Brown sugar doesn’t always behave. One day it’s perfectly soft and scoopable; the next, it’s a solid, unyielding block. Why does this happen, and how should you store brown sugar to avoid hard lumps?

A shelf-stable ingredient like sugar (regardless of the variety) may not be as finicky to store as other foods. But, that's not to say that it can be kept in just any manner. Of the many suitable ...