Need Suggestions to Prevent Clumping in Rubs and Whatnot

[mgaretz]

Switch from onion and garlic powder to granulated. And use turbinado sugar instead of brown. Lately I’ve been out of turbinado and have just used regular white sugar. Can’t say I have noticed a difference.

[HotSun]

Thanks mgaretz ! I noticed better results with the granulated garlic I now use, but I think I will follow your suggestion on the onion, too.

[Santamarina]

Perhaps it’s the low humidity of my part of Southern California, but I’ve never had any clumping problems that couldn’t be resolved with a few vigorous shakes of the jar.

But as mgaretz suggested, I use granulated garlic and onion instead of powder.

[Michael_in_TX]

I picked up a bottle of Meat Church's Holy Cow rub a few weeks ago and when I went to use it, it was really clumped up. I thought I had gotten an old bottle and contacted them. They informed me that they don't use any anti-clumping agents in their rubs.

Part of me is kinda okay with that.....seeing silicon dioxide on a label is also weird to me (as it is glass/sand). (And the rub was not old, the pepper scent and subsequent flavor was strong.)

No free lunch, as it were, I guess.....

[JHB]

I've also noticed that Meat Church rubs clump. On the other hand, I haven't had problems with Oakridge's rubs, which come in a resealable bag. Meat Church also sells it rub in resealable bags, so maybe that would help, but I haven't tried it yet.

[KillerNoms]

I use mason jars for nearly all my spices and rubs. I used to use a food saver with the little attachment you'd put over a canning lid. Worked very well, except with anything with a fine powder can sometimes foul the seal. Then I switched to a chamber type sealer, which pulls a much better vacuum and does a better job, though the faster "suckage" sometimes causes more disturbance to finely powdered contents and thus is more likely to foul the seal.

Unless the contents are well chilled, the act of pulling the vacuum can actually remove much of the moisture, no matter whether in a jar or a bag. Warming it up a little before applying the vacuum REALLY helps the vacuum get the moisture out.

It's also a nice trick for drying fussy pellets that have been exposed to too much humidity. You just microwave them briefly, just enough to make them warm to the touch, then apply the vacuum and blammo, nice dry pellets!

[HotSun]

Thanks for sharing KillerNoms , that is a brilliant solution. I used to use a similar device (Pump-n-Seal) back in the 90's. Most of my rubs end up in Mason jars, since I make them in bulk, so maybe I'll try this method again.

[LA Pork Butt]

I use granulated garlic and granulated onion because they are less prone to clumping. I live in Dallas, Texas which is less humid than other parts of the country but more humid than you might think. I would think that central heating and air conditioning would level the field somewhat in regard to humidity. I don’t have too much of a problem with clumping that either shaking the bottle or mixing with a fork won’t solve.

[HotSun]

Thanks LA Pork Butt , I just found a pound of granulated onion in the cellar yesterday, so I'll just switch from powder to that once I use up what I have. The granulated garlic works well for most applications.

[WayneT]

I'm pretty excited to bump this topic with a quasi-review of a great rub storage solution, albeit not a perfect one.



I found this hand held vacuum pump on Amazon made by Vesta Precision. It is far superior to any of the others I've bought for vacuum sealing SV or freezer bags.

After doing some additional research, I also found these Vesta Precision vacuum canisters, that come in three sizes.

About 6 weeks ago, I dumped an entire jar of Meat Church Honey Hog Hot dry rub into the smallest canister to test it for prolonged freshness and clump mitigation. I threw in a couple of food grade desiccant packs just for added insurance.



After 6 weeks in the cupboard at an average indoor humidity of around 55%, this rub was bone dry. Those tiny clumps in the picture crumbled on touch and were also dry.


The knob on top of the canister has three positions, unlock, vacuum, and lock. To open it, you turn the knob to unlock and will immediately hear the hiss of air being sucked inside by the vacuum. To seal it, turn it to vacuum and place the pump on top and activate it.


When it seals, the small rubber dome on the corner will pop inward with an audible snap. Then you simply remove the pump, turn the knob to lock and store.

I would definitely still add some desiccant packs for further de-humidification, especially with rubs that have liquid derivatives. The only slight downside is that the smallest canister size is 0.8 L. I really wish they made some half that size, which would make this perfect.

[WayneT]

HotSun , jfmorris , WillTravelForFood , Michael_in_TX et. al., I'm tagging you guys on this due to your interest level. See my post above ^.

[Michael_in_TX]

This was quite interesting!

[jfmorris]

Thanks - I've got a vacuum sealer that has a hose for use to evacuate air from containers like this. Just never used it except to seal bags. As you say - smaller would be better for spices, but I've bookmarked this.