Monday, August 20, 2012

Vacuum Sealing Dry Foods in Mason Jars

Set-up to seal jars. Vacuum tube attaches to a port on top of my sealer, just behind the tubing.

I've had a vacuum sealer for several years and I love it! I bought it because I was tired of freezer-burn on the meats in the freezer, and for sealing veggies in bags to freeze... but I haven't been using of all the functions... like vacuum sealing dry goods in mason jars.

Inside of the sealing cap, and 15 bean soup mix.
Vacuum lid attached to seal jar, be sure metal jar lid is centered.

I hadn't thought much about vacuum sealing jars of purchased dried goods or home dehydrated fruits, vegetables, jerky and even mushrooms, because in my pantry they generally stay crisp, partly due to the dry heat from the furnace in winter. However, lately I cooked some stored dried beans that took forever to cook to a soft, edible stage. 

So now I'm wondering if vacuum sealing keeps moisture out, can it also keep the minimal amount of moisture (like in beans) in? It's sure worth a try since I already store most of those items in jars.

FoodSaver makes a Universal lid, but I couldn't get it to work on Rock Candy. Guess I need a wide-mouth lid sealer cap.

I'm also looking at vacuum sealing items that become rancid from exposure to oxygen, like flour and cornmeal, which I usually keep in the freezer. (One of my goals is to reduce dependence on the freezer.) Sugar and salt that are vacuum sealed won't become hard bricks either, and herbs and spices will have a much longer shelf life.

Another benefit of vacuum sealing dry goods in jars is that the lids can be re-used over and over, unlike the lids on home canned foods. For example, if you open a jar of thyme, you can take out what you need, and immediately re-seal the jar. (I just got a big bag of French Thyme from Penzey's, it's far tastier than what I grow in my garden. I'd hate for it to lose all flavor before I use it up, so it will get vacuum sealed in a pint canning jar.)


But what if there's no electricity? It's cheap and easy to make a hand cranked pump to seal jars. The pump is an automotive vacuum pump (I believe it's used to bleed brake lines), and the jar cap is made for use with electric vacuum sealers.

Wendy Dewitt has some great food storage videos on Youtube. Wendy has taught food storage for years; she's a Mormon, and the Mormon church recommends every member stores a year's supply of food. The video I watched was quite long, but she covers a lot of ground in it, including vacuum sealing jars of dried foods, where to store what, and rotation of stored goods. Her other videos are shorter segments, and more manageable if you only have a few minutes at a time to watch them.

16 comments:

  1. I LOVE MY VAC SEALER JAR SEALERS! Every time I purchase beans, chocolate chips, crackers, etc. I now put them into a jar and seal.

    I had first heard of them by Wendy's videos which I stumbled on by chance while searching about emergency food storage. I didn't even know they existed - foodsaver doesn't exactly do much advertising on them. I think it must be because if you know you can use your canning jars you won't buy their plastic storage containers!!!

    Wish I'd heard of them sooner :)

    Leah's Mom / ss

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My FoodSaver Accessory kit came with a regular mouth jar sealer and a larger vac sealer container that one can use to vac seal odd sized jars. That was before they came out with their plastic storage containers.

      I have a wide mouth jar sealer on order and 5-6 shelves of dry goods in jars to seal.

      Delete
  2. The only things I have trouble sealing are powders like ground cinnamon. I tried putting wax paper over the powder to keep it from being pulled up the tube but it didn't work.

    I love seeing my jars of beans and dehydrated vegetables on the shelf.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I haven't tried fine powders.... yet.

      I often get cinnamon sticks and grate them on a microplane, so the sticks themselves could be sealed.

      Delete
    2. tpals, I had to call FoodSaver about something else, so I asked about fine powders like cinnamon while I had them on the phone. They said to put a basket-type coffee filter upside down inside the jar (so the flat bottom is against the powder) and that should prevent powder from getting in the vacuum tube.

      HTH

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    3. Good idea on the coffee filter!

      LM/SS

      Delete
  3. I don't think you do the whole blog awards bit, but I find this site genuinely inspirational and informative. You rock.

    http://ladyimbriumsholocron.wordpress.com/2012/08/22/playing-catch-up/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are right, I don't play the blog awards game... but I get great rewards from those who read my blog and comment, and also those who learn a tidbit from my posts.

      Thanks for the kind words!

      Delete
  4. It looks very useful product and i hope that the electricity bill is also come less than we get in the use of refrigerator.


    Carpet Cleaning Toronto 911

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  5. hey thats an awesome idea. we really need airtight sealed containers for storing baked and other perishable eatables.

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  6. I wish there was a sealer top for the big 1 gallon glass jars that fruit salad, etc. come in. But then I'd need lids to fit them....

    But I do have the 1/2 gallon mason jars (actually Ball jars) and the sealer top for them. It appears I have the same vac sealer that you do, also. But mine is almost 3 years old.

    I got the game sealer one because we vac seal all the meat we butcher ourselves. I've not had a problem sealing fine stuff, so far. Just make real sure the seal on the lid is real clean.

    I did have trouble off and on with getting the regular size (smaller of the 2) to seal. But I read a hint some where that if you put an extra lid in, it would seal the lower one. And it does, real well.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Many companies are making a food products for selling in the market. So i think, this vacuum sealer is very useful product for them to seal their food products effectively and preserve it long time from spoiling.

    emballage sous vide

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  8. Wouldn't closing the jar and keeping around it keep the moisture in too:) My grandfather bakes his jars and then puts the beans in.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Probably, but a lot for me depends on where I store the jars. My house is so very dry in winter that it even sucks the moisture out of my skin and hair.

      On the otherhand, the jars of dried stuff I store in the outside root cellar have the lids/rings dipped in wax. Otherwise the lids get rusty from too much humidity.

      Delete
    2. When you pull a strong enough vacuum the moisture would sublimate and get pulled out with the air. It mostly depends on how deep of a vacuum you are pulling.

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  9. Do you know if these are available in the UK? I've been looking for sealers and vacuum packing supplies on eBay but nothing that looks like this, thanks

    ReplyDelete

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