…… How do you soften a 10# solid rock of sugar?
- Thread starter nomifyle
- Start date
Blacknarwhal
Let's Go Brandon!
Soften? Why?
Break it apart. Store the components in a bag. When you want "soft" sugar, take two chunks and rub them together. The resulting dust is regular sugar.
Break it apart. Store the components in a bag. When you want "soft" sugar, take two chunks and rub them together. The resulting dust is regular sugar.
Marthanoir
TB Fanatic
Kanga hammer 
Marseydoats
Veteran Member
I just tap the bag with a rubber mallet to break it up.
medic38572
TB Fanatic
Hope this helps
Samuel Adams
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Lay the bag on a clean portion of concrete and run over it with a clean bulldozer track.
Trust me on this one.
Trust me on this one.
Start with that. Once you have lumps that are easily handled, rub them through a kitchen sieve until they are regranulated.
Summerthyme
Blacknarwhal
Let's Go Brandon!
...more like Texas Diabetes Potion....
Tex88
Veteran Member
You use sugar nips, just like when sugar was sold as cones or loaves:
Households bought their white sugar in tall, conical loaves, from which pieces were broken off with special iron sugar-cutters (sugar nips). Shaped something like very large heavy pliers with sharp blades attached to the cutting sides, these cutters had to be strong and tough, because the loaves were large, about 14 inches (36 cm) in diameter at the base, and 3 feet (0.91 m) [15th century]...In those days, sugar was used with great care, and one loaf lasted a long time. The weight would probably have been about 30 pounds (14 kg). Later, the weight of a loaf varied from 5 to 35 pounds (2.3 to 15.9 kg), according to the moulds used by any one refinery. A common size was 14 pounds (6.4 kg), but the finest sugar from Madeira came in small loaves of only 3 to 4 pounds (1.4 to 1.8 kg) in weight...Up till late Victorian times household sugar remained very little changed and sugar loaves were still common and continued so until well into the twentieth century...
— Elizabeth David, English Bread and Yeast Cookery. Middlesex: Penguin, 1977 (p. 139)
Households bought their white sugar in tall, conical loaves, from which pieces were broken off with special iron sugar-cutters (sugar nips). Shaped something like very large heavy pliers with sharp blades attached to the cutting sides, these cutters had to be strong and tough, because the loaves were large, about 14 inches (36 cm) in diameter at the base, and 3 feet (0.91 m) [15th century]...In those days, sugar was used with great care, and one loaf lasted a long time. The weight would probably have been about 30 pounds (14 kg). Later, the weight of a loaf varied from 5 to 35 pounds (2.3 to 15.9 kg), according to the moulds used by any one refinery. A common size was 14 pounds (6.4 kg), but the finest sugar from Madeira came in small loaves of only 3 to 4 pounds (1.4 to 1.8 kg) in weight...Up till late Victorian times household sugar remained very little changed and sugar loaves were still common and continued so until well into the twentieth century...
— Elizabeth David, English Bread and Yeast Cookery. Middlesex: Penguin, 1977 (p. 139)
You can break off small chunks and run them through a coffee grinder. I wouldn't bother if it was me though. I store piloncillo (sugar cones) and when I need it I just use a nutmeg type grater ... or a ginger grater ... to grate off the amount I need.
Tex88
Veteran Member
Why such soft implements? There's literally chisel tip hammers made for this exact purpose.
Sugar Hammer - Google Search
www.google.com
TheSearcher
Are you sure about that?
Morning Star
Groovy Hoosier
Doesn't anyone use bread to keep their sugar/brown sugar soft?
Put the block in a container with some bread slices and cover.
Put the block in a container with some bread slices and cover.
Tex88
Veteran Member
packyderms_wife
Neither here nor there.
Box grater also works well.
Is that you doing a dance of approval?
Mike
h_oder
Veteran Member
"Hammertime"
hiwall
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Obviously you can put the existing bag inside a plastic bag to help make sure no sugar escapes during the beating.
I store all my sugar in clean used clear plastic juice bottles. I think it would store forever in those. After more than a year it still pours easily out of the bottles.
I store all my sugar in clean used clear plastic juice bottles. I think it would store forever in those. After more than a year it still pours easily out of the bottles.
10# bag - 5# hammer.
5# bag - same 5# hammer.
5# bag - same 5# hammer.
Cyclonemom
Veteran Member
Can you break off chunks and put in a food processor?
JasmineAndLace
Senior Member
Just don't store it in glass jars. It will harden up again and then you won't be able to get it out of the glass.
willowlady
Veteran Member
If you store white sugar in glass, stick a broken piece of uncooked Lasagna noodle in with it. It keeps the sugar dry and it will not clump. The same with granulated onion, garlic, etc. We do it and it works. With brown sugar, put a slice of bread in on top of it; it keeps it just moist enough to not clump. That said, we don't live in a high humidity zone, so that might change how well things work.