<p>I have one of these cute bears and he keeps my brown sugar soft. When it starts to get hard, I just soak him in water for 10 minutes and put him back in the container.</p>
<p>[Brown</a> Sugar/Cookie Softener - Sugar Bear](<a href=“http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/brown-sugar/cookie-softener-sugar-bear]Brown”>http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/brown-sugar/cookie-softener-sugar-bear)</p>
<p>I do the bread thing too. It works.</p>
<p>Funny, I just did this tonight, as was trying to make a blitz fast apple pie for guests. One cup size lump was what I needed. Put it in the microwave and after a minute could break it up a little. Finally put the lumps in my blender, and on high was able to pulverize it. The 35 year old Osterizer works just great!</p>
<p>I do the bread thing too but put a few drops of water on the bread before sealing it i with the sugar.</p>
<p>I do the go-to-the-store-and-buy-a-new-bag thing.</p>
<p>Funny–this happened to me <again> recently and after looking on-line <again> at a bunch of stuff that’s never worked too well for me, I kind of invented my own thing. I moved the big brick of brown sugar into a zip-lock and put a little bit of water down in one corner. I figured I’d at least be able to use that dampish/wet corner of the brick, but after sealing it up and checking it the next day, <em>all</em> of the sugar was soft again. It’s the same concept as the bread/apple–locking it in with something damp to moisturize the dried out sugar. But my water method worked great!</again></again></p>
<p>DON’T MICROWAVE ANYTHING PLASTIC. I just got a lecture from my son, who is in healthcare. He said that even the veggies that come in “microwavable” bags can not be trusted. </p>
<p>From the Harvard med school:</p>
<p>[Microwaving</a> food in plastic: Dangerous or not?](<a href=“http://www.health.harvard.edu/fhg/updates/update0706a.shtml]Microwaving”>Is plastic a threat to your health? - Harvard Health)</p>
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<p>smokymtngirl: How??</p>
<p>Well…morning update. The brown sugar is better with the apple overnight but still not soft. So now
There is some bread in it.</p>
<p>You know…I’ve spent more than $2 in time with this issue! I’m ready to buy a new bag.</p>
<p>You could look on it as a science experiment or continuing education, just without the credits.</p>
<p>I have learned through the years not to buy the big bag at Costco and just to buy the small-ish box at the grocery store.</p>
<p>When you open the new brown sugar and it’s soft, put the whole package in a ziplock bag. That way, the sugar doesn’t get hard.</p>
<p>My brown sugar comes in a plastic bag. As soon as I open it, I transfer it to a glass canister and never have problems with hardening.</p>
<p>Very Happy – 1 cup of sugar and 1 tablespoon of molasses for light brown sugar and 2 tablespoons of molasses for dark brown sugar. Just mix it together. It takes a while to do it by hand, but my mother sometimes uses a food processor. She just mixes it up as she needs it.</p>
<p>Goodness – that sounds so easy.</p>
<p>Apple method works best…and in the future, store the original container in a large zip lock bag instead of the box, which always let’s the air in rendering the sugar too hard to use when you need it</p>
<p>We have a very good airtight container we use…apparently DD didn’t know about it! She is the one who just let it in the plastic bag…unsealed.</p>
<p>It’s getting softer. </p>
<p>Do you leave the apple in forever?</p>
<p>Air tight containers have never worked for me. Guess I don’t use brown sugar often enough. I always figured if there was any air in there, the sugar would harden. I’ve got a glass cannister, and I have also just used a twist tie on the plastic bag and put it in the cannister.</p>
<p>OK…DH checked out the sugar and is impressed with how soft it is!</p>
<p>I use the little terra cotta bear too. I’ve never had brown sugar go hard on me since I started using it.</p>