Testing Oxygen Absorbers

The other day I found some oxygen absorbers that had been shoved to the back of a cupboard and forgotten.  I think that they were about 3 or 4 years old.  They were sealed only with the temporary clips that are normally used for short periods during canning operations.  Being curious I decided to test them.

The normal way you test them is to tape them to the inside bottom of a quart jar.  The jar is then turned upside down in a pan of water.  Over the next 24 hours, the vacuum they create should cause the water to rise approximately 2 inch up into the jar.

As you can see from the pictures, these failed miserably.  Oxygen absorbers normally contain powdered iron and a salt.  The oxygen is used up when the iron oxidizes or rusts.  I took a couple of the failed ones and cut them open.  You will notice in the picture below that the iron has turned to reddish brown rust.  In a new absorber the iron will bright and shiny.

Howard

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