Those sound like carpenter ants. They like wood, not sugar.
How do you get rid of those?
Carpenter ants don’t eat wood – that’s for termites, which have symbiotic gut bacteria that let them digest cellulose. Carpenter ants DO damage wood, but that’s from making their nests. A bit of searching indicates that step one is going to be to find the central nest (rather than counting on visible worker ants to take bait back to the nest.)
Sounds like it’s professional exterminator time for those, though.
Put some sweet stuff (I used frosting) on a piece of plastic and lay it down. Have a dish of water ready.
When the plastic is covered with ants, put it in water. Dry and repeat.
I just wanted to thank everyone who mentioned Terro bait traps. I put three in my kitchen on Tuesday. By Wednesday the only ants I saw were the ones that got all the way in the trap and drowned. I’m going to leave them in place until next Tuesday just to make sure, but I think my infestation is over! 