How do I soften a bag of hardened white sugar?
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You can use a hammer to pound it.
It is difficult to soften a complete bag of white sugar because the easiest methods require it to be in a sealable container.
You might try placing a towel or large cloth (to keep any loose sugar contained) on a counter and gently pound it with something to try and break it into smaller pieces. You could use a hammer (as Judy suggested) but a heavy cup (tilted on side) would probably work.
Or - you might try removing the sugar from the bag and place it in a large microwavable bowl and place in microwave for 1-2 minutes at a time until is softened.
Another thing to try if you have a large casserole dish:
Place the hardened sugar in your casserole dish in your oven preheated to 150-200 degrees. Leave it for 15 minutes. Then tap it with a spoon, just to loosen the lumps. Leave a little longer if necessary.
I have used an apple (if I had one on hand) or a slice or two of white bread.
Using an apple is easy; just remove the core and cut it into quarters. Place the sugar and apple quarters in sealable container, place in a dry spot and leave overnight (at least 12 hours). Remove apple slices and use a spoon or a fork to loosen sugar granules.
Do the same thing with one or two bread slices.
This works but if your sugar is really rock solid it may take a little more time or even more than one method.
None of these suggestions will work very quickly so if sugar is needed "right now" you may have to go with using a hammer type item to loosen what you need and maybe place some in a bag and use a rolling pin method (with a heavy "soda type" bottle if necessary).
I guess to me the question is why did it harden? If it got wet, check for mold and toss it if you see mold or it has a weird smell.
If it is age or just day to day deterioration, this is a direct quote from the Domino brand website:
Here is an easy way to make hardened granulated sugar soft again -- Preheat oven to lowest temperature, 150-200 degrees. Remove sugar from the package and put in an ovenproof container that will hold the sugar. Place in the warm oven for approximately 15 minutes.
www.dominosugar.com/
I keep mine in the freezer and it keeps fine, never clumps or gets hard. I have been doing this for years...started when my one apartment kitchen was so small there was no other place to store things.
Happy baking and sweetening!!
put potato peal in the bag
pound on the bag
microwave it for 1 min
stir it
In future to prevent sugar, brown sugar or anything else from turning into a solid hard lump that is difficult to break up, place a couple of pieces of apple inside the container. I usually place mine about half an inch in the top. Your hard brown sugar will never be hard again, and it is a super-cheap solution to an annoying problem.
Put the sugar in a microwavable container, and sprinkle some water on the sugar. Microwave for about 4 minutes. Check on it each minute and see if you can break it apart with a spoon.
I tried scraping our block of sugar with a fork and found that worked amazingly well. It took about 15 minutes to do a 5# bag.
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