Softening hard sugar?

beautiful_ravens

Someone said a while back on here, cover it with a damp teatowel and that somehow draws the moisture out? I havent tried this. Id be more likely to either just use it for the next months worth of cups of tea.... or pop it in a low oven/at the end of baking. Which I also havent tried.
Just ideas really!!!

annie123

Thanks will dry it out as much as poss with air drying then the oven if needed then make sugar mice with it

Penelope_Penguin

As this has fallen from the front page of OS, I'll add it to the existing thread

Penny. x

Agapanthus

Here comes the science bit:

What has happened here is that the sugar has become slightly damp and the surface of each crystal has dissolved slightly and stuck to the next one. If it's left like that it will dry again and go into one rock hard lump.

It's actually dry then and to reverse the process it needs a little water added again, so the teatowel trick or the bread, or the lettuce leaf will unstick it. Once it's unstuck, put it in an airtight jar to stop it from going hard again or you'll have to repeat the process.

If your sugar is still damp, spread it out on a baking sheet or in a shallow bowl and keep stirring it till it dries to prevent it from clumping.

Either way, it'll be perfectly usable in anything that allows the sugar to be dissolved - even tea!

Don't microwave it - sugar is extremely inflammable if overheated.:eek:

VenusFlytrap_2

Hello everyone

Just wondering if any of you lovely OS peeps have any handy hints for making a rock hard bag of sugar usable again?

It's one of those big bags, 2kg I think, got left under the sink in our kitchen at work by builders and now our office has inherited it (along with a HUGE tin of Nescafe! )... but the bottom four inches is just one solid lump of sugar!

Have tried banging it about to break it up, but instead managed to put a mark on the worktop and dent in the wall and the sugar was still pretty much solid!!

Is there a clever method to make it usable or should we just stop being tight, bin it and buy a new one???

Thanks in advance folks!

zippychick

Hi Venus, there is a thread which should have some suggestions here - softening hard sugar

My intital thought was to use it in cooking where you have to mix with water- but am going to read thread now and find out myself

annie123

Add some MrS 23p basic/shower gell/bubble bath etc or something along those lines to it (it will go soft again) and you have a great exfoliating scrub

I keep mine in an old dead sea salt kilner jar (which I got in boots many moons ago when I had more money than sense!) in the bathroom, great for body scrub and really good after time in the garden, gets all the soil off and leaves hands nice and soft too.

msb5262

If you have a big hefty food processor or liquidiser, I'd drop it in there and grind it up. Worth a try at least!
HTH
MsB

VenusFlytrap_2

Thanks for your replies folks, had a look at the thread Zippychick kindly linked to and tried a few suggestions on there - tried bashing it some more without success, also put it in a dish with a damp cloth over for a couple of hours, but didn't work so think I'm gonna take it home and make sugar syrup with it, to use in HM lemonade or iced tea. We'll just have to buy fresh sugar out of the tea fund...

Penelope_Penguin

As this has fallen from the front page of OS, I'll add it ot the existing thread

Penny. x