Why does brown sugar harden

Buy it! If you want to be extra-certain that your brown sugar isn't going to dry out, you can also invest in a terra cotta brown sugar saver or, if you're looking for a more adorable option, people love this Brown Sugar Bear. It's a small disk made of clay that you soak in water for about fifteen minutes before placing in your airtight container of brown sugar. The idea is that the moisture from the disk helps to keep that molasses moist, preventing the sugar crystals from clumping up.

Food52also recommends using a marshmallow to keep brown sugar soft , instead of a terra cotta disk; a slice of bread apparently also does the trick. Now, if you messed up and didn't transfer your brown sugar from that flimsy cardboard box to an airtight container, and you're stuck with a giant hunk of crystals, never fear.

It's fairly easy to soften brown sugar , even if you're in a rush. Use the sugar that you need, but be warned that any sugar you don't use will harden up again as soon as it cools. You can also use the microwave, covering a bowl of brown sugar with two pieces of damp paper towels then tightly covering the whole thing with plastic wrap; nuke it for about a minute, then stir.

Even though there was just the one piece of earthenware, the sugar reverted back to its damp, sandy self evenly and throughly, with no dry sections at the far edges of the bag. And even after eight hours without cracking the airtight seal, there was no condensation or dampness on the inside of the bag.

What it is: Touted as the fastest way to bring hardened brown sugar back to life, the wet towel method involves putting your hardened brown sugar into a bowl, covering it with a damp paper or kitchen towel , and microwaving it in 20 second intervals until the sugar is softened. I covered a glass bowl of eight ounces of solid brown sugar with a damp paper towel and microwaved it for two minutes total, stopping every 20 seconds to check. How it worked: This method worked very slowly, softening just the tip-top layer of hardened sugar with every 20 second burst.

I found that I needed to scrape the softened granules off the top to reveal the still-firm sugar in order for the technique to work its way through the layers. After two minutes, the hardened sugar at the bottom of the bowl was still completely solid. I was afraid to keep heating the sugar for fear it would get melty and goopy, but with regular tossing, leaving the bowl out on the counter covered with the damp paper towel for about an hour, it did soften all the way through.

For the same amount of time, I'd prefer the hands-off terracotta method. Ideally the process takes just a few minutes, checking periodically and mixing with a fork.

How it worked: It…didn't. After 10 minutes in the oven, scraping and crushing the edges of the hardened sugar with a fork periodically, barely anything had happened at all. The lumps were still firm all the way though, with even the outer edges not softened.

Terracotta is the move all the way—provided you have an hour and a half to spare including soak time. For a longer-term solution, you can even prevent sugar hardening by keeping a piece of terracotta in with your brown sugar at all times; simply resoak the earthenware every so often to keep your ingredient in a soft, usable state.

Snapware Food Storage Container piece set. Softening brown sugar is easy and depending on how quickly you need it will depend on what method you might want to use. Brown sugar is simply white sugar-coated with molasses. The reason that it clumps together is that over time the moisture evaporates which causes the sugar crystals to stick together.

Whether you store your brown sugar in an airtight container or not it will eventually harden over time. You just need to add moisture back into it. Using the microwave to soften brown sugar is the fastest method. There are two ways of softening brown sugar in the microwave.

Place your hardened brown sugar in a microwave-safe bowl and choose one of the following 2 next steps. Use a fork to mix it up a little and break up the clumps.

If you find that you need just a few more seconds, add another 15 sec at a time. Preheat your oven to degrees, put your hardened brown sugar in foil and wrap tight, then place it on a baking sheet in case it drips. Check on it every 5 minutes or so until it is soft. Make sure to wear an oven mitt because it is going to get HOT. Allow for the brown sugar to cool off before adding it to your recipe. Adding bread or believe it or not apple slices to an airtight container with your hardened brown sugar and letting it sit overnight will soften it.

The moisture from the apples or bread will slowly be added back into your brown sugar.