowl of water next to the hard brown sugar. Microwave on high for about a minute. The water heats up and creates moisture which will help rehydrate the sugar and soften it. If the sugar is still hard after one minute, continue microwave the two containers in thirty second increments until the hard brown sugar is soft enough to use. Do not attempt to microwave hard brown sugar for longer periods of time, as this may cause the sugar to melt.
An alternative to using the microwave is to use the oven. Simply place the hard brown sugar in a baking tray and place the oven on low. Check the sugar every five minutes or so until the sugar is soft again. As with the microwave approach, be careful not to leave the sugar in the oven for longer periods. Sugars like this will melt if the temperature is too high for too long, leaving you with another problem.
A time honored trick to prevent brown sugar from hardening is to place a small piece of ceramic in the airtight container where the sugar is stored. Even something as simple as a section of a broken clay pot will suffice. Wash and dry the ceramics thoroughly, then place them in the container with the sugar. This will allow you to store brown sugar for months with little to no worries about the sugar hardening.
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