It's still safe, SH. It's very common for brown sugar to get hard (which now that I type that sounds really dirty). Here are a couple of ways to soften it:

Place a piece of foil or plastic wrap directly on the sugar. Set a piece of crumpled, dampened paper towel on the foil. Cover container tightly. The sugar will absorb the moisture from the paper towel and become soft. Remove the paper towel when it has dried out.

To soften brown sugar quickly, place open bag of brown sugar in microwave oven. Set 1 cup of water next to the bag in the microwave. Microwave on High (100%) 2 to 3 minutes, checking often, until brown sugar is softened.

Toss a bread slice in there. It should add moisture and loosen it up. Or go at it with a hammer until it's in useable chunks. It's just dried out, not toxic.

Thank you! I will soften it *one way or another* (all your methods, except for sarameg's, are too KIND) - I was terribly afraid I had wasted it.

My breakfast is saved.

Hey, are you accusing me of brutality??

Oh, no - well, perhaps enabling ME...against SUGAR...

I have a rubber mallet, named The Gremlin (long story), which has been used against sugar.

I swam 100 yds yesterday and I'm pretty pleased with myself.

Paging Plei: Do you have a receipe for plum jam? Without the canning thing?

Awesome! I just love being in the water. I hadn't forgotten it ( I would still wax eloquent on it) I just neglected it. I may not have a great technique, but I don't think I'm a deranged otter, either. It gets working right and it's.. well, flow. I've been reading Geography of Bliss and he goes on to describe this thing called flow, where the act and the actor are undifferentiated. And when I get it right, that's what swimming becomes. Or walking. Or racing screaming down a Bhutanese mountain or dancing the streets of Kathmandu. I'm just the movement and I like it.

Um, if it hadn't been almost 4 hours, I'd say I'm still high on endorphins....