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Re: Cooking with Herbs

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

On Fri, 25 Jun 1999 12:44:43 EDT, you wrote:

>Interesting, I haven't had any trouble with the herbed oil, I take the herbs 
>out after 24 or 36 hours so I not sure where the trouble would come from.
>
>Do you have any more information in that.
>
>Thanks
>Dusty
>
==================================
Here you go:

From rec.food.preserving FAQ, part 3:

>8.1.3  [How do I make flavored oils?]
>
>Okay.  Flavoring oils are a bit trickier than vinegars, because like potting,
>the oil creates an anaerobic situation.  Its quite possible to culture _C.
>botulinum_ in this way.
>
>[Check out the herb flavored oil recipes in Henriette Kresses' herb FAQ at
>http://sunsite.unc.edu/herbmed/culiherb.html]
>
>Oh yes, one last thing.  I prefer to label my bottles, instead of putting a
>token sprig of whatever in.  The token sprig is a spot for spoilers to grow,
>at least in my hands :).
>
>8.1.4  [Garlic (chiles, herbs, dried tomatoes, etc.) in oil.  How safe is
>it?  How can I make them safely?]
>
>You can flavor oils with garlic, etc. within reason.  Frankly, garlic is
>best preserved as dried heads in a garlic braid, not in a garlic and oil
>paste.  It has been tragically shown that garlic and oil pastes, and by
>extension garlic cloves in oil, provide a good anaerobic medium, perfect for
>_Clostridum botulinum_ to develop.  You want to pickle garlic and other
>root vegetable flavorings in some sort of acid, either vinegar or citric
>acid.  Check out the botulism questions in Section 5 for more information.
>
>Here's another solution for garlic in oil flavoring..
>
>From: kallisti@merle.acns.nwu.edu (Patrick Grealish)
>Subject: Re: Garlic and spices in oil
>
>I have been making garlic olive oil for a few years now.  After I heard of
>the possible contamination troubles I didn't like the idea of using vinegar,
>so I, instead, roast my garlic which makes IMO an even better tasting oil.
>I roast a whole head of garlic double wrapped in aluminum foil for about 2
>hours @ 250 F.  Then squeeze out the garlic cloves into the oil. ~300 ml per
>one head of garlic.  This may be too strong (or weak) depending on your like
>of garlic.  Also I've tried adding dried herbs (rosemary, thyme and oregano)
>to the garlicked oil. It is very good. I hope this is helpful.
>
from part 6:

>Foods preserved in oil (raw garlic, chilis, dried tomatoes) create a special
>case.  Oil contains no water, as it is centrifuged out during processing.
>If an item is dependably dry, under 35% water content, adding it to the oil
>should not cause problems, as long as your items are well immersed (1 inch
>of oil covering).  Dry herbs, seeds and spices, dried chiles, even sundried
>tomatoes should not cause problems.  (N.B: Research from the Australian 
>Extension Service--sundried tomatoes are more acid than hydrated ones: pH 
>4.0 for dried, 4.6 for hydrated--LEB).  However, the dehydrated food must be
>properly dried, conditioned, and not case hardened (case hardened things are
>hard and crunchy on the outside, soft and gooey on the inside).  The jury is
>out on wet herbs.
>
>If you try to preserve a lot of "wet" items in oil (garlic cloves, chopped
>onions, ginger root, fresh chiles), you might have a heap of trouble.  Oil
>doesn't contain much dissolved oxygen, so it is a good anaerobic medium.
>Raw garlic, onions, ginger are all rootcrops, and each contain over 35%
>water.  Chilies often are added to oil in a non-dried state.  Generally, you
>want to "pickle", or at least allow your wet, raw item to take up some 5%
>vinegar for about 15-20 minutes before putting into the oil.  Chunky items
>(i.e. garlic cloves) should be smashed, crushed, or chopped to get the 
>vinegar into the item.
>
>Simple, but through, sauteing of your chosen flavoring in your oil can also
>get rid of spores, since they evaporate free water, and the oil can be heated
>to above 240 F.  Yet another idea is to refrigerate your flavored oils, as
>bacterial growth is very slow below 40 F/4 C.
>
>In addition, the garlic-in-oil botulism problem began when garlic pastes in
>olive oil were introduced in grocery stores.  Many of the botulism 
>poisonings occurred when these pastes were used in cold pasta, salads, and 
>salad dressings.  If you are going to be using your flavored oil for sauteing,
>stir fry, or deep fat frying you will easily heat your oil to above any of
>the target temperatures described above.
>
>Since the toxin is denatured at 185 F/85 C, if you are concerned about a
>canned good the usual procedure is as described in the above section (to
>hard boil the contents for 15 minutes).  NOTE: This will denature the 
>botulism toxin.  Other toxins, such as those caused by _Staphococcus_, will
>not denature until temps of 240 F/116 C are reached and sustained for 30
>minutes.  As a matter of fact, a hard boil in that case will break open the
>bacteria, and more toxin would be released into the food.
=====================================================

you may be ok becuz of shortness of time; but be safe & put the oil in
fridge both b4 & after processing.  I've done it too (b4 I knew) &
lived to tell about it!  I never knew why, when making vinegarette,
'they' would say to remove the garlic clove.  I thought they were just
whimps who couldn't take the garlic!!  LOL

Check out the herb FAQ.  Let me know if you need more info.  HTH

Judy
to e-mail me:  jcosler@mindspring.com


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