Yes! And they try to fancy-up the package so the think we won't notice. It's bad enough that they jack up the prices, but they try to insult our intelligence too. Oh boy, now I feel better. Thanks for the little rant time.

Now that you guys mentioned it, I guess we must be running low on powdered sugar here as well. I'm in central Alabama. I have two bags of Domino 2# 10X left from about 10 bags I bought a month ago. Dummy me thought that there must be more people in my area looking at CakeCentral and using up all my Domino sugar!!

I have gotten in the habit of buying five bags or so as soon as I see it on the shelf. I just keep it rotated in my cabinet so that I know which to use first. I always look at that stuff on almost every item because my husband used to work for Pepsi and that was a major part of the job to make sure stuff was rotated (oldest first).

Anyway, WalMart is where I shop because there is quite a price difference when you go to Food World or Winn Dixie. Funny story, sorta...I didn't want to fight the crowd at WalMart last week so I decided I was going to just pay whatever the cost at Winn Dixie. Wasn't crowded, had a good bit of the items I needed, the meat looked good...but I just couldn't do it. Called my husband, said I tried, but now I have to drive all the way back across town to WalMart! I just couldn't pay .25-.50 more for a can of beans there than I could at WalMart! It just wasn't right!

Well we haven't had a shortage of powdered sugar up here in the frosty north.

A note about beet sugar, when you color your icing, the beet pieces will tint darker than the rest, so it will have a speckled appearance. I have seen it happen, a girl used some in one of my Wilton Classes. We always use C&H anyway. I am going to have to check on Costco or Sams brand though as I am going to start making bday cakes and such and will need to find a cheaper way.

Chelle

From what I have noticed--if it is cane sugar it will say so. I think if it doesn't say then it is beet. I can't find where it says beet sugar on any of it. One of those deals of "if you don't ask, we don't tell" I guess. Just looked at my bag from Sam's and it is 10x but ingredients say sugar and cornstarch. I kinda think your choice of powdered sugar is like your choice of cake mixes. Whatever trips your trigger and works for you.

I was wondering why the sugar shortage! Our Walmart here in Houston, Texas started around Thanksgiving carrying a different brand of powdered sugar...at around 1.40 for 2lbs! Just last week, they had some of the Great Value (Walmart) brand for right around $1 a bag while the other stuff was up to 1.60! I have had no trouble with any sugar for icing or fondant and have not sifted it since I took the Wilton classes.

I shop at Super Wal-Mart, and I too have noticed the 2lb bags of Domino powdered sugar have been extremely low or out several times here in Nashville. About 1 month ago, they were out for a couple of weeks! I was wondering what was going on.....

Now that everyone is on to the fact that there is a sugar shortage, everyone will be out. I can just see all these people from CC rushing to the stores this week and buying all they have. LOL Will be worse than the day after Thanksgiving sales!

I contacted Imperial Sugar - the maker of sugars of all brand - by email and ask them for explanation on why we're experiencing sugar shortage. Once I hear from them, I will be sure to post it here. I just thought it won't hurt to ask them and maybe they'll give us some answer. Maybe they weren't aware of it so it's good to let them know.

Was online before my Red Hatters and I went out for supper and again since I got home looking up beet sugar and cane sugar. I've read so much that I am totally confused! I couldn't find anywhere at Wilton.com where it says to use cane sugar but I know my instructor told me to. One of my fellow Red Hatters is from Hawaii and was raised on a sugar plantation. I just emailed her and asked for her output on the subject. If she sends me any info I will post it.

I got this information from the baking911 site...

POWDERED = CONFECTIONER'S = ICING: Called by all names, it is finely crushed white sugar ground to a smooth powder and then sifted before putting it in a box or bag for sale. Confectioners sugar is available in different finenesses; 10X is a certain size grain, vs. say, 4X. The higher the number, the finer it is such as the 10X confectioners sugar available in supermarkets. You can't make finer powdered sugar at home because no home processor will grind it to that powdery texture.

We do not have a shortage here in MD, but I had heard there was one....I guess ours comes from a different area.

Good luck on your hunt!
Julia

Guys, here it is! I finally got an email from the sugar company. I promised you all that I'll post it here:

Gina - The sugar shortage is due to Hurricane's Katrina and Rita. When Katrina hit, it closed one sugar factory in Louisiana (which is just starting to operate again) and closed our sugar refinery down for approximately 3 weeks. With the hurricane, FEMA took a majority of the trucks, so that when we were back producing, we had a difficult time being able to transport product. When Rita hit, it further hampered our efforts to supply sugar to our customers. It also didn't help that the timing of the hurricanes was in our busy season of trying to produce sugar for the holidays.

Now that the holidays are over, we are doing our best to get all of our customers back in stock with sugar. You should start seeing a massive improvement on the sugar shelf within weeks.

Thank you!

Angela Hatfield
Imperial Sugar Co.

Thanks, surfergina! That's really nice of them to actually answer your email & for you to share it with us. The only question I still have - just how many more weeks will it be before we start seeing that "massive improvement"? LOL I hope it's soon! And I can't believe FEMA would commandeer the sugar company's trucks...guess they can do as they please, even if it does hurt someone's business.

Talked to my Red Hat online buddy and she said that they closed the sugar plantation where she was raised in Hawaii after 130 years because Americans were buying their sugar elsewhere. Said she buys hers from Hawaii that is processed in California. I would guess C & H. As for the difference in cane and beet, she said she could not answer the technical aspects of that. After reading online about both I can't either. LOL Said I would post if she had anything to say about it so I did. I was amazed to find out how many states do grow and process beet sugar.

I feel your pain!! lol .. I'm in Louisiana and confectioner's sugar has been very hard to find.. when you do find it, the prices have gone up from $.98 for a 2 pound bag to $1.48 for a 2 pound bag ... it's still crazy here and I can't tell you when or if it'll ever go back to normal here again.

I just found some at WalMart in Montgomery, AL (20 miles from my hometown of Prattville, AL). The price is now at $1.32 for a 2lb bag of Domino Powdered Sugar. That has gone up about .20 that I'm aware of. They had about 10 bags and I got 5 of them!! The Great Value brand was still 1.00 a bag but I tested every one of them and they were not sealed completely. Every time I would shake them little poofs of sugar would come out.

Our WalMart (central Mississippi) has been having a hard time keeping bags of powdered sugar in stock since Katrina. I specifically asked why and they said it was because the sugar came out of the refinery in New Orleans which was shut down and they were looking for another supplier. They get it in periodically but it goes fast.