Hard sugar and bouillion

[blissful]

The humidity here in the summer will make the sugar in the bags and the bouillion in jars hard. So I have 10 lbs of hard sugar. Any ideas on how to soften it up again? ~Bliss

 

[GB]

Put it in the blender.

 

[CharlieD]

Not sure about the boullion, but sugar you can put into microwave.

 

[blissful]

GB, the chunks are 5 lbs each, so they aren't going to fit in the blender or food processor, and they are rock hard, so chipping off bits doesn't work right now. Thanks anyways.
Charlie-I'll give that a try as soon as I'm back. (2-18 hour days for our annual department meetings) I'll report back when I'm done. Thank you, Bliss

 

[mozart]

I Don't think the microwave will work. Interestingly, brown sugar becomes hard because its moisture evaporates and white sugar becomes hard because it absorbs moisture.

The microwave works for brown sugar, however only to an extent. once microwaved, it will become soft but will harden again after cooling. Therefore, you have to keep microwaving each time you want a certain amount of sugar, and the sugar will be very hot.

White sugar will most likely melt into a giant hard candy.

I think GB has the right idea. Take an ice pick (you do have one of those don't you ) or a chisel and hammer and break off a piece. Put it in a plastic bag and whack it with a hammer, put it in a blender, spice grinder or whatever.

 

[jabbur]

You might try a grater or microplane type of thing to "shave" off the sugar into another container. It will be time consuming but you could do just what you need for that recipe until it gets down to a more manageable size. You could use a hammer or mallet to knock it down into smaller pieces. Put it in a large heavy plastic bag and pound on it. It might help you with any frustrations after your long meetings as well!

 

[Callisto in NC]

I get really bad humidity but I keep my sugar in tupperware and never have a problem. How are you storing the sugar?

Can't help with the bouillion, I only use cubes.

 

[CharlieD]

Then try the most precision tool available in the tool chest, it's called hummer. That will work for sure. I think the brown sugar coment is corect.

 

[blissful]

note to self: shopping list, hammer, chisel, hummer. Stress relief: pound sugar after meetings. Storage solutions: do not store in original packaging through a flood even when tupperware is full, recover in plastic.

 

[Michael in FtW]

note to self: shopping list, hammer, chisel, hummer. Stress relief: pound sugar after meetings.

I'm sure CharlieD just had a typo moment - all you need is a hammer. Put your sugar in a heavy duty plastic bag (like a gallon Zip-Lock Freezer Bag) and gently beat with a hammer - or you could use a 2x4. Once you break it up into small manageable chunks you can break them up in a food processor - but you can do the same with a hammer, or a wine bottle, or a can of beans, a 1-2 inch diameter piece of wood from the wood pile, or ... (insert some imagination here).

Storage solutions: do not store in original packaging through a flood even when tupperware is full, recover in plastic.

A flood is not really your "normal" storage situation, is it? A 5-pound bag of sugar, flour, rice, etc. can easily be stored in a gallon size zip-top freezer bag ... just squeeze out the air and seal it up. Significantly cheaper than Tupperware - and just as effective.

 

[blissful]

Well, after using a bunch of bags of hard rock sugar, I'm here to report my findings.
No matter what, you have to use 'some' brute force to break up a 5 lb bag (and I found I HAD 7 of those in the pantry!) A hammer or a knife will break it up into chunks.
Tested the following methods:
The food processor did a good job of breaking up the rest just don't process it into a fine powder.
The microwave on high power for 15 seconds softened it enough so I could mash it between my fingers to a fine granule.
There was no off taste from the humified sugar and it works well in canning and in baking.
Hope that helps anyone that has some rock hard sugar. ~Blissful