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The Use Of Vacuum Sealer Bags In Modern Kitchens

JenniferWaller | Mar 24, 2010 |

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Like kitchen bags, vacuum technology has been used with food products for a long time. It was around the time of Napoleon that vacuum sealing food became popular. In those days, however, the process was only applied to canning. And that's pretty much where it was left. There were some changes in the apparatus used – for example, lead soldered cans were replaced by aluminum cans or glass jars, and later plastic containers, but the idea of applying vacuum to food products was mostly viewed as a process for long-term food preservation. The vacuum applied was the vacuum created naturally when hot foodstuffs and hot containers were sealed and allowed to cool to room temperature. As the hot air inside the container cooled, it contracted and created a vacuum. Bacteria that might live in such a vacuum were killed off in the initial heating process, and so food was adequately preserved.

While this approach was good for long-term food storage, there were several limitations. First, the heat required by the canning process wasn't appropriate for many food items. And secondly, this approach was really only good for fresh foods. It wasn't really applicable for leftovers, and you wouldn't use it for vegetables such as lettuce, or for fruits that you wanted to stay crisp and fresh. For those kinds of foods, kitchen bags were invented. These were inexpensive plastic bags that could hold a sandwich, or a head of lettuce, or fresh strawberries, etc… Everyone is familiar with the now generic term "zip-lock." But these bags, although they were advertised, as "sealing in freshness," really did nothing to preserve foods other than separate them from ongoing exposure to contaminants. The foods weren't really preserved much longer than, for example, just placing them on a shelf in the refrigerator. The advent of vacuum sealer bags changed that drastically. Vacuum bags don't rely on heating and subsequent cooling to create internal vacuum. They are evacuated by an external devise and then are usually thermally sealed close. Along with the air, moisture is removed. This does a lot to increase the useful lifespan of the food thus sealed. Recently, bags have come to market that look like typical zip-lock bags.

A subtle difference is the presence of very small channels in the bag which allow air to be drawn out, and a one-way seal at a specific location. A small hand-held vacuum device is attached to this location with a suction cup, and then switched on. Air is withdrawn from the bag through the small channels, and then the suction cup is slid off of the seal. When that happens, the bag remains evacuated, because although air can be drawn out through the seal, it cannot readily enter bag into the bag that way. These types of vacuum sealer bags are especially useful not only for keeping foods fresh longer, but also for use as freezer bags. Removal of the air removes moisture that is responsible for ice development and freezer burn when foods are stored in the freezer. Foods packaged this way easily last 3 to 4 times longer than food stored in regular kitchen bags. Save money and plastic too by purchasing vacuum sealer rolls.