Making your own aromatic olive oil?

[greekislandgirl]

I made hot garlic olive oil today. It's supposed to take 2 weeks before it's ready, so I can't tell you if it's good, but here's what I did:

In a jar (about a pint) I put:

- 8 of those tiny Thai hot chilies, dried
- 4 dried bay leaves
- 5 each of black, white, green, and pink peppers
- 2 heads of garlic (I separated the cloves but didn't peel them completely, just took off the papery part that was going to fall off anyway)
- filled it up with olive oil

Then I put it in a dark place to do its thing.

I followed a recipe from a cooking magazine here. You can put all kinds of stuff in these, and they look really pretty. My goal with this is to make an inexpensive aromatic oil that will be good on pasta, bread, etc. If it's really good, I may make them as gifts next Christmas.

I'd also like to make one with basil and oregano and maybe a few other herbs, but I don't have any whole herbs right now.

Does anyone else make these? What do you put in them?

[shoiji]

Sounds like a great idea for presents!! Good for anytime not just christmas.

[moasmom]

Not to be a wet blanket, but just a cautionary note: I have read in many places about the dangers of storing raw garlic in oil at room temperature, which is the perfect environment for botulism.

Google "garlic oil botulism" to see many different perspectives and make an informed decision.

Kara

[Contrary Housewife]

Yes, once you add things like garlic and herbs you can introduce bacteria and other nasties. The mixture should be refrigerated for safety.

[Spirit Deer]

Eight Thai peppers? I hope you like hot food!

[greekislandgirl]

Good point on the botulism - my recipe didn't mention anything like that. I made a small quantity and I made it super strong because we are always counting calories, so we don't use very much oil at a time.

After reading about it online, I'm going to store it in the fridge - apparently that will reduce the risk quite a lot. Thank you for pointing that out!