Vacuum chamber sealers are common in commercial food businesses, but you rarely see them in home kitchens. PolyScience may be changing that with their
300 Series vacuum sealer. It's not exactly cheap -it's almost $1,000- but it's much more affordable than everything else in the market (commercial units typically run $2,000 & up....way up). Plus we offer free shipping while the current stock lasts.
It's typically used for quickly sealing food product in an air-free environment, but it's good for so much more than that. Because it pulls a vacuum from the entire chamber, the pressure inside and outside the bag stays the same while the air is removed. That means you can leave liquid in the bag. 'Food Saver' type bar vacuum sealers pull directly through the opening, so you can't easily keep liquid in the bag. The vacuum chamber's ability to pull a vacuum inside and outside the bag is invaluable for quickly making pickles or marinating foods in record time.
The vacuum can also be used to compress delicate foods- today we're going to demo that process with a yellow watermelon. It's super simple- you just need to keep a couple factors in mind.
1. Keep the product really cold. As the pressure drops on the surface of the watermelon, so does the boiling point of the liquid on it. Keeping it fully chilled helps prevent any low temperature boiling.
2. Cut it into a shape that will compress nicely. Squares/rectangles/thick pieces compress well. Weird shaped scraps do not.
Once compressed, the watermelon is noticeably different. Denser texture, slightly more concentrated flavor, and it picks up a beautiful stained-glasslike appearance. Applications are limitless, and the process works for other melons and delicate foods as well.