Remember that brown sugar, like a lot of other baking products, may not have any printed expiration date or it may have a best before date, but not an expiration date. Because of this, you may safely use it for your baking needs after a best before date has lapsed.

How to tell if Brown Sugar is bad, rotten or spoiled?

Practicing proper hygiene and food safety techniques will help prevent foodborne illness.

Does drown sugar go bad? Although brown sugar does not go completely bad, the texture will change over time while it remains generally still good. Does brown sugar go bad? Each type of sugar reacts differently to the aging process. When brown sugar has been around awhile it will turn from a squeezable form into a hard lump. See below on how to re-shape your brown sugar if it has hardened.

There are, of course, certain health risks associated with spoiled foods so always remember to practice food safety and enjoy your foods before their shelf life has expired!

How to store Brown Sugar to extend its shelf life?

The best way to store brown sugar so that it does not go bad is in its original sealed container in the pantry. When the bag is opened, it can be poured into another air tight container. The air tight container is the key to keeping the product good. Brown Sugar lasts longer if it is stored in a humid (moist) environment.

Some benefits of proper food storage include eating healthier, cutting food costs and helping the environment by avoiding waste.

Interesting facts about Brown Sugar:

How to use extra before your Brown Sugar goes bad?

How to Restore Brown Sugar

How to soften brown sugar: Brown sugar will become hard when it dries out and looses its moisture, so to soften it you can add a slice of fresh bread to the bag for a day or two or a damp paper towel separated from the sugar by plastic wrap. You can also use an organic (or washed well & dried) orange peel to place in the container, the natural oils from the orange will soften the sugar. The paper towel or orange peel method will soften brown sugar within several hours while the bread will soften brown sugar in a few days (1-2), but is the preferred method. If you are in a big hurry, you can cover a bowl of brown sugar with a damp paper towel and microwave for about 20 seconds - but be careful as a few too many seconds can produce a bowl of goo!

If your product is completely unusable, then check out our substitution pages - either brown sugar alternatives, powdered sugar alternatives or sugar alternatives.

How long is Brown Sugar good for when prepared in a dish?

How long does brown sugar last? Can brown sugar go bad? That depends. How long do cookies last? In general, brown sugar will be one of the last expiring ingredients in any dish but still expires along with the ingredients that it is mixed.

What are our shelf life resources?

In determining how long Brown Sugar lasts, our content incorporates research from multiple resources, including the United States Department of Agriculture and the United States Food & Drug Administration. In addition, we scoured the web for informative articles and reports related to food safety, food storage and the shelf life of Brown Sugar.

*An important note about expiration dates...

Although the Brown Sugar shelf life information on Eat By Date is generally reliable, please remember that individual cases will vary and that our advice should only be taken as an opinion and not a replacement for your health care professional. Please eat responsibly!