The best practices for preserving foods in oil

You can easily preserve food and herbs in oil as people have done for centuries. This method of preserving produces delicious foods and gives bacteria little chance of thriving.

Cleanliness plays an important role in any method of preserving foods, so make sure anything you're using as part of your preserving projects is clean before you start.

Here are some tricks of the trade anyone preserving should know:

• Choose mild, refined oils such as olive, sunflower, grapeseed and sesame; they won't overpower the flavour of the ingredients.
• Add some herbs or spices for a stronger taste when preserving foods.
• Before consuming the fruits of your labour, let the pickles or preserves steep for a month.
• After opening preserves, eat the contents promptly.

If you're looking to seal preserves in oil, there are some specific things you should know. Here are the most important:

• Oil provides an airtight seal for the ingredients, thus improving their shelf life. Depending on the recipe (and especially with seafood), additional preserving through salting, cooking or marinating in oil may be necessary.
• If you want to preserve one kilogram (two pounds) vegetables, you need 500 millilitres (two cups) oil, 15 millilitres (one tablespoon) salt and spices and herbs according to taste.
• After washing and rinsing produce, cut it into bite-sized pieces and briefly steam.
• Dry tomatoes in advance in the oven. Lightly brown eggplants or bell peppers under the broiler and peel them. They don't need to be steamed.
• Layer the veggies in the jars with spices and herbs and pour in enough oil — heated to about 75°C (170°F) — to completely cover them.
• Press down firmly with a spoon so that all air bubbles rise and the jars can be sealed airtight.
• You can vary the spices: peppercorns, thyme and lemon peel go well with mushrooms. Tomatoes taste great when seasoned with basil, mint, rosemary and chili; eggplants go well with garlic and lemon.
• To pickle seafood in oil, cook it first in seasoned vinegar to kill any bacteria.
• Since seasonings and herbs release their flavouring agents into the oil, it can be used for seasoning other dishes.

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