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You use it to sweeten your coffee and iced tea. It’s an important ingredient in most cookie and cake recipes. It has a place of honor in its own lidded bowl in your kitchen, and you’ve probably got a bag of it on your pantry shelf right now.
It’s sugar, the generic name for the sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates we find in many recipes and ingredient labels. Made entirely or mostly from sucrose, sugar comes from plants such as sugarcane or sugar beets and is used as a sweetener and preservative in many foods and beverages.
But did you know you can use sugar for many other purposes around your home and property? We’ve put together a list of surprising uses for sugar, and we’re hoping some of them are new to you.
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1. De-greaser
It’s not unusual to come away with grease-stained hands after working in the garden, garage, or kitchen. Sugar’s abrasive nature can help get rid of that stubborn grease. Here are two options.
Add a bit of sugar to your liquid hand soap and scrub. Or, combine sugar with some olive oil and work the mixture into your hands to dissolve grease. Then, rinse with water.
2. Fresh Flower Preserver
Make your own version of those little freshener packets that come from the florist. Stir three teaspoons of sugar and two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar together in a vase of warm water.
Add freshly trimmed flowers. The sugar helps feed the stems, and the vinegar inhibits bacteria growth. Find out more here.
3. Grass Stain Remover
Every parent knows how hard it can be to get rid of grass stains from their children’s clothing. Here’s a tip. Make a thick paste of warm water and sugar.
Apply it directly on the stain, allowing it to set undisturbed for about an hour before washing the garment as usual. Repeat as needed. The sugar has enzymes to break down the chlorophyll in the grass stain.
4. Cheese Mold Preventer
It can be so disappointing and distasteful to find mold growing on your favorite cheese. Next time, place a sugar cube inside an airtight container along with your cheese to help prevent the molding process.
5. Body Scrub
Did you know you can make your own skin exfoliator with sugar and just a few other ingredients? Combine one part coconut oil or olive oil with two parts sugar to use as a body scrub. Read how easy it is to make this DIY scrub here.
Another idea is to sprinkle sugar on a lemon half to use on rough skin patches, including elbows. Twist the lemon half back and forth to ease dryness and discomfort.
6. Lip Balm
In a similar way, you can use the above body scrub on chapped lips. Just rub more softly on sensitive lips than you would on other parts of the body. This video shows how easy it is to make sugar lip balms.
7. Lawn Care
Whether it’s your own dog or a neighbor dog’s fault, those yellow grass stains can really take away from the appearance of your lawn. Try dropping a handful of sugar on the yellow spot.
The sugar works to decompose the urine, which aids in new grass growth in that spot. However, experts warn to use this method sparingly.Â
8. Garden Nematode Prevention
Another way you can use sugar in the garden is to get rid of the pesky garden worms called nematodes. Sprinkle the affected plants and surrounding with sugar to create a hostile environment for nematodes and encourage beneficial organisms to grow.
This article suggests that small doses are the key to success with this method.
9. Spicy Food Helper
You may know that drinking milk can help reduce the scorch in your mouth you can experience when you eat spicy food. However, sugar may be easier to access in many cases.
Try placing a pinch of sugar (or a sugar cube) directly on your tongue to alleviate the discomfort. This method also works when you singe your tongue on a bite of too-hot pizza or take a quick gulp of a too-hot beverage,
10. Wound Antiseptic
When you don’t have access to antibiotic ointment, you can sprinkle sugar on minor skin wounds or ulcers before bandaging to help kill bacteria and aid in the healing process.Â
11. Glassware Smudge Remover
Remove stubborn lipstick stains on glassware by rubbing some sugar onto the wet glass. The abrasive nature of sugar (or salt) helps the stain disappear.
12. De-icer
You may think of salt when it comes to de-icing your walkways and steps during the winter. However, if you’re out of salt, sugar also can do the trick. Both substances lower the freezing point of water.
13. Wasp Trap
When a wasp nest has invaded your outdoor space, try using sugar in a DIY trap. Here are the steps to follow.Â
- Cut off the top of a two-liter bottle
- Place sugar in the bottom part and fill partway with water.Â
- Fit the top part upside down into the bottom, creating the appearance of a funnel and duct tape the two pieces together.Â
- Use a hole punch and wire to hang the trap.
Attracted by the sugar solution, wasps will fly in but be unable to fly out. Check out this article for photos and more information.
14. Fire Fuel
Although sugar does not work well as a fire starter fuel since it burns readily, it can help you keep a fire going. For example, try throwing a sprinkling of sugar on your grill when the flames start dying out instead of re-using starter fluid.
For more information, watch this video that demonstrates starting a fire with sugar and potassium permanganate.
15. Butterfly Food
If you’d like to attract more butterflies to your garden, you could try this recipe from Matthew Tekulsky’s book The Butterfly Garden.
Ingredients:
- 1 pound sugar
- 1-2 cans stale beer
- 3 mashed overripe bananas
- 1 cup molasses (or syrup)
- 1 cup fruit juice
Mix all the ingredients well and apply the mixture with a paintbrush to tree trunks, rocks, fence posts, or stumps. Another option is to hang a sponge soaked with the mixture from a tree limb in the area where you’d like to see more butterflies.
16. Make Rock Candy
It’s easy to make old-fashioned rock candy, and it’s a fun project to do with kids. You only need granulated white sugar, hot water, some skewers or string, Mason jars, and some patience. Here are the instructions. Or watch this video. Â
17. Coffee or Spice Grinder Cleaner
You can use sugar to clean out residue and odor from your hand-held grinders. It’s a simple and easy task. Pour about a quarter cup of sugar into the grinder. Grind the sugar into a fine powder. Then, dump out the powder and wipe the grinder with a clean damp towel.
If you’re motivated to try some of these uses and are considering buying a new supply of sugar, a pound of C&H Pure Cane Powdered Sugar currently sells for $1.83 on Amazon. That’s 11 cents per ounce.
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