Cocktails with Powdered sugar
Powdered sugar is granulated sucrose milled to a fine powder, usually cut with a little starch to keep it from clumping.
How it's used
Its one real advantage over granulated is that it dissolves in cold liquid without a syrup step. It clumps if it lands on a wet surface and sits, so stir or muddle it in straight away. The catch is the starch milled in with it: in a clear stirred drink it leaves a faint haze that never settles. Shaken, creamy or already cloudy drinks hide it. It also dusts a finished drink and stays visible on foam.
Substitutes for Powdered sugar
The most reliable swap. Take about half a barspoon of 2:1 syrup per barspoon of powdered sugar.
Caster sugar
Denser, so use a little over half the volume. It dissolves almost as readily.
Granulated sugar
Works in the same reduced amount where it is muddled with lime or fruit. In a shaken drink without muddling it dissolves too slowly.
Storage
Airtight and dry. The starch keeps it loose only while it stays dry; damp turns the box into a solid block that no sieve will save. It does not spoil, so a lump means storage went wrong, not that the sugar is old.
