Need Suggestions to Prevent Clumping in Rubs and Whatnot

[HotSun]

I have been mixing my own ribs and spice mixes for a long time and have a recurring issue that I thought I would post here.

The big problem I am dealing with is clumping in some of my rubs and also my onion powder (the 'whatnot'). I have tried to mitigate this by adding some cornstarch to absorb excess moisture, but I have had limited success. It is not just a brown sugar issue, it happens with some of my mixes that have no added sugar.

Does anyone have suggestions, such as silicon dioxide or other flow agent? I'm getting tired of chiseling things from glass containers; that usually ends badly.

As always, any help is appreciated!

[Spinaker]

Silicon Dioxide, calcium silicate, magnesium carbonate are the best ones for rubs. I sell quite a bit of that stuff to food companies that use it as an anti-caking and flow agents.

[bbqLuv]

Right on 👍🍺🍻
I look for anti caking agents in store bought ribs.

[MBMorgan]

Silica gel moisture absorbing packs like this: https://www.amazon.com/Dry-Premium-P...3D&sr=8-5&th=1

You can find all different sizes and shapes. Just make sure that whatever you buy is food grade.

[HotSun]

Thanks MBMorgan ! I have some in the pantry for other purposes, never though of this application. I'll give it a try.

[WayneT]

+1 But, if your rubs contain things like honey (think Meat Church) or molasses, then even the food grade desiccant packs won't keep them from clumping.

[GolfGeezer]

A lot of restaurants use white rice in their salt shakers to prevent clumping. It works as long as the shaker holes are too small to pass the rice when used. I imagine this would work for rubs as well. I haven't tried it myself yet, but I might have to do that now since you caused me think about it.

[HotSun]

Yep, that's what we always did in our restaurants and it works great

[WillTravelForFood]

rub faster.

[WillTravelForFood]

whoops, that's supposed to read "use the rub faster".

[HotSun]

Haha , WillTravelForFood that came to mind, since joining AR I have been using them a lot faster.

[klflowers]

Not touching this

[rickgregory]

Silica gel moisture absorbing packs like this: https://www.amazon.com/Dry-Premium-P...3D&sr=8-5&th=1

You can find all different sizes and shapes. Just make sure that whatever you buy is food grade.

This is my suggestion. They're cheap, reusable (you can reheat them at low temp in the oven to dry them again and they work fine) and they don't get in the rub/spice. Anti-caking agents... do and while they're food safe, I'd rather not have them in my food for texture and taste reasons.

[jfmorris]

Good subject, and one I am curious for a resolution to as well. I used to put my home mixed rubs like MMD into a jar with a tight lid, but they would always clump before the next use. Same with plastic flip top spice rubs like the ones Henrik sold. Once you open it, the moisture in the air gets into the rub and it starts clumping. Even with a glass jar with a tight lid - much more air tight than the plastic spice rub containers - the clumping occurs.

Lately I've been storing my big batches of MMD or other rubs in zip lock bags rather than in mason jars, and it seems to be clumping a lot less. I made a big batch of MMD back in July, and then replenished the same bag with another big batch recently, and its not clumping in a good freezer bag with a zipper type sealer on it.

[CHNeal]

I find the rice to help a great deal. I have also taken to storing quantities of my rubs in zip lock freezer back as it much easier to keep fresh and to de- lump without the chiseling…

[HotSun]

Thanks CHNeal , it seems to work for our salt shakers (always did that in our restaurants), so I'll have to give this a try.

[HotSun]

Lately I've been storing my big batches of MMD or other rubs in zip lock bags rather than in mason jars, and it seems to be clumping a lot less. I made a big batch of MMD back in July, and then replenished the same bag with another big batch recently, and its not clumping in a good freezer bag with a zipper type sealer on it.

Thanks jfmorris . I use a combination of regular mason jars and the old style canning jars, both of which are air and water-tight. I stopped using polyethylene bags like Ziploc because I though things getting stale quickly. I later learned that polyethylene is porous (meaning not airtight in this context) at the molecular level, and not suited for airtight applications.

I'll test this out as you suggested and see how this turns out.

[jfmorris]

I only buy the gallon size freezer bags - they are thicker than the storage bags, maybe that helps.

I am sure I could use my vacuum sealer to keep rubs really fresh and dry, but that would be too much work.

[HotSun]

Silicon Dioxide, calcium silicate, magnesium carbonate are the best ones for rubs. I sell quite a bit of that stuff to food companies that use it as an anti-caking and flow agents.

Magnesium carbonate is a new one for me, so I'll have to check it out. Thanks for the suggestions Spinaker !

[MBMorgan]

I could be facetious and suggest that you move to dry-as-a-bone Colorado (solved the clumping problem for me) ... but that would be totally out of character .

[HotSun]

Haha, that's funny and don't tempt me.

[klflowers]

I thought about trying something, but I resorted to reusing larger commercial rub containers and a fork to break up the clumps before I use the rub. It seldom gets so clumped up that a fork won't break it up.

[WayneT]

My NutriChef vacuum sealer has an accessory port on it for pulling a vacuum on other things. Doesn't some company make and carry small, rigid vacuum canisters? I've used the small hand held vacuum pumps and the smallest sous vide bags that come with it for storing rubs but they eventually lose vacuum. Plus, if there's even the smallest amount of liquid in the rub, like molasses or honey, the vacuum bag will clump the rub together.

I also use some of the small OXO vacuum seal lid containers but they don't really hep much. I even throw in a couple of food grade desiccant packs to no avail. It's a vexing problem to be sure.

[HotSun]

My NutriChef vacuum sealer has an accessory port on it for pulling a vacuum on other things. Doesn't some company make and carry small, rigid vacuum canisters? I've used the small hand held vacuum pumps and the smallest sous vide bags that come with it for storing rubs but they eventually lose vacuum. Plus, if there's even the smallest amount of liquid in the rub, like molasses or honey, the vacuum bag will clump the rub together.
I also use some of the small OXO vacuum seal lid containers but they don't really hep much. I even throw in a couple of food grade desiccant packs to no avail. It's a vexing problem to be sure.

WayneT , I had a device in the '90's which would suck the air from a mason-type jar. You would poke a hole in the lid, put a little valve (essentially just a piece of tape with a rubber strip) over the hole, and hand pump the air out with the device. It was one of those infomercial things, but I probably picked it up at Big Lots. It actually worked, for the most part, as long as the tape/valve was fresh enough.

Just checked the interwebs and found it, Pump-N-Seal!

https://www.amazon.com/Pump-N-Seal-Package-freshness-powerful-batteries/dp/B083RH28BP

There are other similar products, just searching: Mason Jar Vacuum Pump

Fun times.

[Dr J]

You can use a coffee grinder or you can pour rub in a layer on baking sheet and bake for 20 minute at 170 degrees and it will be like you just bought it,