Storing Sugars

A wise person gives everything with a grain of sugar and receives everything with a grain of salt.

Introduction. Sugars are simple carbohydrates that provide an excellent source of calories for energy.  Sugars also add the sweet taste to many of our most delicious foods.  Sugar can be stored in dry form (crystals) or in a liquid form (syrup –including maple syrup).  Sugar from beets or sugarcane (sucrose), corn (dextrose), and honey (fructose) are most commonly used for long term food storage.  The use of sugarcane for sugars dates back centuries B.C.  Some of the earliest cultures grew the canes and squeezed the sweet juice from them after harvest.  Even in those days the juice was allowed to dry and was used as a solid.  Centuries later they would dry the juice in a manner that resulted in crystals.  These crystals would store indefinitely.  Sugar beets are another source of sucrose.  The sugar beet was named the historic state vegetable in Utah in 2002.  From the 1880's until 1980, sugar beets significantly contributed to the Utah economy. 

Quality & Purchase.  Pure cane or beet granulated sucrose (table sugar) stores the best.  Powdered sugar is simply table sugar ground to a finer powder.  It can be stored the same as granulated sugar.  Brown sugar is either white sugar with caramel coloring or white sugar with some molasses residue.  It often has a little higher moisture content than table sugar making it sticky.  Purchase top quality refined sugar from trusted commercial sources. Raw sugars and honey that are less “pure” will have a shorter quality shelf life.  Commercial, filtered liquid honey will last the longest in storage.  Select filtered, top quality syrups or honey for storage.  Comb honey, unfiltered honey, or raw sugar syrups do not store as well.  Brown sugars that have natural moisture do not store as well for long term storage. 

Packaging. Storage containers should be opaque, airtight, and moisture/ odor-proof.  The typical retail paper package for crystal sugars is not suitable for long term storage.  Polyethylene bags, Mylar-type bags, food-grade plastic buckets, glass canning jars, and #10 cans are all suitable for dry sugar storage.  Glass canning jars and #10 cans work best for liquid syrups and honey.  However, honey is acidic and can acquire a metallic taste from the metal can after many years of storage.  The main metal in food cans is tin.  Tin when ingested in enough quantities can cause gastric irritation, nausea, vomiting, abdominal discomfort and diarrhea³.  However, these symptoms are acute and minor³ and should not prevent someone from using metallic tasting sugars during emergency situations.  However, if sugar acquires a metallic flavor during storage it should be discarded and replaced.

Storage Conditions.  Store sugar in a cool, dry location (not the refrigerator). Moisture makes granulated sugar hard and lumpy. Once this happens, it creates problems in usage and there is no easy method to restore lumpy sugar.   Always store all sugars in an odor free area.  Sugar can absorb strong odors – even through plastic packaging.  Sugar syrups should not be allowed to get too hot or freeze – this will encourage crystallization.   Heat will also darken color and alter flavor in sugar syrups and honey.   Sugars are not susceptible to oxidation and therefore do not need oxygen absorbers.  Some say that oxygen absorber use in granulated sugar promotes solidification.

Nutrition & Allergies.  Sugars have approximately 15-20 calories per teaspoon all in carbohydrates.  Sugars will have no fat, cholesterol, fiber, vitamins, etc.  Raw versions of sugars may have a few additional nutritive items, but nothing that would make them stand out.   Since sugars are carbohydrates and do not have protein, they do not cause any known allergies.  They also do not cause any food intolerance.

Shelf life.  Commercial sugars (granular, syrup, and honey) have an indefinite shelf life due to their resistance to microbial growth including molds. This includes dried sugar crystals, sugar syrups, honey, molasses, and pure maple syrup.  However, commercial packaged sugars have a best-if-used by date of approximately 2 years for quality concerns.   This is due to lumpiness or hardening in granulated sugars and crystallization of sugars in honey and syrup.  Sugar is still safe to use even when lumpy or crystals are present.   The color and flavor of liquid sugars may change over time, but again, they remain safe to eat.   Pure granulated sugars retains quality during storage the best.  These may have an emergency storage shelf life from 2 - 10 years.  After that time, they are usable, but flavor may be affected.  Syrups do not store as well as the dried granulated sugars or honey.  An estimated emergency shelf life is 2-5 years for molasses, corn syrup or maple syrup.

Use from storage.  Once opened, sugars can easily be resealed or simply closed in their packaging.  If granulated sugar is lumpy or hard chop lumps in a food processor.  If crystallization occurs in syrups or honey, re-liquified them by placing the container in a larger container of hot water until the crystals have dissolved.  Honey stored in metal containers that has become tainted with a metallic flavor can be consumed, but should be discarded and replaced when possible. ¹There are some that advocate use of honey as a topical antibacterial agent.  It does have antibacterial properties, but it also has properties that could promote bacterial infections and is not recommended for medical use.  

References.

¹Molan PC. The antibacterial activity of honey. 1.The nature of the antibacterial activity. Bee World 1992; 73(1): 5-28.

²Utah State Historic Vegetable - Sugar Beet.  Pioneer Utah Library Online.  Available at: http://pioneer.utah.gov/research/utah_symbols/historicvegetable.html.  

³Opinion of the Scientific Committee on Food on Acute Risks Posed by Tin in Canned Foods.  2001. EUROPEAN COMMISSION HEALTH & CONSUMER PROTECTION DIRECTORATE-GENERAL.  Available at: http://www.fsai.ie/uploadedFiles/out110_en.pdf.