Tips for Cooking with Thai Palm Sugar?

[robin76]

I bought a tub of Thai palm sugar and am having trouble figuring out the best way to actually get it out of the tub in order to measure it for recipes. I thought it was stuck together in a brown-sugar like way in granules, but it is more like a solid block of sugar. The only way I've been able to get any out is to scrape a fork over it to remove a bit at a time. Any tips for working with this?

[sushigirlie]

I have a big jar of oozy stuff and a block of the hard stuff. The stuff in the jar scoops out pretty well with a spoon. The block is VERY hard but it's easy enough to break it into shards with a knife.

Is there a quality difference between the jar and the blocks? The oozy stuff in the jar seems to be more complex.

[paulj]

I have it both in a tub and squat cones. The cones can be grated or chopped. I can scrape sugar out of the tub with a rounded tip knife. I have also bought a smaller container that could be spooned out.

[chefathome]

When mine is hard I just grate it with a microplane or cut into shards with a knife.

[AllanK]

It is now possible to get Palm Sugar in a granulated form. They have it on Amazon. It is more expensive than buying from your local asian mart. I have tried to buy the blocks not in the jar as well. I suspect that the jar form will last longer.

[Romanmk]

In Thailand the palm sugar isn't always as dried out as it is here. When choosing palm sugar I squeeze the tubs to find the one that flexes the most. That one will have more moisture than the others. It really helps to have a little extra liquid in there when scraping it out of the package. Turning it upside down when storing it will rehydrate the sugar a little.

[scubadoo97]

Warm it in the microwave for a few seconds. It will soften up nicely. Thai sugar is so flavorful. Enjoy!

[Miss Needle]

Agree with the nuking.

I prefer buying the palm sugar that's not in the tub. It's so much easier to work with.

[robin76]

Thanks to you both for the great tip- and for saving me a lot of fork scraping time :) .