~~~ if you don't want to.. especially is you're going to use them in a salad.

I discovered by simply dropping a half packet or less into an 8" pan with ¾" of water will not only soften them, but rather swell them to twice the thickness if you let them set for for about 20-minutes while preparing the the rest of the salad (chilled or not).

Or, you can soften one quarter of the block the same way and add it a cup of soup or whatever.