Consuming
Thoughts
by
Fay Strickler
Penn State Extension Home
Economist For Berks Co.
Are you planning to can or
preserve peppers, garlic, or any
other moist vegetable-in-oil this
season? If the answer is yes, be
sure to follow modern tested
recipes and the recommenda
tions from your Penn State
Cooperative Extension office or
US FDA Guidelines.
The United States Food and
Drug Administration (US FDA)
recommends that consumers not
prepare any homemade veg
etable-or spice-in-oil, - mar
garine or butter recipe for
extended storage.
Why is there concern about
canning vegetables in oil?
Peppers, onions, garlic, spices
and oils of all types are low in
acid. Tomatoes are borderline
acid. Air cannot readily pass
through oil, so moist, low-acid
vegetables covered with oil are
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The 7155 S easily handles
tractor PTOs from 90 to V
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in a low-oxygen, low-acid envi
ronment. This makes them
potentially susceptible to the
growth of Clostridium botu
linum bacteria spores.
Clostridium botulinum bacteria
are widespread in the environ
ment and may be found on vari
ous kinds of produce, including
peppers and garlic. The spores of
Clostridium botulinum are
harmless in an air or oxygen
environment, but in an oxygen
free or air-free environment
such as oil, the spores, if pre
sent, could multiply and produce
the deadly toxin that causes bot
ulism.
Bacteria multiply quickly at
room temperature. Each
microorganism becomes 2 in 20
minutes, each of those 2 splits
into 4 in 40 minutes, then into 8
in one hour, into 64 in two hours,
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forage
harvesting.
into 4,096 in 4 hours and so on
In just 8 hours one little bacteria
has become 16,777,216 microor
ganisms?
If Clostridium botuhnum is
present and multiplies even to a
small extent, toxins are given off
that produce botulism, an often
fatal foodborne illness
A moist vegetable-in-oil mix
ture sitting on a dining room
table is at room temperature. If
it is present, the bacteria that
causes botulism has the perfect
environment in which to pro
duce its deadly toxin in a low
acid, low-oxygen, room tempera
ture environment! We have no
way to tell if Clostridium botu
linum is present or not.
Refrigerating these mixtures
can prevent the growth of any
microorganisms present.
Although vegetables can be
made more acid by covering
them with vinegar or lemon
juice before putting oil over
them (and this is done commer
cially), few university-or US
FDA-test consumer recipes exist
that use this technique.
The US FDA recommends
that consumers not prepare any
homemade vegetables- or spice
in-oil, - margarine or butter
recipes for extended storage
because the protective additives
used m commercial mixes are
not generally available foi
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 12, 1998-B7
homemade products. Consumers
are urged to refrigerate all such
products and to dispose immedi
ately of any products suspected
to be spoiled or to have been
stored unrefrigerated.
The “Let’s Preserve Peppers”
fact sheet is available from your
local Penn State Cooperative
Extension office and contains a
recipe for making “Marinated
Peppers” that is researched-test
ed. The recipe calls for a tested
proportion of peppers, onion,
garlic, horseradish and oregano,
lemon juice and vinegar, and the
mixture is processed in a boiling
water bath canner to preserve it
safely. Once opened, the product
should be stored in the refriger
ator and eaten within three
weeks The “Let’s Preserve
Peppers” fact sheet also has
modern tested recipes for pick
led peppers, pickled hot peppers,
pickled pepper-onion relish and
pickled corn-pepper relish
To request ‘Let's Preserve
Peppers” send a self-addressed,
stamped envelope to Berks
County Cooperative Extension,
Berks County Ag Center 1238
County Welfare Road, Leesport,
PA 19533-0520.
Brown
Bag
(Continued from Page B 6)
Following the Dietary
Guidelines doesn’t mean elimi
nating all your favorite lunch
time foods—but it does mean
balancing the foods that are
higher in fat, sugars, or sodium
with other foods that contain
less of these components.
Brown Bag Checklist
How does your brownbag
lunch rate 9 Answer the follow
ing questions to see how many
food groups your lunch usually
includes
How often does your lunch
contain the following’
• Fruits or fruit juices 9
• Vegetables or vegetable
juices 9
• Enriched breads, pastas, or
other gram products (especially
wholegrain types) 9
• Lean meat, poultry, fish, or
alternates (dry beans, peas,
lentils, peanuts, and eggs) 9
• Lowfat milk cheese or
yogurt?
Now take a look at your
answers Did your lunch include
something from each of the
groups almost daily or did some
of your answers fall in the “sel-
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(Turn to Page B 8)