Grow Your Own Magazine

Hi y'all
I have an enormous amount of chillies (100+ plants bursting with chillies) and intend to make chilli oil with these. My problem is which recipe to follow.
I have seen some that say use dried chillies as this helps prevent botulism, and others that say to boil the chillies in vinegar for 10 mins before adding to the hot oil.
Ideally I'd like the oil to keep for a while as I intend to sell it at my local Farmers Market.
Any advice or assistance offered will be gratefully received.
Thank you in advance

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Rat

British by birth
Scottish by the Grace of God

Blog updated Wednesday November 13th

Don't know much about Chilli oil Rat, but if you are going to sell it to the public you should check the Food Hygene Regs. before you do. Even the Womens Institute fell foul of them when selling their jam in Markets

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Gardening requires a lot of water - most of it in the form of perspiration. Lou Erickson, critic and poet

As you have been told, preserving in oil is tricky because of the need to prevent botulism development - the Food Standards Agency do not recommend us to do it "at home", in fact...

http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/Acm562.pdf

I am sure, however, than thousands of people do it and, thankfully, botulism poisoning is still very rare. Making it for yourself is one thing, but selling it is another - you have to eliminate the risks.

The botulinum spores would be on the fresh chillis, so, yes, dried ones are better. The spores can't reproduce in acid conditions, so, again, yes, vinegar is another safeguard. I understand that these this is even more important than heating the oil. As for the consumer, we are advised to store the oil in the fridge and use it quickly. You have to be aware that not everyone follows these instructions, however!

I hope I am not teaching my grandmother to suck eggs - you may well already know the potential problems, but this information may be of use to others.

How about contacting the Food Safety team in you local Environmental Health department - they will be able to point in the direction of the latest information. They police our farmers' market, and have been really helpful to a lot of producers.

Cheers Guys
I have a meeting already arranged with Environmental Health and the Food Standards Agency within a fortnight so will wait til then before I decide how to progress.

__________________
Rat

British by birth
Scottish by the Grace of God

Blog updated Wednesday November 13th

I make chilli oil for my local Country Market (www.country-markets.co.uk) - all producers have to have a Food Hygiene Certificate. There is no great risk with chillis as far as I know. I had understood that garlic oil posed a threat but I asked this specifically on the course and was told that it wasn't so great either. However with the garlic oil this is heated initially. You also need to know how to ensure sterilisation of your bottles properly.