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In all times people have worried worried about how to store food for longer while preserving its nutritional and organoleptic properties as unaltered as possible, so to stock it without wasting it. In the past traditional methods included salting, smoking and drying. Following to technical innovations and the advent of electricity, the need or opportunity has emerged to make use of electrical appliances. Among others, refrigerators definitely are the most diffused; at the second position we find vacuum sealers, used for professional purposes and with an aim to further expand food shelf-life.
When entering in contact with the air, food oxidizes. The most obvious way to avoid this is removing the air. There are two different typologies of vacuum sealers. Chamber vacuum sealers are used in professional contexts and evacuate the air inside and outside the package. In order to do so, the food is laid in a specific airtight case; once closed, the pump pulls out the air leaving a void in the drawer and therefore also in the package, thus ensuring a more powerful aspiration and a better result. In the case of sealers with external aspiration, only the air inside the package – that will be positioned outside the machine – is vacuumed. These machines are more suitable for a domestic use. Moreover, while chamber vacuum sealers can be used for external aspiration, the opposite is not possible with its counterpart.
Depending on the specific purpose, it is possible to find industrial and home vacuum sealers. Besides the frequency of use, the choice needs to take into account also the space available and the desired type of installation, because size and weight can widely vary from case to case. Professional machines are usually to be installed inset, but nothing forbids to integrate them to an ordinary modular kitchen. Given the above-average robustness they need to grant, chamber-style sealers are made of stainless steel. Recessed vacuum sealers lend themselves well for chamber-like use and better serve a frequent and industrial use; at the same time they cost more and occupy more space. Plastic vacuum sealers have an inferior vacuum capacity and less powerful pumps. In addition, thanks to the low thermal conductivity, plastic guarantees a safer use in case high temperatures are reached. Vacuum sealers with external aspiration are more recommended for less frequent uses, both due to their low price and for the possibility to be stowed when not in use.
The choice of a vacuum sealer must be also made in function of the quantities and size of the food to be packaged. Plastic bags are made of PA (polyamide) or PE (polyethylene) and are available in different sizes depending on the food to be stored. There are special bags for liquids conservation and bags allowing sous vide cooking. Embossed bags are suitable for sealers with external vacuum, since they let the air out during the vacuum cycle. Only one facet is embossed and they are thicker. Smooth bags are only used with chamber vacuum sealers.
Vacuum sealed conservation is also known as “sealing in negative pressure” because the aspiration of the air from the bag provokes a depressurization, if compared to normal atmospheric pressure. Some vacuum sealers models allow to set the vacuum power (or void value), the speed of aspiration and the level (or percentage) of vacuum sealing. Choosing for a level of vacuum sealing rather than another is strictly linked to the type of food to be packaged. For more delicate kinds of food and for liquids, power needs to be lower than with more resistant food like meat and vegetables. With the latter vacuum sealing can be almost total. The supply of a double pump ensures the machine a longer durability. Also the speed of vacuuming and the capacity depends on the level of performance the device can reach.
Once vacuum-sealed, food can be cooled, frozen, pasteurized or cooked. Sous vide cooking was born between France and the US in the ‘70s and definitely has some benefits. In the first place, it keeps the food nutritional values unchanged, since there is no loss of liquids and steams, which instead remain inside the bag. Generally the cooking temperature is lower (around 50°C-60°C) and homogeneous. Moreover cooking times are much shorter, resulting in more energy efficiency. Food is seasoned and packed raw, then it is put in the bag and vacuumed. At that point it is possible to dunk it in boiling water. Sous vide cooking is ideal to cook delicate types of food that in this way are uniformly cooked and keep a stronger taste. Eventually, thanks to the almost absent loss of humidity, food keeps soft and juicy. The vacuum sealing case (available only in chamber vacuum sealers) can be combined to specific models of multi-function ovens for sous vide cooking.