Food Saver has NEVER advised anyone to use that system to make any home canning safe. To make home canning safe, a high acid is needed, as well as processing times for foods that contain lower acid, which would need a pressure canning. Because I have been canning a very delicate thin skinnned pepperoncini, and using a special vacuum system to remove all the air from these peppers, and also force in all vinegar and salt brine, then fill canning jars with these peppers that have been exposed to the special vacuum (NOT A Food Saver vacuum) my process involves no heat of any kind, but instead, a high acid, and a high amount of vacuum with no chance of any air that would be trapped in the jars. My peppers are safe, and have no chance of being contaminated by any bacterial botulism or any other kind of spoilage. The ONLY think I used the vacuum process for is a specific pepper type, with no added water, only full strength 5% vinegar and pickling salt as the brine.

"Oils are often flavored with garlic cloves. Commercially prepared oils are widely available, but when preparing garlic-infused oil at home, there is a risk of botulism if the product is not stored properly." just a note to the above comment, The risk of botulism only exists if you store the garlic in the oil. You can safely simmer the garlic in the oil to get flavor but you must remove the actual cloves or pieces from the oil for storage. It is best to strain the oil through a strainer to catch all the little pieces that may be in the oil. This is a problem because the bacteria that cause botulism is anaerobic and the oil provides an anaerobic environment for any bacteria on the garlic to grow in. kendra

1. you have to cook it for awhile, kind of let the chili peppers stew in the oil. it works better with a hotter chili instead of a mild one and it works better if you cut or chop the chilis up somewhat. 2. this item would have to be refridgerated unless you are straining all the particle matter out of the oil. It is an excellent medium for botulism and there have been lots of cases where people have gotten sick from homemade whole garlic cloves in olive oil. 160 degrees is not hot enough to kill botulism toxin and spores and they love an anaerobic environment which the oil provides. 3. try posting this recipe and same question in the harvest forum. many people there will have lots of tips for you. it is an excellent forum. kendra

I'd start with the softened butter in a bowl and then drizzle in the olive oil, tasting every few drizzles until it meets your just-right taste level. If you're going to use it for spreading, I'd sprinkle just a teeny bit of salt in it as well. When I was growing up, we really didn't know butter. Grandma used olive oil for every thing she cooked and when her hot bread came out of the oven, we drizzled it -- GENEROUSLY -- with olive oil. And a little bit of salt and pepper. As we got older, mother introduced us to butter on toast. The transition period, of course, had us putting on a teeny bit of butter and a drizzle of olive oil. In restaurants, I went through a period of BUTTER, BUTTER, BUTTER on all the bread they could serve. And now I'm back to olive oil only. But ONLY if the restaurant has good olive oil. Now that I think about it, you may want to start with a bowl of olive oil... Joe