Garlic Honey - Question

[Crone]

I made the leek top apple cider vinegar and the garlic honey. Today, their time is up and I have separated the leek tops from the vinegar.

When I opened the Garlic Honey it foamed up. After the first day I felt the lid wasn't air tight and so I made sure it was air tight for the duration. I am wondering if the foaming is because of the first day. The honey is not treated in anyway. It is from our own bees.

My question is: Is it normal for the Garlic Honey to foam up? I don't mind if it has fermented (there is no sign of this) but I am wary of botulism.

What do you think?

I await your expertise and many thanks in advance.

[Mad_Crow]

I've only made garlic honey once but it foam though.

I wonder what happened?

[crystal woman]

When you put whole fresh garlic cloves in an airless environment, like honey or oil, the garlic fizzes. I have done endless research trying to find out why it fizzes since I've had this happen too (I think it's some kind of oxidation of the garlic happening), but inevitably will come up only with information about botulism occuring when you put uncooked garlic cloves into non-acid honey or oil because it's an anaerobic environment. Both garlic and honey carry botulism spores and when they are combined the lack of oxygen creates the perfect non-acid environment for breeding more botulism spores, especially if it is sitting at room temperature. There are so many warnings about this risk of botulism that I finally decided to not ever again try putting whole fresh garlic cloves in honey or oil. I just don't want to take any chances with botulism.

Now what I do is I dice and very lightly cook the garlic in oil (or honey) until it is slightly transparent and then I add it to the rest of the oil or honey, then heat the whole mixture to a light simmer and let it simmer for 5 minutes. Then I let it cool, bottle it up and put it into the fridge to let it infuse indefinitely. When I do this I don't get any bubbling or fizzing while it is infusing in the fridge, the honey or oil ends up tasting absolutely fantastic and I feel more confident that there is less risk of botulism spores growing in the mixture.

When I was attending the cooking acadamy one of the very first things we were taught in our classes was about the dangers of botulism developing on garlic when it's put in an airless non-acid environment. We were taught that the safest way to infuse fresh, uncooked garlic was to infuse it in vinegar (acid) or if in oil to include plenty of salt. Both salt and vinegar inhibit the growth of botulism. For cooking purposes I do a bit of overkill in this regard - I dice the garlic and mix it with salt and apple cider vinegar to cover and let that sit in the fridge. It tastes delicious, can be added to anything and will last for years in the fridge that way.

I'm not saying that you should not infuse whole fresh garlic cloves in honey or oil - just suggesting that you educate yourself about the risks and then use your own judgement about what you think are best ways for you to do it for yourself.

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