Re: [CH] Chile Oil
Charles Demas (demas@sunspot.tiac.net)
Sat, 20 Mar 1999 15:49:53 -0500 (EST)
On Sat, 20 Mar 1999, Celeste or Dave Anderson wrote:
> Since I have been a member of the group this subject has been
> mentioned several times. I think we can all agree that putting whole
> chiles in oil is an invitation to botulism, but here's a new twist.
>
> I was watching "East Meets West", a cooking show hosted by Ming Tsai
> and he made chile oil by roasting chile powder in a heavy skillet to
> release the essential oils, letting it cool, and adding it to canola
> oil. I think he used a combination of Ancho and Thai chile powder,
> but imagine that any varieties would work.
>
> Since the chiles were dehydrated, then heated, maybe they are sterile
> to the point that nasty organisms have been eliminated. Have any of
> you tried doing this? I'm sorry, but I don't know the quantities of
> ingredients.
That should be safe for two reasons, the botulism spores may have been
killed, and botulism requires a minimum moisture level to develop.
Conditions must be right for the spores to grow into vegitative cells
and produce the toxin. Sufficient moisture is a required condition.
FWIW, moisture is required for most bacteria (I'm not sure about all).
That's why dried food keeps well and doesn't spoil.
Chuck Demas
Needham, Mass.
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