What to do with a Garage Full of Sugar

A hummingbird visits a feeder, overlooking lovely Canyon de Lallo in Austin, Tx., filled with water sweetened with Imperial Sugar.

by Ed Lallo, Founder, Newsroom Ink

In 2009 when my former partners at The News Group Net and I founded the first dynamic online newsroom staffed by professional journalists for the Imperial Sugar Company, ImperialSugarNewsroom.com, little did I realize when our contract ended two years later I would inherit a garage filled with a wide variety of Imperial Sugar products.

Brown sugar, raw sugar, confectionary sugar, sugar in boxes, sugar in bags –both plastic and paper- and sugar in shakers; all stored on my cluttered garage shelving next to paint cans and lawn trimmers. How did such a menagerie of sweet products from the leading name in sugar end up on the same shelf as week killers?

Posting more than 200 stories on the Imperial Sugar newsroom during those two-years required an untold amount of photos. Studies confirmed posts containing interesting, storytelling photos are more likely to be read and used by news media around the world. That is why my Austin garage shelves are lined with Imperial Sugar, Dixie Crystals and Wholesome Food products – props from photo shoots past.

Mix the sugar into boiling water and let cool. Before filling the hummingbird feeder, make sure to add one drop of red dye to attract the birds – that’s it. Simple!

There is only so much sugar a family of three can, or should, consume. My wife has used bags of both brown and white sugar for cooking and baking, by mother enjoys the shakers filled with cinnamon sugar for her morning toast, our neighbors have inherited bag after bag of Wholesome products and Auntie Diana gets a box for her yearly consumption.

This summer I found a new use for the sweet taste of Imperial Sugar – hummingbird feed.

It seems that the Texas drought has made hummingbirds especially thirsty for the taste of water flavored with the sweetness of Imperial Sugar. A recent survey of hummingbirds visiting the back-porch feeder overlooking lovely Canyon de Lallo, revealed they unanimously preferred the taste of Imperial Sugar water to other brands.

Simple to make, the receipt calls for two parts water for one part of Imperial sugar. Mix the sugar into boiling water and let cool. Before filling the hummingbird feeder, make sure to add one drop of red dye to attract the birds – that’s it. Simple!

As the Texas heat continues, remember to keep the hummingbird feeder filled with Texas’ own Imperial Sugar – water that is. Next I have to find something to do with the cases of Imperial’s Baker’s Supreme frosting mix next to lawn mower.