Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with botulism

Yes, another annoying "Is this safe to eat" question.

anastasiav — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:56:12 -0800

CanIEatThisFilter: Just discovered a couple of pounds of steak that has been sitting in our fridge, in marinade, for about ten days (it was purchased a week ago Saturday). Looks like it never made it on the grill. If I cook it well is it safe to eat?

Oil + Garlic = Free Botox!

Memo — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 11:54:02 -0800

[(50 Garlics + 3/4 teacup of Olive Oil) * Food Processor] + Long Term Storage = Botulism? If yes, what could be used to replace the oil? My mother makes a 'paste' of garlic with some olive oil. Basically, she takes 50 heads of garlic, mix them with 3/4 of a teacup of olive oil and puts the mixture into a food processor. After that, she stores the resulting puree it into small glass jars and then stores them in the fridge, being the last jar consumed 4 or 5 months later.

The information in the internet about botulism is more about garlic stored in oil (which, I guess, involve a lot more oil than what my mother uses) so I'm not sure if it applies to this paste or not.

Of course, after finding out about the involved "risk", she has decided to make another batch, this time using something else instead of oil. The question is, what would work? Vegetable shortening?

Thanks.

delicious or deadly snack?

waltzing astronomers — Mon, 12 May 2008 19:33:08 -0800

BotulismFilter: Should I eat this? I put some sun dried tomatoes in a jar and covered them with olive oil (the theory being that it would make them like the ones at the store. this was before I learned that I could just boil them). They've been sitting unopened in my pantry since October.

My friends suggested that it might be a bad idea to eat them because they've been sitting in a jar in my pantry for six months. I think that the olive oil makes them safe. Somehow.

Are they safe to eat?

Why did my food explode?

dame — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 15:46:45 -0800

Why did my hummus explode? I bought hummus last weekend from Trader Joes. Garlic. No preservatives, but the sell-by date was April 11, two days after today. I brought it home and put it in the fridge. It swelled. A lot. So I stuck a knife into the thin plastic covering (the this has not been tampered with stuff) and it exploded (in my sink). Why? I mean, I assume some serious fermenting was going on, but what? And why in this case? I've had hummus a lot longer and never had this happen.

Advice on making jams, pickles, and preserves.

kenko — Sun, 11 Jul 2004 14:15:38 -0800

I want to learn how to make preserves, jams, pickles, and other such things. But, I don't want to die from botulism. I have a fairly basic grasp of how the sterilization process works, and I'd like some pointers to/on techniques, supplies, cookbooks, whatever anyone who's got some experience in the matter might recommend.