Chili oil

[Saracen]

Anyone know where to buy good, reasonably strong chili oil without breaking the bank?

I was getting some decent stuff from Tesco, but they've stopped selling it and now only do Tesco's Finest, which is expensive and weak. I'd been using chili oil very regularly and it deserves a lot of the credit for my dieting success over the last eight months!

When I googled about making my own, I was put off by the danger of botulism - apparently you have to be very careful when preparing it yourself, and even then you should keep it in the fridge and use it up pretty quickly. So I've ruled that out.

Cheers!

Bugger, I never knew that about botulism. I make it for DH in an old olive oil bottle and stuff fresh chilli's in and sometimes dried chilli flakes. It is kept in the fridge though.

what the hecks botulism? ive just put some garlic and rosemary in some olive oil to use tomorrow... am i going to poison us?

Yeah, it's a pain. Botulism is a rare but exceptionally nasty form of food poisoning. A large proportion of cases are fatal. Most cases are the result of poor practice in home preserving. Botulism spores thrive in oxygen-free environments such as oils.

It's rare in commercial products because the chili or garlic or whatever is required to be treated with microbial inhibitors or acidifying agents before the oil is prepared.

I don't think you guys should be put off making flavoured oils if you enjoy it, but you might want to change how you do it. It seems that the oil should be heated to a certain temperature and kept there for a certain amount of time, and the oil should be sieved after it has infused and before you bottle it up, and it should be kept in the fridge and used within a few weeks. I am too lazy to do that; I'd imagined just bunging the chili in a bottle of oil and leaving it there for ages.

Have a look on the internet for all the details.

If I were you, storm, I'd be happy enough to use the oil tomorrow but then throw the leftover oil away.

thanks saracen, it was in the pot less than 12 hours before i used it and then cooked for 6 hours...we are still here