Fun with the new vacuum food sealer; flash pickling.

[LDO]

I got a new vacuum sealer a few days ago. This one has a vacuum hose for sealing hard containers, instead of bags only. Mom wanted to make pickled onions last night, so we put them in a vacuum. Opened them up 10 minutes later and they were good to go. This was a recipe for something that justvsits for an hour or so, but still, the vacuum helped. We could see tiny bubbles coming outbox the onions, and those bubbles got replaced with pickling solution. 

I also tried a party snack ibhad read about a long time ago; thin slices of apple in vodka. We saw a lot of bubbles coming out of these. I opened the containear after just a minute or so and those things were saturated. Too strong for me. It was really just for curiosity. I don't throw wild parties and just don't drink a lot. I got out of control a few times as a younger man and those days are over. 

 

[LDO]

I don't know how much vacuum thing pulls, but I would guess that it's not too much, since the manufacturer also makes the plastic containers that are marketed to anybody who wants them. I think it would be cool to try a stronger pump and a vacuum chamber for other food experiments. I have made spicy pickled carrots several times. The recipe says to refrigerate for 2-7 days. It would be interesting  to find out if a vacuum would get good results on the same day.

Btw the recipe is from Alton Brown's old show, Good Eats. You can catch reruns on The Food Network. It's a small recipe, just one jar. I have multiplied the recipe and canned them in Mason jars so they keep longer. They get hotter as time goes by. I once found a couple of jars that were about a year old. They were just too spicy for me. 

Here's a pic from foodnetwork.com. I lost my old pics.

[ChrisBcritter]

I picked up a Reynolds vacuum sealer a few months ago and I'm experimenting with using a small Tupperware container as a mini-vacuum chamber for getting bubbles out of freshly-poured resin parts. I've had some success, at least, considering the valve is a pinhole in the lid sealed with duct tape.

Maybe I'll try that FoodSaver container next, if they're cheap.

[LDO]

This one was not, but it had a lot of features we wanted. 

You can spend less if all you want is a vacuum hose. I do wonder if it will pull enough vacuum to do what you want.