How to make my meringues less sticky? I've come a long way making meringues, beginning with brown all-around gooey mounds years ago and reaching stiff, tall and white pretties almost every time nowadays, but there is one thing I cannot master.

My meringues are always sticky on the outside. Not very sticky like before baking, but they stick to fingers and to each other (if I let them sit for an hour in a bowl). When I used to buy meringues, they were always kind of rough on the outside and mine have something like a smooth skin.

My current receipe goes like this: beat the whites with a pinch of salt until stiff, add powdered sugar and a bit of potato flour, beat 5-10 minutes more, form meringues on a baking tray, bake at 70-100 deg C (160-210F) for at least 2 hours (more on a humid day), cool and immediately close in boxes to prevent soaking in humidity.

Maybe I should sprinkle them with more sugar just before baking? Grandma just gave me 12 whites (she has some funny superstitions about healthy and non-healthy foods), so I can experiment tomorrow, but I don't have any ideas.
If the meringues are coming out of the oven sticky, you might lower the temperature slightly and extend the drying time (to avoid browning)--they should feel quite dry and very light coming out of the oven.

Sugar is hydrophilic--if the air is humid, any condensation--even when you cannot see it--on the meringues will dissolve the sugar, and then they will start to feel sticky, and the downward spiral will begin.

According to all my searching, it is best to make them on a low humidity day.  Of course, where I live in the summer, we pretty much don't get those.

If you are having trouble with them in storage, you might try to buy some desiccant packets, and put them in the container.  Most desiccant is not food safe, so it should not touch the meringue.  Amazon has lots of options.