A popular chef is showing the public how to avoid wasting sugar with a creative trick.
TikToker Chef Alison (@itschefalison) has close to 200,000 followers and shares videos related to food waste reduction and less-stress cooking, along with recipes and tips.
The chef shared a video showing a very simple way to keep brown sugar fresh and ready for consumption.
"Don't throw out clumpy brown sugar. It's completely fixable," Alison says.
@itschefalison Ever get clumpy, rock hard brown sugar? Heres how to fix it! Transform back into soft, smooth brown sigar for any recipe! Just add a heel of sandwich bread to the sugar in an airtight container, wait 24-36 hours and voila! #hardbrownsugar #fixbrownsugar #bakingtips #nofoodwaste #kitchentip ♬ original sound - Chef Alison | No Food Waste
The scoop
The video starts with Chef Alison putting a large clump of "rock-hard brown sugar" into a glass jar, which she has to force in due to its size.
She then shows us a heel of bread which she also proceeds to put inside the jar, joining the sugar.
In the next clip, she says, "it's actually about 36 hours later," as she removes the bread, which is now hard. The camera does a close-up of the sugar from above the jar, and we can see that it is "absolutely completely smooth."
How it's helping
Today, sugarcane covers 65 million acres of land worldwide, taking a bigger toll on the environment than many people are aware of.
Each teaspoon of sugar also requires around nine gallons of water to produce.
In fact, the sugar industry has taken down large areas of some of the world's most important ecosystems, which includes Brazil's Atlantic Forest.
According to the World Wildlife Fund, "growers will need to cultivate almost 50% more land by 2050 to meet projected global sugarcane demand."
Sugar-saving hacks like the one shown by Chef Alison can definitely help to mitigate the problem of excessive sugar production while also saving us money and a trip to the store.
What everyone's saying
Viewers had positive reactions to the video.
"Works like a charm," one person said.
Another commenter admitted they "thought it would turn the bread into a sugary treat."
"If you're gluten free or you don't have bread you can add a damp paper towel," another person wrote, to which Alison responded,
"Love it — thanks for adding that. You can also add a bit of carrot or apple slice or marshmallow too!"
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