I started growing raspberries about 15 years ago. I started with a mix of Royalty, Heritage, and Fall Gold. By far Royalty was the best tasting and I've been growing them alone ever since. I use them mostly for jam, but they are also very good fresh. To me, they taste best just after they go from white to a deep red. There is maybe an 8 hour window in which they turn from an unripe white-ish red to a dark purple/blue (all of the red tint is gone) and the sugar ferments, and the taste (IMO) is ruined. Those berries get tossed in the woods, and it seems to keep the critters from eating the good berries off the cane. During the peak of harvest I pick twice a day - that's how quickly they go from unripe to overripe. I also put them directly into the freezer if I'm not eating them fresh. Never refrigerate them! Here is a photo I took two years ago of a cane that broke its support tie because it was so heavy with berries. The darkest berries shown are on the verge of being overripe, but still have optimum flavor. Given another couple hours they would be ruined for sure. But I would pick every berry shown that didn't have any white tint. The rest would be ready in the next 8 hours.

1) Different sources can't always be expected to agree. :) 2) This is, as mentioned at the beginning of the discussion, a controversial topic since it is only borderline safe at best. So disagreement is to be expected. 3) My interpretation of the Oregon document (linked below) is that they actually do agree for the most part. As an extension I would expect them to use the NCHFP guidelines. The issues are just stated differently and so cannot be taken out of context. There are exceptions and limitations included throughout the document. 4) The primary issue is fresh vs. dried foods being added. Using dried herbs and spices - no problem IF one can be assured of it being fully dried. Human error is invited - How would you know? How would you test moisture content? What is fully dried garlic to one is still 10-15% moisture content to another. Thus risk survives. 5) Using fresh ingredients and IF fresh foods are used ALL of it MUST be filtered out. Filtering ALL of it out invites human error once again. How does one know ALL has been removed, that none remains? Microscopic examination? So, given the potentially lethal level of risk and to eliminate the role of human error as much as possible, freezing or limited 3 week refrigeration is the guideline. No shelf storage. And IMO, certainly no gift giving of flavored oils. You have no control over how long they would keep it or store/use it. Accept the risk for yourself if flavored oil is so important to you. Do NOT pass that risk on to others. Hope this helps but the bottom line with flavored oils is it is risky, not worth the risk to most, and not recommended. Dave Here is a link that might be useful: Oregon Ext. on Flavored Oils

I don't see dried peppers (akin to pepper flakes) in oil as much of an issue. The only qualifier is that we are assuming peppers or other additions are crisp-dried. With home-dried product, there's always the question of "how dried is dried?" if you know what I mean. Any residual moisture can be an issue. The method for improving safety of infused oils by heating was developed and supported by Ellie Topp and Margaret Howard in their original book, Put a Lid on It. This excerpt from the Food Safety Network summarizes the history. In April 1997, Macmillan Canada published Put a Lid on It! by authors Ellie Topp and Margaret Howard. The book features currently accepted techniques and recipes for small-batch preserving. One chapter is devoted to flavoured oils and vinegars. The method for making the oils, developed in consultation with the Bureau of Microbial Hazards of Health Canada, is simple but must be followed carefully so that the result is a safe product. In January 1996 an article appeared in Gourmet magazine with a procedure for making these oils that was attributed to FDA. When contacted, FDA could find no record of having given approval to such a method. Ellie Topp then approached Health Canada who agreed to consult on the development of a method that would be safe and pose no risk of botulism developing in the oil. This method is used in Put a Lid on It! Oil infused with a garlic clove or fresh herb provides a potential medium for growth of the bacteria responsible for botulism food poisoning. The fresh herb supplies a source of moisture that can support the growth of C. botulinum if it is present in the anaerobic environment of the oil. The method developed by Topp and Howard involves first heating the oil and flavouring agent in a 300F (150C)oven for 1 hour. This process drives off the moisture thereby eliminating the potential for growth as well as promoting the infusion of the flavour into the oil. The oil is then cooled, strained and placed in a clean bottle. It must be stored in a refrigerator at all times and used within a month. If proper care is taken, there is no health risk to making homemade flavoured oils. . . . Speaking for myself, of course you can refer to these posts. Easier yet, just post a link to this discussion. GardenWeb members freely cross-post links to other forums. The link below is to one document by Ellie Topp which provides procedures and recipes for infused oils. Scroll down the page and you'll see two PDF's which can be saved to your computer. Carol Here is a link that might be useful: Flavoured Oils

As someone who loves sweet peppers that go beyond "not hot" as a main characteristic I'm shocked at how many sweet peppers out there have little-to-no flavor beyond a sugar content and a slight-to-none natural pepper flavor. What passes for a sweet/fruity sweet pepper is kind of pathetic. The Gypsy (hybird) and Lipstick peppers are my current commercially available favorites for taste when ripe. Aji Duce is a sweet/fruity lantern/hab-type with a nice flavor (thin walls, though). Various Marconi-type peppers have a good fruity-sweet flavor when very ripe, but they tend to take a long time to fully ripen and have thin walls. I'm so sick of bells that I can't really think of an awesome tasting bell aside from the newer Flavorbust (hybrid) which is pretty nice tasting (though I'd take Gypsy or Lipstick over it, easily). Bells on whole taste pretty "washed out" of many flavors to me aside from the sugar content. I'm going to be passing out seed for a 2.5-3.5" medium/thick walled sweet pepper (no heat) with a sweet and fruity (apple/citrus) flavor in a month or so. I'll make an announcement for anyone interested to send a SASE.