# Sugar



## paulag1955 (Dec 15, 2019)

How do you repackage yours for storage?


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

Aluminized Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

paraquack said:


> Aluminized Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers


Ditto


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## paulag1955 (Dec 15, 2019)

Great, I have ziploc mylar bags. Why do you use oxygen absorbers? It won't go bad being exposed to the air.


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

Sugar is a highly carbonized material. C12 H22 O11, it's very easy for sugar to bond with oxygen. 
Granulated sugar can last up to two years in the pantry after opening. T*echnically, sugar never 
spoils*. Yet, it's recommended that granulated sugar be discarded after two years. Find find out why??????


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## NMPRN (Dec 25, 2020)

Google "storing sugar with oxygen absorbers" and see if _you_ really want to use oxygen absorbers in your stored sugar.


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

I store mine with a desiccant, silica jell.

Do not use the O2 eaters in mine.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

NMPRN said:


> Google "storing sugar with oxygen absorbers" and see if _you_ really want to use oxygen absorbers in your stored sugar.


Other than the mylar bag bag of sugar becoming hard as a brick, nothing else seems to happen. I don't think we have kept any sugar that is over 5 years old in mylar with O2 absorbers, and no problems with any of it...except having to break it up!

I don't use google so please tell!

Thx


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

Slippy said:


> Other than the mylar bag bag of sugar becoming hard as a brick, nothing else seems to happen. I don't think we have kept any sugar that is over 5 years old in mylar with O2 absorbers, and no problems with any of it...except having to break it up!
> 
> I don't use google so please tell!
> 
> Thx


That's why the silica jell, removes the moisture, no turning into a brick.:tango_face_grin:


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## Kauboy (May 12, 2014)

Others beat me to it...
Storing sugar means removing as much moisture as possible.
Desiccant packs are more important than 02 absorbers.


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## NMPRN (Dec 25, 2020)

Slippy said:


> ...I don't use google so please tell!


I don't use google either but saying "duckduckgo it" just doesn't sound right.

It's a hotly debated topic but every source I've ever seen says not to use O2 absorbers when storing sugar. It turns it into a solid clump and, some say, gives it a metallic taste. I don't put them in my sugar so I don't have any first hand experience.

According to the Domino Sugar website sugar stored in an airtight container has an indefinite shelf life. You don't need to add anything.

_Q. What is the shelf life of sugar?

A. For the best baking experience, we recommend storing sugar in an airtight container in a cool, dry location - not in the refrigerator. Sugar stored this way has an indefinite shelf life because it does not support microbial growth. _


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## CapitalKane49p (Apr 7, 2020)

Ziploc bag goes hard as a rock have the world's biggest sugar cube after about 18 mos. Then again that is what an ice pick or a rock hammer is for. 


Godspeed.


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## NMPRN (Dec 25, 2020)

In the olden days all sugar was hard and came in a cone. You can still get sugar nippers if you want to get fancy


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

I had to open a 5 pound pack of sugar about 2 may 3 years ago. Mylar and oxygen absorber packaged as usual in 2006 when I first started prepping. For what it was worth, it had a couple of less than fist sized clumps that I had to bash with a meat tenderizer mallet, but was otherwise free flowing. I'll have dig out another from that year and see. But I've had sugar for regular household purposes turn into a 5 pound block.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

NMPRN said:


> I don't use google either but saying "duckduckgo it" just doesn't sound right.
> 
> It's a hotly debated topic but every source I've ever seen says not to use O2 absorbers when storing sugar. It turns it into a solid clump and, some say, gives it a metallic taste. I don't put them in my sugar so I don't have any first hand experience.
> 
> ...


Appreciate it!

Again, my firsthand experience is that sugar stored in mylar with an O2 absorber gets hard as a brick but still acts like sugar when its opened and used...other than having to break it apart!


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## ND_ponyexpress_ (Mar 20, 2016)

I just vacu-seal it....


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## NMPRN (Dec 25, 2020)

I put mine in a paper lunch sacks then vacuum sealed them (lunch sack helps keep the sugar from getting sucked out during vacuuming). I wouldn't have vacuum sealed them but I needed tight little 'bricks' to fit in storage tubs.


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

Slippy said:


> Ditto


ditto ditto


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## Annie (Dec 5, 2015)

I store mine in mason jars.


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

I have been storing mine at Nancy Pelosi's house


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## Annie (Dec 5, 2015)

Maine-Marine said:


> I have been storing mine at Nancy Pelosi's house


Why her? Why not Kamilla the hun or Hildebeast? ETA: why not Angela Merkel?


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

Annie said:


> Why her? Why not Kamilla the hun or Hildebeast? ETA: why not Angela Merkel?


better security


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## jimb1972 (Nov 12, 2012)

I buy it from the LDS home storage center in cans. They claim it's good for 30 years, but I can only vouch for 5 so far. I think it will keep as long as the cans integrity is not compromised.


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## Elvis (Jun 22, 2018)

I leave sugar and salt in their paper bags and store it in a large watertight drum that was used to ship pepper sauce. On top of the sugar I put a few large desiccant packs in an unsealed 1 gallon ziplock freezer bag. I do this to help make sure the desiccant can't leak onto the sugar over the years. I check things about every 2 years and have been storing sugar this way for over 5 years with no hard lumps.


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## NMPRN (Dec 25, 2020)

Elvis said:


> ...drum that was used to ship pepper sauce.


I've seen those for sale. Do they still smell like pepper sauce?


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

just thinking

you can always store honey... it has a your life time + 2 year expire time frame


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## Joe (Nov 1, 2016)

Annie said:


> I store mine in mason jars.


We vacuum sealed a bunch of brown sugar in mason jars the other day


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## Annie (Dec 5, 2015)

Joe said:


> We vacuum sealed a bunch of brown sugar in mason jars the other day


What's the shelf life on that....any idea?


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## paulag1955 (Dec 15, 2019)

Maine-Marine said:


> just thinking
> 
> you can always store honey... it has a your life time + 2 year expire time frame


You can substitute honey for sugar, but you're going to get very different results using it in place of sugar in recipes.


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## Trihonda (Aug 24, 2020)

So, did we ever come to a conclusion on Silica packs vs no? I'm going to be packing up maybe 25lbs of sugar in a mylar bag, and I have both silica and o2 absorbers. I'm leaning toward silica packs... Same for Salt? Or does that not matter?


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

Trihonda said:


> So, did we ever come to a conclusion on Silica packs vs no? I'm going to be packing up maybe 25lbs of sugar in a mylar bag, and I have both silica and o2 absorbers. I'm leaning toward silica packs... Same for Salt? Or does that not matter?


Same for salt.


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## Elvis (Jun 22, 2018)

NMPRN said:


> I've seen those for sale. Do they still smell like pepper sauce?


A little but 5 minutes with a garden hose and a little Dawn got 99% of the odor out. I then let the opened barrels sit for a week and the odor is completely gone.


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## Elvis (Jun 22, 2018)

Joe said:


> We vacuum sealed a bunch of brown sugar in mason jars the other day


I've tried storing brown sugar in the same barrel I store white sugar in but while the white sugar is good for years the brown sugar got hard within 18 months.


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## paulag1955 (Dec 15, 2019)

The best way to store brown sugar long term is in freezer, unless you buy it in #10 cans. While I think that buying white sugar in cans is a waste of money, it might be worth the extra expense for brown sugar, because it's so hard to keep.

Scroll down to the end of this article for tips on ways to re-soften brown sugar that has hardened. Basically the same methods your grandmother used, and accessible even in a SHTF situation.

https://www.dominosugar.com/baking-tips-how-tos/how-store-dominor-brown-sugar


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## paulag1955 (Dec 15, 2019)

Or, come to think of it, you could just store white sugar and molasses, then mix up brown sugar as needed.


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## Joe (Nov 1, 2016)

Annie said:


> What's the shelf life on that....any idea?


That is a good Question @Annie. I know white sugar pretty much lasts 4ever other than turning into a rock.


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