31 dry aged ribeye in Umai bag was a success!

OCDCarol,

Great looking results. Congratulations on your success.

I’ve dry aged beef for several years, though I’ve never used a UMAI dry steak bag, or anything similar. It’s just been done in the traditional manner with the meat fully exposed for an extended period of time in a dedicated refrigerator with good temperature, air circulation, and humidity controls, and the results have always been excellent. I’m always willing to up my game a bit for better results, but I can’t get my head around the fact that the UMAI bag offers a value or benefit worth changing my past and current approach. Have you ever dry aged beef using the traditional approach, and if so, have you noticed a discernable difference with the results from that experience versus that from using the bag?

When looking at the UMAI bag website, the promotional content of the site states, or indicates, the OMAI bag produces a dry aged beef product that is far superior to that produced in the traditional manner. Somewhat contradictory to that, they also state on the same site that “In 2009, Kansas State University conducted a study on the effectiveness of the UMAI Dry material comparing different aging times effect on taste and texture. A similar earlier study by Kansas State University, conducted in 2005, compared moisture permeable polymer material to traditional open-air dry aging. The basic results of the studies demonstrated that dry aging beef in UMAI bags resulted in taste and texture similar to traditional open air process.” (Emphasis on similar is mine). No further elaboration, documentation, or data was provided.

So, from what I can tell at this point is that it’s difficult to discern whether or not the UMAI bags bring something beneficial to the table, or if it’s just marketing hype. Any further insight or information that you, or anyone else on the forum, might have as to what the actual benefits of the UMAI bags are would be appreciated.

Thanks