[Sca-cooks] Garlic Question

[Angie Malone]

I bought a bag once at Sam's club for an event I was cooking and took
the leftovers chopped them in the food processor put them in a jar
with olive oil, and after a few months (there was a lot of garlic
left I would say almost 2 qts of chopped garlic in olive oil) even
though I stored in refrigerator it got moldy.  I know it wasn't the
refrigerator, 'cause the temperature was 35 degrees (I keep a
thermometer in my refrigerator all the time).

I threw the whole jar away.

Funny though it hasn't happened again.  I still tried it again.  This
time I covered the garlic completely with olive oil, also I used
pomace olive oil not virgin, etc.  IIRC pomace olive oil is like the
last pressing and makes a fairly decent cooking olive oil.  Also very
inexpensive, when on sale is about $5 for a gallon.

	Angeline

>--- "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
>wrote:
>>  I assume you mean store it in the refrigerator.
>>  Garlic in olive oil
>>  produces anaerobic conditions suitable for the
>>  cultivation of Clostridium
>>  botulinum and the resulting neurotoxins.
>
>Absolutely.  My mistake.  Store it under
>refrigeration, just to be safe.  C. botulinum is *not*
>something you want to play with.
>
>For what it's worth, though, I haven't heard of any
>botulism 'outbreaks' related to garlic packed in olive
>oil in quite a few years... but, why take the chance?
>Store it in the 'fridge.
>
>Balthazar of Blackmoor
>