Sugar

Factual Questions
1

Is sugar, such as the kind used to stiffern crochet work, acid in its properties?

2

They use SUGAR to stiffen crochet ?
Crochet stiffeners:
•White Glue
•Starch
•Sugar
•Epsom Salts
•Purchased Stiffeners
Sugar (sucrose) is not an acid. However, if sugar gets damp it will support the growth of yeasts, molds, and bacteria that can convert the sugar into acids.

3

They used to use sugar water to stiffen crochet work. Most people don’t want to go to the trouble nowadays.

http://www.crochetmemories.com/crochet8.html

It isn’t just mixed together and then dipped–you boil it for a while, like making candy. And it’s to stiffen something like a crocheted basket, that isn’t going to get wet (theoretically).

Why do you want to know, PP? If you’re worried about it damaging the crochet work, it doesn’t sound like it would. Sugar isn’t intrinsically “acid”, and people wouldn’t have been using it for a long time to stiffen crochet work if they discovered that it weakened the crochet.

4

I ask because I have always heard that sugar is an acid (hence acid reflux from it). Acid destroys framed artwork and needlework, and yet I keep hearing about people who use sugar water to stiffen crochet work befor they frame it.

I thought if it was acid, it would therfore damage it.

I am a custom picture framer and I wanted an unbiased opinion. I have avoided the sugar and only recommended boxed starch and then only if it absolutely has to be starched.

So, if it is enclosed in glass and draws moisture, thus creating a moldy environment , it could then become acidic. Yes???

5

Acid reflux is not because sugar is acid. The acid in question there is your own digestive stomach acids. Happens no matter what you eat.

6

Unless you’re Jewish eating good kosher foods, if it happens no matter what you eat, you should see a doctor. Constant acid reflux can cause Barrett’s esophagitis, which is a prelude to cancer. It will happen if you eat all that good spicy food.

7

If a piece of crochet work is enclosed in glass, it’s fairly well insulated against drawing moisture. Also, sucrose (that’s common table sugar) is not hygroscopic, meaning it does not draw moisture from the air. Honey and other sugars do that, but not sucrose.

http://www.bakers-exchange.com/articles/2000/oct.html

And like I said, I believe that boiling the sugar into syrup increases its preservative properties–when was the last time you saw a piece of moldy hard candy? Think about it. Sugar is a preservative anyway, that was why in earlier eras you could make jams and jellies and put them up in glass jars with only a paraffin seal, without all those sterilizing “hot process” canning procedures.

People have been encasing sugarized crochet work in glass ever since the Victorian era, and I would think that if the artwork went moldy after a while, people would have realized it and would have stopped doing it.
But I would advise you to go with commercial stiffeners for two reasons—first, you’re sure they’ll work the way they’re supposed to. How awful if it all went horribly wrong with a client’s artwork. And second, because life’s too short. You ever make hard candy? Steams up the kitchen, and sticky? I mean to tell you.

8

This is very enlightening and gives me more accurate thought on sugar for stiffening. Thank you.