What do you do with hard sugar?

Take a sledgehammer to it and whack the shit out of it? Then use it?

Do you have a large bucket or jar with a sealable lid that is big enough to fit it into? If you can break it apart and get it in there (or even if you can stuff the whole brick of sugar in) with a few slices of bread it might soften back up.

I’m not 100% sure if this works for white sugar, but it works wonders with brown sugar that has hardened. Might be worth a try.

I like @ANef_is_Enuf‘s idea, but put some crackers in the container with the sugar. We used to put a cracker in each sugar dispenser when I worked at the diner to keep the sugar from caking.

The salt in the crackers should draw the moisture out of the sugar.

Make lots of ice cold lemonade with it. Great in the summer. Just break up the blocks and melt them with ice cold water and fresh lemon juice, and you got a cool summer treat.

@Jude I don’t think so.
@ANef_is_Enuf I have a small roasting pan I could use, but the lid is just loose on top. I could put the sugar in it and try to break it in the pan.
@WestRiverrat I’ll try crackers if I can get it broken down.
@MRSHINYSHOES I’d have to give a really BIG party. I don’t think I know that many people. Oh, but that gives me an idea. I could give it to someone who could use a lot of lemonade.

@Sunny2 even if you can’t get it broken down very well, the crackers should do the trick. I’m not sure how it would work with the bread, since I think it has the opposite effect that you’re aiming for. Brown sugar dries out and turns into a hard brick, so placing a piece of bread in a container with it will soften it back up. I suppose you want the opposite to happen with white sugar, so that’s why crackers are more effective. I’m just guessing here. Either way, I don’t think you should have to break it up much. Just let it sit overnight and check back on it. Can’t hurt to try, anyhow. :)

Make some simple syrup (equal parts water and sugar) by dissolving it in water. It’s great for sweetening coffee, tea, etc. Especially cold drinks that are hard to dissolve granulated sugar into.

Just use low, slow heat. Don’t want the sugar re-crystallizing.

You can scrape the sugar off the big lump. Use a scraper or if you don’t have one, a metal spatula or even the edge of a small plate might work.

@Poser Good idea. Main problem is finding enough containers, but I do make mt own pancake syrup, so if I follow
@wilma ‘s idea of scraping it off, I could do that a cup at a time.
Thank you for the suggestions.

It used to be normal to have to scrape or cut off a chunk of sugar.

@Sunny2 Lol. Have a summer block party and invite all the kids! ;)

Kind of like @wilma suggests but I’d use a cheese grater against the block.

@wilma You must be even older than I!
@MRSHINYSHOES I don’t live where that is feasible, but I like your spirit!
@Neizvestnaya I’ll try it. Thanks. I have the feeling I’m going to have sugar all over my little kitchen.

I use bread for brown sugar, too – it works like a charm, returns the sugar to normal after it has absorbed the bread’s moisture, and doesn’t affect the flavour. Only trouble is you have to wait a few hours to a day. The bread becomes bone dry, and can be removed easily. And then you get to make French toast. :)

For some reason, I don’t get good results grating brown sugar – the taste seems a little off, though I’m damned if I can figure out why that should be.