Too chicken to try them

[Glenn 50]

Dried a lot of tomatoes in the dehyrator. They are great....however the ones that didn't dry 100% I preserved in canola oil with pickling spices.
Now I'm too scared to eat them after finding out I should have acidified them to prevent botulism.
I have made one jar into soup with very heavy boiling. However this wasn't really what I had in mind for them.
Am I being paranoid?

http://everything2.com/index.pl?node...and%20botulism

[Patrina_Pepperina]

I think it's wise to be wary Glenn - I don't think it's being paranoid. You could maybe chop them and use them on pizza, which is cooked at pretty high temps.

I put some of my dehydrated tomatoes in oil in the fridge for 6 months or more, BUT I prepared them specially first by:

- sprinkling them with salt before dehydrating,
- drying them to "well-dried" stage,
- placing them in a bowl, sprinkling them all over with vinegar, then stirring for a few minutes until they are all wet and the vinegar is absorbed.

I added enough vinegar so that it took about 5 minutes for them to soak it all up. They are a little softened on the outside at this stage. I then packed them into jars and filled the jars with olive oil, and stored them in the fridge.

This was just my own idea, so I don't actually know how safe it is, but I figure that the salt helps, and that the well dried tomatoes are pretty safe, PLUS the straight vinegar soaking into them increases the acidity quite a bit. I quite like the "bite" they have, but some might not like it. :wink:

Patrina

[Suze]

I don't think you are being paranoid at all.

My favorite approach for longer-term storage of dried tomatoes is to simply freeze them. The texture holds up just fine unlike what one would see with freezing whole undried toms. Probably because much of the water content is removed.

[Toe Knee]

An unofficial health-department-type perspective: if you are worried about botulism, you should know the bacteria that causes botulism, Clostridium botulinum, does its nasty work by secreting a toxin known as the botulinum toxin. This toxin is a poison to the system. It is different from food borne illnes that is a result of pathogen organisms because the botulinum toxin is not affected by cooking temperatures. Boiled food with botulinum toxin is just as toxic as the same food before boiling unless it is boiled for a long time.

Remember, the acidity factor must be done BEFORE storing to PREVENT growth of Clostridiun. Acidity by itself will have little effect on toxins if they are present. So vinegar before refridgeration will help, but only if they have not had sufficient time to develop the toxin. Patrina, your approach sounds pretty tasty to me. We might try it.

Here is a good article by Colorado Cooperative extension that talks about botulism and home canning: http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache...lnk&cd=3&gl=us

Toe

[montanamato]

Good info. I am getting ready to dry historic quantity of toms and want long storage...

Jeanne

[barkeater]

"Boiled food with botulinum toxin is just as toxic as the same food before boiling unless it is boiled for a long time."

Sorry, NOT TRUE. Bring anything suspect to a hard boil for ONE MINUTE destroys the toxin.

[JimmyWu]

Toes article said...

...can be inactivated by heating at at 180*F. for 10 minutes.
As an added precaution boil for 10 minutes without tasting, during the cooking process.
This is in regard to food processing procedures, NOT the reheating of suspect foods.

Botulism is/can be a lethal foodbourne intoxication.
WHEN IN DOUBT THROW IT OUT !

-Jimmy