Resumen de Heating oils with fresh vegetable inclusions: modelling and measurement of heating pattern
E. B. Topp, Freeman J. Cook, George Clarke Topp
Flavoured oils enjoy great popularity as taste enhancers; however methods frequently suggested to consumers for infusing flavour from fresh vegetables into oil allow the potential development of botulism toxin. With a view to developing a home-based procedure for making flavoured oil safely, the temperature–time pattern for heating oil with fresh vegetable inclusions was measured in a consumer oven. A model of the heating pattern was developed and shown to give close representation of the measured heating pattern for 240 g oil with 0–100 g of added vegetable. The amount of water in the added material was the key factor determining the time for the oil to reach the required temperature to assure safety. Vegetable pieces <1 cm in size gave good consistency between model and measurement. The model was used to develop an easily-used home-based procedure for making flavoured oils when a wide variety of ingredients are added. A companion study confirmed the safety of the method used.
