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[love2cookmb]

What's the best way to store brown sugar? I've seen those little discs that are supposed to keep the sugar soft. I've also seen someone store it in the fridge. What is the best way?
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MICHELE

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[ddpie]

Some say to put an apple slice or a piece of bread in the container, that it helps to keep it moist. But that freaks me out for some reason. LOL

I used to use my food savor container, but it was too much trouble. (I like to whip up stuff fast) so now, I store mine in the cupboard, airtight tupperware type container, and I pour the bag in but then use the bag to "smoosh" it down on top removing all the air and compacting it. This makes it stay fresh plus, when I go to use it I just remove the plastic bag and can scoop it out. Stays fresh and moist for a long time. But in all fairness, I do have a humid kitchen (that may make a diff)

[Qui]

I keep it in the bag it came in, roll the top closed and put a rubber band around it, then stick it back in it's box.
For me, it keeps well that way.
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[demartino]

Brown sugar has a tendency to have more moisture in it than the air around it - so if left for a long time, the air will wick the moisture right out of the brown sugar, leaving you with a rock-hard brick.

Those little disks you see are just pieces of unglazed terra cotta pottery. I swear by mine. You soak it in some water for about fifteen minutes, wipe it off, then put it and your brown suar into a container with a tight-fitting lid. Terra cotta is semi-porous, so it'll hold onto moisture. This way, the humidity level of the sugar will be equal to or lower than that of the terra cotta, so moisture will take much, much longer to wick out. It keeps brown sugar soft for far, far longer than just leaving it in it's original packaging. And should you leave it so long that everything does dry out, just take the terra cotta disk out, drop it back into some water for a few minutes, wipe it off, and replace it in the brown sugar - it'll soften the brown sugar up again. Not bad for a for something that costs a buck.

The same theory applies to a slice of apple or piece of bread - it's got more moisture in it, so it'll keep things soft, since it'll lose moisture easier than the brown sugar will. But I wouldn't use that as a long-term storage plan - only for a last-minute need to soften some brown sugar up.

Coincidentally, if you have a dried-out piece of terra cotta, you can place that into a sealable container with anything you want to stay crisp, like homemade crackers - the same theory applies, but this time you're wicking moisture out of the air, and into the terra cotta instead of the crackers.

Jason

[Pieman]

I keep it in the bag or box, until I open it. then put it into a canister, which says brown sugar. If you ever need to make your own brown sugar, I can tell you how and the difference between it and what you buy.
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Pieman