Cooking For Engineers

[skyclad]

Hello..
Today, I was shocked and surprised when I heard that you should always refrigerate garlic oil. The type of oil they were specifically talking about though was when you put whole, raw cloves in olive oil. What I've been doing for years now, without getting sick, is cooking finely minced garlic until it turns golden color, cool and then strain. I have NEVER refrigerated it and have never gotten sick (maybe I've just been lucky..).
Could someone please tell me if there is a difference in COOKED garlic oil as opposed to what I described above, and if it's necessary to refrigerate it?

[Dilbert]

raw garlic stored in oil can produce botulism. botulism can flourish even at refrigerator temperatures.

the spores are not killed at boiling water temperatures.

commercial products are prepared with extra acid compounds to stop the growth of spores.

there is a lot of info on the web about the dangers - if you Google
garlic botulism
you'll get lots of hits / info / further research.

[Hanson]

The only time I have garlic outside the refrigerator is when it is still in cloves and when it is dried. I know minced garlic at the grocery store usually says to refrigerate after opening. As far as garlic oil, I always make it fresh for the meal and don't store it although I was unaware of the botulism risk. Does anyone know where to find coupons for minced garlic and other garlic marinades?