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["Lynda" <lurine AT com-pair.net>]

You can check the pH.  Some home canners use the sticks and some use a 
meter.  But olive oil wouldn't be high enough and it is the ideal growing 
medium for botulism.

Most studies advise against keeping them in oil for more than a week.

Lynda
The press corp is fact-adverse but very fable friendly.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "EarthNSky" <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>


> I'm going to dry some tomatoes.
> I love the jars of sun dried tomatoes that you get in the store, the
> toms are soaking in olive oil and they are great on bread or pizza or in
> pasta salad.  However, I know it is not safe to preserve tomatoes in
> olive oil like that.  But it would seem to me, that as long as I got the
> tomatoes really really dry, and stored the jars in the refrigerator, it
> would be okay.  Of course, I could always store the dry tomatoes
> separately and then add them to some oil a week or so before I intend to
> use them, but that will take some planning.  I also thought about maybe
> just dropping the dried toms in and oil and vinegar Italian style salad
> dressing a week or two before they are needed.  Again, planning
> required.  Is it worth thinking about to acidify the tomatoes with
> vinegar, dry them, and then put them in oil?  Waste of time?
> Regular olive oil is a weak acid, but it's not like you can just measure
> the pH.
>
> I want to do this...
> http://www.scordo.com/2009/08/recipe-homemade-sun-dried-tomatoes-olive-oil.html
> Doesn't that look good????
>
> Surely as long as it is prepped in a clean space, stored in the fridge,
> and all other precautions are taken, it would be good for a few weeks?