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I've read many a recipe in my life and mingled with many gourmets and gourmands but I have yet to meet anyone who likes to munch on rock hard brown sugar crumbs or who enjoys the texture of soft chips and crackers. Likewise, I've never read a recipe for any dish whatsoever calling for these particular comestibles. But I'd wager that we've all had them in our kitchens a time or two.
I'm going to be using some brown sugar later in the week and since I hadn't used any in quite some time I knew it would be hard; it was. So I opened the container and removed a very small terra cotta (clay) flower pot, about 1 1/2" wide at the wide end. I put it into a cup to soak and absorb water; it will be there for about thirty-six hours. At the end of that time I'll remove it and place it back in the sugar container. In less than a day I'll have sugar that is the equal of any from an unopened package.
To make soft crackers and chips crisp again I do the opposite. I heat a little flower pot in the oven at about 200 for thirty minutes or so and let it cool. Then I place it in a closed container with the soft items.
Since very small pots are usually only available at nurseries purchasing them may not be convenient for some. A shard from a larger pot works as well. Just remember to tap it and brush it off so that you won't be getting tiny pieces of terra cotta in your candied sweet potatoes or crackers and cheese.
The wet terra cotta should last several weeks before you need to rehydrate it, the dry terra cotta less. It depends upon the humidity.
Thanks, I'll hafta try the potato chip trick, because i cannot abide limp chips. If they get that way (and when its humid in summer, they get that way fast) I just toss them now.
For the brown sugar, however, I take a simpler approach... I take a half sheet of paper towel, fold it up to about matchbook size, soak in water, squeeze out until just damp, and put it in with the rock hard sugar, arranging it so they don't touch. Next day the sugar is soft again.
I put a soft roll or piece of bread in the box of brown sugar and close it up tightly. The sugar will be soft in a few hours.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Foodmuse
That's all ya need to do,just a piece of the heel of a loaf works fine.
This means you need to soften your sugar each time you use it. You're not planning to leave the bread and the mold spores on it with the sugar, are you?
This means you need to soften your sugar each time you use it. You're not planning to leave the bread and the mold spores on it with the sugar, are you?
You of course remove the bread once the sugar is soft again.
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