As you know,
I have previously made my own garlic
infused olive oil – which worked out well - and which was not a problem for
my digestive system. So I set out to see
if I could do the same with onion.
I simply
roughly chopped an onion – in this case a smallish red onion – and simmered it with 250g of olive oil over a very low heat
for some hours.
I then let
the mixture cool, strained it and put it into a clean bottle.
It tastes
very strongly of onion so that worked – I have been keeping it in the fridge
and it has gone a bit cloudy looking but I think it is still ok. A good substitute for fresh onion if you
can't tolerate it like me.
I would never have thought about doing this!! I make Rosemary infused olive oil but I will really use a lot of the onion and/or garlic olive oil!!! Thank you!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm always wary. Although you're taking the onion out, raw vegetables (especially onions) have very high microbiological counts and certainly things like Listeria (particularly for the immunocompromised) and Clostridium botulinum will survive the anearobic conditions without an issue. If you're heating above about 72 oC the Listeria won't be an issue but although it's rare, the Clostridium botulinum could well be.
ReplyDeleteCertainly in the UK you will never see oils flavoured with fresh vegetables or herbs, if you see flavoured oils they will always contain something which has been VERY well heat treated. C. botulinum is very heat resistant but that said, the time you're heating it for will also help.
So personally I wouldn't but if you do still go ahead, when you heat the oil, check it gets to 90oC for at least 10 minutes and bottle it hot. Even then I still wouldn't but it will limit your risks.