Now that the root cellar is getting damp, I have a few pounds of sugar left stored down there.... and it is like a brick. No kidding, I can't even chip away at it. Any ideas other than a jack hammer to loosen the stuff up?

-- Marci B. (daleb@kent.net), June 08, 2000

Answers

Try putting an apple in with the sugar.

-- lynne (leaves8@hotmail.com), June 08, 2000.

Use it to make jam, koolaid (the horror's), lemon aid, carmel for popcorn, or any other recipe you can come up with that needs the sugar heated/melted! Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), June 08, 2000.

Hey, I just read the answer to that in the paper...I think hints from Heloise...or hints from Heloise's daughter, more appropriately...anyway you can use either conventional oven or microwave..either way be careful and check every few seconds in microwave...just warm it up a bit in a slow oven...it's the moisture that has made it hard. I have a few of these big bricks in my pantry so I will be trying it too!

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), June 08, 2000.

Jam, jelly, toffee, syrup for preserves - or attack it with a rasp.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), June 09, 2000.

If you can get it chipped, sawed, or whatevered into chunks that will go into a metal burr flour mill, maybe that will get it to useable form again. I had to do it with salt one time that had got damp then hardened into a big chunk. Mom used to just keep her brown sugar in the refrigerator. Put whole box in a big plastic bag. It never dried out so stayed soft and useable.

-- Hermit John (ozarkhermit@pleasedontspamme.com), June 09, 2000.