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Re[2]: Emergencies and Herbs




I'll take a whack at this one even though I'm not an expert on preserving &
processing...

Botulism spores are present in most garden soils & fresh foods & can
reproduce without the presence of oxygen. They can be neutralised by very
thorough cooking, but the temperature must be higher than in normal every
day cooking. That is why instructions for home canning generally call for
processing under pressure or long time in boiling kettle.

The spores do not remain viable long in high-acid environments. Dori
suggested not preserving garlic in oil or other non-acid environment. Most
of our home-preserved foods (tomato sauce, pickels, jams etc...) are high
enough in acid content so that even less-than-perfectly preserved preserves
are still reasonably safe. Most preserved herbs are stored in vinegar or
alcohol (tincture I believe actually means preserved in alohol).

Corn, mushrooms and other lo acid foods are tougher to home-can.
Experienced home canners with proper equipment can preserve them safely.
Garlic- grown underground may have traces of soil & botulism spores
adhering to the skin or under the vestigial rootlets. The oil & lo O2
environment is nearly ideal for botulism growth.

The fungal scum you mentioned grew in the interface between the high O2 &
lo O2 environments in your herb jars. Botulinium Clostridium is odourless,
colourless, tasteless, grows in the O2 free depths of the oil & is not
removeable like scum. I would recommned you stick to vinegar as a
preservative medium.

______________________________ Reply Separator ____________________________
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Subject: Re: Emergencies and Herbs
Author:  "lloyd kinder" <lkindr@hotmail.com> at CWB
Date:    11/3/98 7:44 PM

Dori wrote:
And don't _ever_ "tincture" garlic in olive
>oil.  Unless very special (and usually expensive) processing equipment
is used
>(which incidentally cooks the garlic and destroys most of its
effectiveness),
>there's a huge risk of botulism.  Garlic will almost always keep fresh
until
>the next harvesting season if it's cured and stored properly.  Learn
how to do
>that instead. >Dori Green

Hi Dori. Where did you hear about garlic in oil being a botulism risk? I
heard once that botulism occurs to canned foods that aren't cooked at
high enuf temperature or something like that. Dr. Schulze didn't give
any warnings about botulism that I know of, nor about dangers of
improper herb combining. I'm not inclined to think these dangers are
significant until I hear of details along with some authority, i.e.
experience or knowledge. Can you point me in that direction at all? I
blended ginger with apple cider vinegar and it got a fungal scum on top,
which I pulled off and discarded, and then I put olive oil on the ground
ginger to see if it prevents the scum. Thanks for your reply.


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