Vacuum sealing dehydrated broccoli

[lumabean]

I've been dehydrating a lot of frozen vegetables, and then vacuum sealing in bags with the FoodSaver. All have been working out well -- except the broccoli. Saturday, I placed some in a FoodSaver bag, popped in an oxygen absorber, and sealed the bag -- no air was in it, and all looked well. Then yesterday, I was putting more bags in storage, and saw that the broccoli bag puffed up -- tons of air in there. I figured I must have done something wrong when sealing, so I opened, repackaged in a fresh bag, and again sealed it up. No air in sight. This morning I checked, and the same thing happened -- the bag has a lot of air in it. This hasn't happened with anything else I've dehydrated and sealed with the FoodSaver.

 

Any tips on how to prevent this, or as to what I may be doing wrong?

 

Maybe this is something that is just not good for vacuum sealing in bags?

[The WE2's]

Hmmm...I don't put my dehydrated veggies in bags. I use only jars. My first thought though is that you're not leaving enough room at the top of the bag? Often when I'm vacume sealing, I find I need TWO seams at the top. It might be that the oxygen absorber is drawing so well that it's bursting the seam? I'm not much help on this one because I don't put my dehydrated veggies in bags, I put them in jars and then vacume seal the jar. I do put just about everything that I plan to freeze or refrigerate into vacume sealed bags though and like I mentioned, sometimes I need 2 seams at the top (but I don't use oxygen absorbers) just as a safety precaution (especially when I repackage meats). Might try putting them into a jar with a oxygen absorber, and vacume sealing them there and see what happens.

[windmorn]

I found that broccoli sometimes pokes holes that are hard to see in the bag, especially the thinner ones. I went to a 5mil bag when I did meals to keep that from happening.

[The WE2's]

See! I knew there were some really terrific gals around here! I knew pasta's would punch holes but never gave a thought about broccoli!

[lumabean]

I found that broccoli sometimes pokes holes that are hard to see in the bag, especially the thinner ones. I went to a 5mil bag when I did meals to keep that from happening.

Thanks I will look for sturdier bags. I just ordered a bunch more on Amazon last night and didn't even think of how thick they were so I am going to have to check that out and look for thicker ones.

 

Hmmm...I don't put my dehydrated veggies in bags. I use only jars. My first thought though is that you're not leaving enough room at the top of the bag? Often when I'm vacume sealing, I find I need TWO seams at the top. It might be that the oxygen absorber is drawing so well that it's bursting the seam? I'm not much help on this one because I don't put my dehydrated veggies in bags, I put them in jars and then vacume seal the jar. I do put just about everything that I plan to freeze or refrigerate into vacume sealed bags though and like I mentioned, sometimes I need 2 seams at the top (but I don't use oxygen absorbers) just as a safety precaution (especially when I repackage meats). Might try putting them into a jar with a oxygen absorber, and vacume sealing them there and see what happens.

I wish I had more room to keep things in jars, but we rent a small-ish apartment and don't have the room for more than a few at a time, plus we'd have to leave in a bad situation and bags would be easier to carry quickly. I prefer glass to plastic in general, but until we get our own place, I have to make do. Someday though

 

I am in shelf envy of the ones I saw the lady on Dehydrate2Store build and display in her videos to store her jarred dehydrated items -- they are pretty, functional, and keep the items looking so pretty. Again, someday

Edited October 22, 2012 by lumabean

[Canned Nerd]

I would avoid the unnecessary expense of the OA packets when vacuum-sealing the bags since the air is already removed. The OA might have added that extra bit of vacuum to pull the dried broccoli hard against the bag and puncture it. If anything, use the Silica Gel packet to remove extra moisture.