Dicorain™ A New Way To Vacuum-Seal Some Foods
I love to take pictures to show how something works. So today, it’s about Dicorain™, a new way to vacuum seal bottled foods. Some of you were asking me about this Dicorain™. Ray mentioned it in a comment, and I decided to buy and try it. Matt mentioned I should post about it, so here we go, my friends. Please keep in mind I purchased this item myself.
Not all foods can be safely vacuum-sealed, so let’s discuss that. This unit is similar to a FoodSaver but without the machine. You can use it to remove the air from certain foods in a container to extend their shelf life. But remember, some foods should still be in the refrigerator or freezer.
I’m a Master Canner Preserver, and I’m cautious about how I store my food. I follow the USDA guidelines. Check out my archive of posts to read about food items that shouldn’t be canned; they aren’t safe, even though you may have a friend or neighbor who says otherwise. I follow the motto: “Better safe than sorry” when canning and storing foods.
I’m not sure the USDA has anything to say about using a FoodSaver, but most of us know what we can and can’t put on the shelves when using a FoodSaver or Dicorain. Some of you will use oxygen absorbers, and I don’t. I also don’t live where it is humid. It’s a personal decision. I haven’t stored my homemade dehydrated food for more than one year.
Dicorain-Mason-Jar-Vacuum-Sealer and Mason Jar Opener
How To Use The Dicorain Vacuum-Sealer
Dicorain: Contents In Box
The unit comes in a relatively small box. It contains the sealer unit, a USB Type-C cord to charge its rechargeable battery, a lid opener, an instruction booklet, and some regular and wide-mouth mason jar lids to help you get started. You may want to keep the box to store the unit and its accessories easily when not in use.
Before using the Dicorain, you need to charge the battery. The contents picture shows the Type-C cable plugged into the top of the unit and then into a wall outlet using a USB transformer (not included). The cable is designed for a USB transformer or your USB-capable laptop. If fully discharged, recharging the unit may take over two hours. The LED screen on top shows the percentage charge until it reaches 100%. It’s suggested that you recharge the unit when it gets near the 20% charge level so it will work for the project you’re currently doing.
Dicorain: The Red Line on the Right Shows the Locked Position
The unit is designed to vacuum seal both regular and wide-mouth mason jars. When in the locked position, it is ready to vacuum seal the regular-mouth jar lid. To remove the lower section of the unit to access the wide-mouth sealing converter, you turn the lower section counterclockwise.
Dicorain: The Unlocked Position of the Unit is to the Left
You can pull the two sections apart once you line up the red line with the picture of the “lock” with the latch open. This now allows you access to the silicone sealing ring that provides vacuum sealing for the large-mouth lids.
Dicorain: Regular Size Jars
This picture shows the unit with both sections intact and ready to seal the regular-size lid. No matter which size lid you are placing on a jar, ensure the jar opening and the silicone seal of the Dicorain are clean.
Dicorain: Filling Jars With Funnel
My kitchen has many gadgets, including a funnel to help me fill mason jars. It works with both regular and wide-mouth jars and makes filling them easy without spilling. For best results for sealing, fill the jars with the food product up to the narrow part of the jar, and before reaching the lid ring threads, as shown below.
Dicorain: Vacuum Sealing a Wide Mouth Jar
This picture shows the unit with the regular-mouth jar sealer section removed from the unit and the unit firmly seated on top of the filled wide-mouth jar. If not firmly seated, the vacuum can’t seal completely, and you’ll have to try again. When both sections are connected, you perform the same steps when sealing the regular-mouth jars.
Dicorain: USB Port and On/Off Button
The top of the unit has an LED display area with a light in the middle. The light shows the number of seconds the unit has used to seal the lid once you push the On/Off button. Both size lids should take 30-40 seconds to complete the job, and 40 seconds is recommended. It will automatically shut off when complete. You activate the vacuum sealer by pushing the On/Off button on the opposite side of the unit’s top. You can turn off the sealing process by pressing the button, but by doing so, you will interfere with the sealing process.
While charging, the LED light shows the percentage charge. If you push down the button for a few seconds, it will show the remaining charge when it is not plugged in.
Dicorain: Put A Lid On Jar
Of course, you seal the jar with the lid before putting the jar ring on. Again, ensure the lid and the jar opening are clean and free of any debris from filling the jar with the food product.
Dicorain: Turn It On To Seal
Here, you see the number of seconds the unit has been running once the ON/Off button is activated.
Dicorain: Vacuum Sealed Jar
With both Ball and Kerr jar lids, the vacuum seal has succeeded because the lid’s middle is recessed. If the lid’s middle is still upright, you must repeat the sealing process. If it still hasn’t worked, you may have a faulty lid that needs to be discarded.
Dicorain: Vacuum Sealed Jars with Rings
Once you’ve completed the vacuum sealing process, put the jar rings on the jars to help hold the lid in place. It would help if you didn’t have to tighten them more than a finger tight.
Please note: When water bathing or pressure canning food, after 24 hours, you remove the rings.
Dicorain: Removing Lids
When it comes time to use the food product, you can use the provided lid remover or a regular manual bottle opener you use for soda bottles.
What You Can Vaccum Seal
The Dicorain can vacuum seal pretty much any food item. This unit isn’t designed to seal your mason jars for long-term food storage. I plan to use it for shorter-term storage of items I’ll keep in my fridge or pantry. In today’s post, the food you see in the jars is some freeze-dried meat from a #10 can that got damaged in our recent move. I put it in a couple of jars, and I’ll store it in the fridge over the next few weeks until I decide to use the food in a recipe.
- Fresh Fruits: like strawberries, blackberries, or blueberries (refrigerate)
- Grapes: Refrigerator
- Carrots and Celery: Refrigerator
- Shredded Cheese: Refrigerator or freezer
- Lettuce: Refrigerator
- Pasta: Pantry
- Nuts: Pantry or freezer (I freeze all my nuts)
- Stacked Salad: Refrigerator
- Popcorn: Pantry
- Cornmeal: Freezer
- Pancake Mix: Refrigerator or Freezer
Precautions for Safe Use
Some things to consider for safe and proper use:
- Fully charge the unit before each use.
- Don’t try to sanitize the unit or any accessories by running them in your microwave.
- Please don’t put the unit or parts in a dishwasher or submerged in liquids like your sink. Wash with a damp cloth.
- Don’t clean the unit or the silicone rings with steel wool, abrasive cleaners, or corrosive liquids.
- Don’t have wet hands when plugging the USB cord into the unit, laptop, or wall outlet.
- The unit comes with a 6-month warranty.
Final Word
What I love about this unit is the price and convenience. I can get it out and make it much more accessible than my Food Saver unit with the needed vacuum seal accessories. Most of us have mason jars which you can use whether wide or regular-mouth size to seal and store food. This gives us one more way to preserve our food. Please remember that your vacuum seal must be refrigerated or placed in the freezer for some of your food. May God Bless this World, Linda
Thank you for this review. I had seen some other models that reviewers said the units did not last long or work well. I may reconsider. I do have a “FoodSaver” unit.
Hi Diana, I just got it so I don’t know how long it will last. But it has so few moving parts I would hope it would last a long time. Linda
These are definitely of interest
Thanks
Hi Matt, for the price, it’s more affordable for people. Some people can’t afford a FoodSaver and the attachment to vacuum seal foods. So hopefully this is a good option for some families. Linda
I have been sealing my food and herbs in jars for years with the “food saver” jar accessories that are sold right next to the food savers on the shelf at Bass Pro Shops. No problems to date, except when trying to vacuum-seal powders, like powdered spices. Then, I just insert a small piece of paper filter (coffee filter) and let’r rip!
This product looks like it might be a bit easier to store, though.
Hi Jess, I wanted to try it because of the price. I have gone through at least three FoodSavers. Thankfully, People can get the vacuum seal attachment now. There for a year or two you couldn’t get the jar sealer attachment. Now, the prices have come back down for them. Linda
Great idea to give them as Christmas Gifts! Thanks. I will do that! IF a person could also include a few of the “blue” or other colored jars, that would be even more effective at saving food “undamaged”. I once took a course on making tinctures and salves, etc. via the Trinity School of Natural Health’s “Herbal Bootcamp” with a very famous professor who used to appear on the Victory Garden program sometimes. We actually took the course at the Victory Garden location in Georgia! Anyway, he had a business selling his famous tinctures, and he said he would buy the organic herbs already dried, would vac. seal them in bottles and then place them inside a brown paper lunchbag to keep them fresh. He swore it extended the herbs’ shellfire up to 5 years to still be fresh enough to use for meds.! I have done that with many, many jars of medicinal herbs since!! Even, to this day, I still make my hubby my version of Byron White’s A-Bab formula, which used to be listed (last time I checked) at $100/month to combat Babesiosis, which he got along with Lyme disease from a Lyme Tick Bite years ago. I still make him a new batch of tincture every couple of years, because the tincture I make cost about $100 for TWO YEARS and it works! Our functional medicine GP/MD told him to stay on it forever, to keep those little critters from coming back to attack him. I think he only takes 1-3 drops/day in water and so far (8 years later) he is doing well with my version of the A-Bab Tincture. The only thing is that a few of the herbs, you must acquire them from Malaysia and the Far East! Still, if it saves him and save our budget approximately $2,300 every two years, it’s worth it. So, now you know why I’ve always stored my herbs and spices in sealed jars!
Hi Jess, what a blessing you can make that formula for your friend! I love it! I love storing my herbs in sealed jars as well! Love them! Linda
Still will only truly be fresh if they are also put inside brown paper bags or some sort of bag to keep our sunlight which will degrade them fast! With bags, life span is supposedly t years, but just sealed, I doubt more than 1-1 1/2 years. JESS
Hi Jess, I never keep anything over one year give or take a month or so when I preserve my own food. Years ago, I would eat peaches that were 4 years old, but I don’t do much canning now with my oxygen issue. Linda
Linda,
For versatility, the included lid lifter can be used to open both beer bottles and beer cans. LOL!!!
Hi Harry, well that’s good to know! I love this! LOL! Linda
I love mine and keep it within easy reach especially for the items I am into frequently and want to keep air tight. My family got them as gifts last Christmas and all report that they love theirs. It is just so convenient.
Hi Karen, oh I love hearing this, it’s such a great way to store food air tight! I like the convenience of of it as well. What a great Christmas gift! Love this, Linda
Linda: I did not intend to post 2 XS my comments about what I do with herbs and sealed jars. The first one had some spell check goof-ups, so I fixed it and told it to post comment, not realizing it already had with the crazy-words still in it! Sorry!
Also meant to say: I never knew there was any shortage of vac. jar sealer attachments for food savers. Got mine like maybe 12-15 years ago! Thanks for pointing that out!
Hi Jess, no worries, I deleted the first one. Yes, during the pandemic, you couldn’t get pressure canners, dehydrators, and those FoodSaver vacuum seal units. You couldn’t even get mason jars. That was a bad two years. But now all the shelves are plentiful! Linda
Yeah, not sure WHY our area has more supplies than out West…? We never had a true lack of canning jars out here in Central New York during Covid lockdowns. You just had to go to alternative stores…like the Amish stores (!), Dollar Tree (for Golden Harvest brand jars that work fine), Tractor Supply, etc. All of those places were selling them with lids and rings included, too. Their prices are always the best! I had so many extra cases of “Mason” jars, I gave a totally unopened case from Dollar Tree to a friend for free, and she was very pleased to get them! And, as you know, I have been able to buy bulk lots of Ball Canning LIDS off of eBay with great luck and great pricing. In the case of eBay, though, I only buy from sellers who have wonderful ratings and are selling the original BALL lids in the original packaging…
Hi Jess, I had no idea you could get mason jars at the Dollar Store. My guess is that more people can food out west or in the midwest than the East coast. I have no stats but I taught classes on canning and we would always sell out all the jars and lids. I’m glad you got some good ones off of eBay, my sister-in-law from Utah got some bad ones. All that work and had to freeze it. We couldn’t get good lids out here. You can now, that’s for sure. Linda
Linda: I never got canning jars from the regular Dollar Store, only Dollar Tree, which is another brand of similar store. Dollar Tree sells cannin jars around $12-$14.00 a case with lids and rings. I don’t know about the canning issue. All of my friends can and freeze and even freeze-dry, as owning one of the freeze driers has become all of the rage amongst my friends. Some of them are quite poor-ish, too, but they had payments coming for whatever and each one managed to buy a freeze-drier when their payments or inheritances finally showed up! You know, we live 12 miles +/- from the birthplace of Mormonism, so there are Mormon food operations not far from us, meaning where they will let you buy bulk food and have it canned in tin cans…or buy it already put in tin cans from them. We have never used those facilities, because we eat organic 90%+ of the time., but I know they are not far away. ALSO– NEW NEWS: Azure Standard now sells their own brand of extra-thick walled, light blue canning jars which are wonderful! I just ordered a new case (again) because at the request of members (like me), they now carry the pint and 1/2 cars with wide mouths. I am SO HAPPPY about that! These are my favorite jars for making Asian Pickled Peppers to cook with and my zucchini pickles or relish.
Otherwise, I grew up on a farm, so we always had 4-H around to teach us all kinds of home grown skills. Not sure how much 4-H is still functioning, but it was when my kids were growing up. That is how our daughter learned to sew and a lot of her cooking skills, which are quite good. She was one of those teens who didn’t want to learn from Mom all that much, so I just gently pushed her in the direction of 4-H, so she could
still learn those skills. Son Tim became an Eagle Scout, with his Eagle Project becoming a clean-up job along a local section of the Erie Canal. With only a few extra people and our family, we pulled out sofas near the water (where people sat to fish) and tons of junk, fencing, literally…like 2+tons! plus something…. tons of garbage in less than one day, to the point that the town became encouraged, later came behind and finished cleaning up the trail and improving it so that now it is a stoned trail for walkers,runners with a gazebo at one end! Well, that’s not canning, but I really don’t know about people not canning in our area. Everyone i know cans and is teaching others to do the same. We are just VERY blessed to have loads of Amish farms and businesses within our county, because whenever you find an Amish store, you will find all kinds of canning and other preservation supplies. Of course, we are country folks, so who knows about the city folks…..PROBABLY NOT in the cities…but that is far away for us and our friends!
Hi Jess, it’s interesting when I took the classes a few years ago (before the pandemic) for my Master Canning and Preserving certificate at Utah State Extension service, the USDA told them they may have to shut down the classes because there was no interest in canning. I was shocked. Then the pandemic hit and boy did things change, people were standing in line with bags and bags of flour and someone said wow, you must bake a lot. He said no but I’m going to need to learn to make bread. Then we had a flour shortage. Costco said no returns on flour or toilet paper a few months later. LOL! Then you couldn’t get any canning jars or lids! And the list goes on! Now the shelves are overloaded with jars and canning lids.
What a great Eagle Scout project! I love that! I’m not sure about 4-H here. Linda
Yeah, I was talking to an elderly couple on Sunday and she is teaching a younger lady to can meat in a WATER BATH CANNER! YIKES! I just wanted to go: OH, my GOSH! Don’t do that, or you might kill somebody!” but I kept my mouth shut until we are alone sometime soon. We were with a huge picnic table worth of other people for a buffet lunch at the time and I didn’t want to start an argument with her…or embarrass her.
Made me so upset to think my dear elderly friend might kill herself or her family with botulism!! Thought of you and what you would say for sure on Sunday!!
Hi Jess, I would have spoken up, “you may want to look at the new canning skills in the Ball Canning Guidelines, you need a pressure canner.”YIKES, I couldn’t let that one go. Nope, I couldn’t. I would have offered to buy the book for both of them, that’s how I roll. I use the Ball or the USDA canning guidelines, they have the same guidelines. I would not want to embarrass the older woman, but I would for sure say something. They will end up in the ER if they don’t pressure can meat. Linda
Linda: Not sure how long ago that was that your sister-in-law got bad canning jar lids off of eBay, but eBay will return her money if she purchased recently. All she has to do is contact them and ask for their satisfaction guarantee. I did that with the first batch of white-painted lids from China, which were sold with a big American Flag on their seller’s “page”, making it look like they were made in USA. I told eBay, they are misleading the public and are selling something very likely TOXIC! They refunded 100% of my money lickety-split!
HI Jess, yeah I’m not sure what she did, she canned with them and they didn’t work. It was during the Pandemic when no one could get lids. Thats changed now. Linda
Forgot to say that even today, if you go to a Dollar Tree store and buy something during the week, they give you a $5.00 off anything in the store good that Saturday, for any purchase of $20 or $25, I forget which amt. is required. Sorry! Anyway, that is a really great way to buy canning jars because their prices are always better than elsewhere and then you buy a couple of cases and a box of extra lids, and you get another $5.00 OFF! :-). Sometimes, even Runnings store offers sales on canning jars, but not always.
Hi Jess, this is good to know, thanks for sharing! Linda
Glad you posted about the Dicorain. I love mine–so much easier and quicker than using a FoodSaver or other vacuum sealer.
I’ve recently been using mine to store cashews, dehydrated goji berries and craisins, but i’ve used it for soups and broths as well. I even used it to seal some used cooking oil Jane made crab cakes with. (She wants to reuse that oil the next time we make them).
I picked up a very cool tool for removing the sealed lids that doesn’t deform the lids–allowing you to reuse them. Here’s a link to the Bxgnip Mason jar Opener.
https://amzn.to/4dmHQSI
Hi Ray, when you mentioned the Dicorain, I bought one and that lid opener. I forgot to post that one. Thanks for the reminder and the link! It is so much easier to use and store. Thank you for telling us about it. Linda
Yup, I bought one today of the Dicorain tools, too! Want to try it out before I give one to everyone in the family for Christmas! Thanks so much for sharing, y’all!
Linda, yes, our son was sort of “fetted” for being the kid that cleaned up our town’s section of the Erie Canal Pathway as his Eagle Scout Project. That, and being featured by a NYS program that was filmed by PBS, where he participated as one of 10 students from around the state to show other school students why NYS is called the Empire State. All that positive “notoriety” (good) helped him get a massive scholarship to attend RIT, where he did his BS/MS degree in Computer Engineering (not just programming). All of that fed into helping him graduate awhile ago now, and get the very good job he has nowadays.
Nowdays, our section of the Erie Canal Pathway is a real attraction in our town, where it USED to be a long, shameful, scattered rubbish heap! SO MUCH NICER NOW and USEABLE!!
Hi Jess, what a blessing your son thought to do such a great project for his Eagle Scout! It paid off in more than one way, that’s for sure! I love this story! Linda
Thanks for letting us know and asking Linda to post about this. I am excited to see how easy it is when it comes! O.K., I will “shut up” now, no more posting on this item or related subjects!
JESS
Hi Jess, you are so funny! I hope you like the Dicorain! Linda
Linda, I have the Dicorain sealer and the lid lifter that Ray talked about. I’ve vacuum sealed dried fruit (bought), nuts and M&Ms. They’ve been sealed about 5 months so far, I’m wanting to get some half gallon jars and try vacuum sealing some crackers. I love my Dicorain sealer! So easy to use!
Hi Deborah, oh I want to get some M&Ms now! LOL! You can never have too many! I love hearing its working great for you! It’s so easy to use! Linda
Linda, I have the Dicorain sealer and the lid opener that Ray talked about. I’ve vacuum sealed dried fruit (bought), nuts and M&Ms. They’ve been sealed about 5 months so far, I’m wanting to get some half gallon jars and try vacuum sealing some crackers. I love my Dicorain sealer! So easy to use!
I’ve used the lid opener for opening pickles too. So so easy.
Hi Deborah, I love that lid lifter I forgot to mention it. Great reminder, Linda
Hubby and I are planning a 1.5 to 2 years camping trip and this looks like something that would be very helpful. My purpose for using one for that trip would be to help keep the humidity from causing problems with dehydrated foods; keeping foods from spilling on travel days and from Ray’s comment about using it to store the cooking oil for crab cakes, to keep liquids from spilling during transit. If it can extend the life of dehydrated and freeze dried items so they would last for at least 2 years that would be a great bonus.
Has anyone using this on the plastic jars? You can buy plastic canning jars that are supposed to use the same size lids as glass canning jars. (Amazon carries them) If the sealer works on them, then I can open a can of freeze dried or dehydrated items and seal the leftover portions in the plastic jars. The same for bags of nuts and other items.
I know that using glass jars and vacuum sealing them with my food saver can keep things fresh and usable for up to 2 years, will this work the same with plastic jars and the Dicorian? The items I’m thinking about would be ones that could be put in a non-air tight container and stored for a year or more on a home pantry shelf, things like nuts, dried fruit, freeze dried onions, homemade muffin mixes, etc.
Hi Topaz, those plastic jars are for storage not canning at least the ones I saw. There is no way a plastic jar could handle the temperatures when canning. If the Dicorain worked on those it would be awesome because if you are traveling they will not break, hopefully. One review says the mason jar lids to not fit. I would do a little research before buying them. There might be another brand I just read the first one that popped up. Good luck with your camping trip, sounds so fun! Linda
I bought one right away when Ray mentioned it. I don’t have a Foodsaver and thought this is more convenient to reach out of the pantry. So glad to see this post. I do mostly the wide mouth jars. Now I have ordered the opener in his comment above. The strength in my hands is not what it used to be. I have already sealed Skinny Popcorn in a half gallon jar in the pantry. I want to store more snacks to keep them fresh. You mentioned several things for the refrigerator that I want to try also. Love the simple tools that you suggest in the posts.
Hi Carol, thank you for your kind words. I love Skinny Popcorn, what a great idea!!!! I need to post the opener in the article right now, thanks for the reminder. Linda