Did we do something really stupid - botulism

[MeggsyGardenGirl]

I think the vinegar and to some extent the sugar would have protected against spoilage and botulism. But I know that garlic can carry botulism spoors and it is not recommended to keep home made garlic oil for a long time for that reason. I avoid making flavored oils as gifts because of it, but I do make lots of different flavored vinegars. I have some chive blossom vinegar ready to go from this spring's bloom.

I have kept refrigerator half sour pickles for up to a year...but by that time they are whole sours! They get soft and sort of translucent, and we don't like them.

I also date most everything, including my dried herbs and spices. Though they don't spoil, they do lose flavor over time.

 

[digitS']

Food Safety is a big part of the work of Cooperative Extension.

Right there in the congressional bill that funds that great big program, it talks about that and home economics.

I think Coop Ext is in every Idaho county. Here is how you would find your closest office: www.extension.uidaho.edu/find.asp

Steve

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

I think the vinegar and to some extent the sugar would have protected against spoilage and botulism. But I know that garlic can carry botulism spoors and it is not recommended to keep home made garlic oil for a long time for that reason. I avoid making flavored oils as gifts because of it, but I do make lots of different flavored vinegars. I have some chive blossom vinegar ready to go from this spring's bloom.

I have kept refrigerator half sour pickles for up to a year...but by that time they are whole sours! They get soft and sort of translucent, and we don't like them.

I also date most everything, including my dried herbs and spices. Though they don't spoil, they do lose flavor over time.

A few months ago there was a great deal on fresh garlic at my local store. I bought a bunch pretty cheap and brought it right home all pleased as punch. Took out several canning jars, put a mess of garlic inside and filled with olive oil. I though, "there, I will have some amazing garlic oil." THEN...before using any of it, I read that it spoils very fast. At this point, it is still sitting in the cupboard waiting for me to dump it some where.

 

[MeggsyGardenGirl]

Oh, I made the same mistake, only a smaller batch. I feel your pain! We love garlic so much we call it vitamin G.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

Well, I am still kicking this morning. There is no oil in it, just sliced fresh garlic and I know I made it in July last year. The recipe said it last a LONG TIME, 2 to 3 months, but it has been 11 months, but I did find where refrigerator beets can last a year or more. What I have learned is I would only make 1 jar at a time of these and eat them within a couple of months before making more.

 

[digitS']

Fresh beets will last well in storage.

Somewhere around here, I've got a picture of a guy digging beets winter-stored in a pit in his garden. He also does that with his carrots.

Me, too. Altho', I've never tried keeping the beets in there with the carrots/parsnips/celeriac all winter. It is very simple storage and you could just pull your fall-harvested beets out anytime you can get out there and do what you want with them.

I just threw away the last of the 2012 parsnips. They had been kept the last few months, after the soil began to warm, in the carport fridge. They still looked (kind of) okay.

Steve

 

[bj taylor]

this is my big phobia about canning - botulism. i'm planning to can for my first time this year. I bought this beautiful canner & I want it to be more than a shelf ornament. what are the specifics to avoiding botulism specifically? I will follow the directions carefully & exactly - but I know that keeping things sterile is a difficult thing to accomplish.
botulism is the big booger bear. it's odorless, colorless, & deadly.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

this is my big phobia about canning - botulism. i'm planning to can for my first time this year. I bought this beautiful canner & I want it to be more than a shelf ornament. what are the specifics to avoiding botulism specifically? I will follow the directions carefully & exactly - but I know that keeping things sterile is a difficult thing to accomplish.
botulism is the big booger bear. it's odorless, colorless, & deadly.

I am in the same boat as you. I will water bath things and eat those things without a problem. The reason I made the pickled beets was that I was not afraid because of the vinegar, but I never expected to eat them almost a year later, but I also have a beautiful canner, All American, and it is a shelf ornament. I did use it a few times and my DH and I both were afraid to eat the food and threw it away. I did read that if you open a jar that has been canned and boil it for at least 10 minutes it would kill the botulism, but sounds like it would just boil all the nutrition away. I have friends than can, but I am not sure I will ever get over this. I freeze things and I am thinking of getting a dehydrator. I really do not have big enough of a garden that I would have things to can other than tomatoes.

 

[Carol Dee]

Gardening with Rabbits, it sounds like you are all o.k. GOOD.
I freeze my tomatoes, too. (I had a bad canning experiance once and lost ALL the tomatoes I had canned!) So now they go in the freezer. We peel and chop them and put in freezer bags, or at he end of the season, I just started to wash them, cut out anything bad and froze them whole. When needed, let beging to defrostand slip off skins. Ready to use.

 

[Just-Moxie]

My MIL gave me a large amount of tomatoes a couple of years ago. Since I don't do canning...yet... I cleaned them all, put them in a big heavy pot to cook down....then put them in the ziplock freezer containers. Labeled and dated of course. They worked out great for adding to chili, spaghetti, soups....and froze beautifully!