Can You Store Garlic Cloves in Olive Oil?
You see them every year as the holidays approach: beautiful bottles of colored oil stuffed full with peppers or garlic. Don’t even think of using them in your cooking, though. When garlic is coated in oil, conditions are almost perfect for the production of botulism. All that is lacking is some time at room temperature and you have a very hazardous situation, because botulism cannot be seen or tasted. Even refrigerated, garlic in oil should not be kept for more than a week. Try drying your garlic instead. Braid it. Drying garlic instead of canning it or leaving it in oil allows most of the essential oils to remain strong and prevent the breakdown of allicin, the active ingredient in garlic. Start with four garlic plants with the greens still attached. Tie the four garlic plants together just below the bulbs, with the greens hanging down. Use the four strand braiding diagram in the photo to guide you as you weave the greens in and out of one another. When you are eight inches from the e
