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SHOPPING AND STORAGE
While getting ready to leave on a two-week vacation, I noticed an open jar of mayonnaise in the refrigerator. Afraid the mayonnaise wouldn’t keep while we were gone, I placed the jar in the freezer.
When we returned home, my wife, Debbie, opened the freezer to find the mayonnaise jar filled with large white chunks floating in yellow oil. “What did you do?” she asked, holding up the jar.
“I can fix it,” I promised. I placed the jar on the countertop and let it thaw to room temperature. Then I shook the jar for a good five minutes to mix the emulsion back together.
But no matter how hard I shook that jar, the mayonnaise remained chunks of white curd in yellow oil. I even ran the mixture through the blender—but to no avail. When Debbie left the house, I secretly drove to the grocery store, bought another jar of mayonnaise, and placed it in the refrigerator.
“See,” I told Debbie when she got home, holding up the jar. “Good as new.”
“Nice try,” she said. “I saw you at the grocery store.”
How to Prevent Apples from Going Bad with a Hole Puncher
WHAT YOU NEED
• Hole puncher
• Resealable plastic bag, gallon size
• Fresh apples
WHAT TO DO
1. Using a hole puncher, perforate a few holes in the resealable plastic bag.
2. Place the apples inside the plastic bag and seal the bag shut.
3. Store in the refrigerator or fruit bin.
4. If you see any apples going bad, remove the rotten apples from the bag before they contaminate the good fruit.
HOW IT WORKS
One bad apple really can spoil the whole bunch. The excessive ethylene gas produced by the bad apple triggers the healthy apples to rot. The holes in the plastic bag permit air movement while allowing the bag to retain the ethylene that hastens ripening.
HOW ABOUT THEM APPLES?
• If you don’t have a plastic bag, store apples in the fruit bin in your refrigerator, but make sure they do not touch each other—to prevent bad apples from spoiling good apples.
• Apples retain their freshness for at least two weeks and sometimes up to one month.
• Rehydrate dried-out apples by cutting them into slices and soaking the pieces in a bowl of apple cider.
How to Revive Hardened Brown Sugar with a Slice of Bread
WHAT YOU NEED
• Airtight plastic container (or a resealable plastic bag)
• 1 or 2 slices of fresh white bread (or several marshmallows)
WHAT TO DO
1. To revive a box of hardened brown sugar, empty the brown sugar into an airtight container or resealable plastic bag.
2. Place one or two slices of white bread (or several marshmallows) on top of the brown sugar.
3. Seal the lid on the container.
4. Let sit undisturbed for one or two days.
5. When the brown sugar becomes soft again, discard the bread.
HOW IT WORKS
Brown sugar hardens due to loss of moisture. The bread gives off water vapor, returning the moisture to the brown sugar and softening it.
SOFTEN UP
• Brown sugar is sugar coated with a thin coat of molasses, the thick brown syrup obtained from raw sugar during the refining process. Exposure to air causes molasses to lose moisture and harden. Rehydrating the hardened molasses softens it.
• Heating brown sugar in a microwave for 30 seconds does soften the molasses, but only temporarily. The molasses hardens again within a couple of minutes.
• Don’t have any white bread? Pour the brown sugar into an airtight container, cover it with a sheet of plastic wrap, place a damp paper towel on top of the plastic wrap, and seal the lid securely. Let sit for one or two days.
• Storing brown sugar inside a sealed plastic bag or an airtight container kept in the freezer prevents the brown sugar from hardening—as does placing a few marshmallows in the bag, box, or jar of sugar.
• For another way to unclump hardened brown sugar, empty the brown sugar into a plastic airtight container, place a couple of marshmallows on top of the sugar, seal the lid securely, and let sit for two or three days.
EVERY TRICK IN THE BOOK
A Spoonful of Sugar
You can also use brown sugar to:
• Add a Butterscotch Flavor to Brownies. Substitute brown sugar for the white sugar in the recipe.
• Bake a Cake in a Jell-O Mold. Grease and flour the mold thoroughly and then sprinkle the bottom of the mold well with brown sugar before pouring in the batter. The detailed design on the bottom of the mold will be tra...
