Go to the Article: Vacuum Compression of Plant Foods
This is a good information about vacuum compression of plant foods. This is very difficult techniques but I think it is safe and best for saving fruits, vegetables and meats for a long time.
- originally posted by sous vide
Would the double bag trick work on a clamp type vacuum sealer?
I believe you mean would vacuum compression work with an edge-style sealer? The answer is that it does not. You need the very low pressures made possible with a chamber-style sealer.
Do you need a chamber vacuum sealer with an oil pump to pull enough vacuum to make this happen? I know SVS has the re-branded VacMaster VP-112 (better off buying the cheaper unbranded one), but it's not an oil-pump. Wondering if I need to move up to the VP215C to pull enough vacuum.
Ian, you need to be able to reduce the surrounding pressure enough that water within the food begins to boil. In practice, this means reducing the pressure below 20 millibar and keeping it there for a minute or so in the chamber. I don't know if the VacMaster can achieve this—I haven't used one—but you might ask on our forum. There are many members who have these units.
If the fruits are kept cold (above freezing), can I sublimate the water inside them using this chamber vacuum?Thanks
Sadly not. The vacuum chamber doesn't reach a low enough pressure to effectively work as a freeze dryer (I've tried).
Can I add seasonings or flavors to the bag and still achieve compression?
Very cool explanation - love what it does to the texture and colour of melons. Last night I applied intense pressure to gravlax in mid-cure and it seems to advance the process. Our students at CFWI at Niagara College have really been enjoying your videos. Many thanks.mo
Yes, absolutely. We often infuse fruits and vegetables with flavorful liquids in this way. We'll be doing another video demonstration on that technique soon.
is there a reason you left the rind/skin of the fruit? does it help stop the fruit from getting too compressed or just done so we can see the difference?
Just done to make it look nice. Of course, with the watermelon, you can compress the rind with a pickling liquid to get instant pickled watermelon rind. Which is pretty tasty.
What is the shelf life after the compression without opening the bag?
- originally posted by sally
Shelf life is mostly dictated by refrigeration temperature. At 1 °C / 34 °F you can expect about 30 days, at 5 °C / 41 °F you should only expect about 5 days. If a food is very acidic, or has a lot of salt or sugar it will generally be longer.
We have a vacmaster and yes you can achieve compression
Is it safe to infuse with alcohol? The boiling point is much lower, and I'm worried about endangering the oil pump. With an oil pump, how long is it safe to keep boiling off the water in the fruit?
Your oil pump will be fine with a touch of alcohol, might even help drive out other moisture.
Could a vegetable become more compressed as time goes on? Will the vacuum continue to affect the product over time or is most of the effect achieved at the pulling of the vacuum?
Does the fruit or vegetable retail all of it's nutritional value after the process?! - Thank you!
Here's a pic of my compressed pineapple. Love the texture! !
Yup, my VP215 compresses well. I know someone with a VP112 that has said it also works well with compression.
Do yo have anytinhg about infusion and compression of fruits or vegetables? I can't find it.
So, A question: When I combine a fruit with alcohol in my vacuum chamber (say rum and pineapple) the completed product is delicious, but the wee bit of remaining, "unabsorbed" liquor smells rather like rubbing alcohol and tastes miserable. The combination of fruit/ alcohol (i.e. strawberry and vodka) is not relevant to the outcome, and the flavor profile of the remaining alcohol is very consistently nasty. I am using a VacMaster VP112S, proper bags, proper process and the like.
Finally, the question -
What is happening in the chamber that leaves me with "lees of rum", so to speak?
Thanks!!
what is the best way to store compressed fruit? how long will they stay nice in as well as out of the bag?
Chris Young partially answers the question below, talking about refrigeration. At this time (year 2020) his post is labelled as being 7 years old, so scroll down to those posts to find his. (Or ctrl-f to find his name if you're using a pc).
How can this be achieved with a food saver vacuum sealer ? Thx
so i tried vac sealing some juicy peaches in my avidarmor chamber vac, leaving about 3 inches of head space. the juice misted thruout the chamber and i cancelled the operation. what am i doing wrong & have i damaged the motor? i emailed the co. to ask about motor damage but they have not responded. is there a way to clean the motor? thx from vac sealer newbie...
This looks amazing! I can see Pineapple and Watermelon look great. What other fruits have people successfully used?
About 10 years ago, I had dinner at a Sacramento restaurant that served a compressed tomato Bloody Mary.. Anybody know how they did this. I’ve tried the obvious by vacuum sealing in my VacMaster a tomato with and without the skin. But it didn’t have the texture and taste I recall. Perhaps I should add some water and/or chicken stock and then purée it in my Vitamix or crook it and purée in in my Thermomix? Any ideas?
Cucumbers (peeled and seeded) look jewel-like. Honeydew melon might also be a good choice.
I saw someone of TV compress a gazpacho after he blended it. It made it redder.
