Okay hear me out. It’s Friday night, I finish work early, and I decide it’s time to finally make garlic confit. I look up the instructions, and within 20 minutes the house smells divine. While I could literally eat garlic by the spoonful, I decide to Google different ways to enjoy garlic confit. I see several articles with uses, recipes, and…..cue panic. According to the internet, garlic confit is most definitely going to kill me. I’m (rightfully) devastated.
But I can’t wrap my head around it. If garlic confit can cause botulism, why is the garlic on my counter safe? And more importantly, are the at home salad dressings I make also waiting to plan my untimely demise?
why I shouldn’t be afraid of garlic in all of its delicious forms.
In: 5
The C. botulinum bacteria only thrive in the *absence* of oxygen. Since garlic on your countertop is exposed to air it’s not hospitable to C. botulinum, though it can have spores on/in it.
When you immerse it in oil the garlic is deprived of oxygen and C. bot spores can mature, the bacteria can reproduce, and the toxin can start to build up.
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