Why did my chili oil flakes split in two layers?
I recently made chili oil at home for the first time, it is delicious and works great. I simply infused canola oil with some spices and then poured it on chili flakes mixed with a bit of black vinegar. However, when I look at pictures of homemade chili oils, I noticed mine is a bit different.
Most chili flakes sunk at the bottom, but there's also a layer that stayed nearly floating at the top. Nothing but oil in-between those two layers. Whenever I use it, I have to mix it with a spoon first, which gets it looking exactly like what you'd expect, but slowly goes back into layers.
Is this normal behavior for homemade chili oil? If not, what can be done to prevent it?
My few theories as to why that is are:
- I haven't used enough chili flakes for the amount of oil (though I did research these amounts first)
- Some of the chili flakes burnt when I poured the oil while others didn't
- Cheap chili flakes are cheap
Finally an update:
Best Answer
I've had the same thing happen. My suspicion is that the flakes on top had residual moisture which puffed them up during cooking, or alternatively that other gases were produced by pyrolysis and similarly trapped. Either way, a quick Google image search suggests that this happens fairly often.
Chili oil has to be mixed before use in any case, so I wouldn't worry about it. But if you were particularly unhappy with the look, you could try cooking the chili oil at a lower temperature, or pre-drying the chili flakes in the oven (a few hours at around 120°C should do it).
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How do you know if chili oil is bad?
How can you tell if chili oil is bad or spoiled? The best way is to smell and look at the chili oil: if the oil develops an off odor, flavor or appearance, it should be discarded.Can you get botulism from chili oil?
Though properly made chili oil can typically last several months at refrigerator temperatures, try to use it up within 1 month to be safe. Note: If your container is bulging after not using the chili oil for a while, it is possible that botulinum toxin has been produced.How to prevent chili oil from molding?
I use dark glass bottles (originally for wine) that I sterilize by putting them in the oven at 250 \xb0C for an hour or so. I then put in some regular red chilies (I have washed them with water and then let them dry while the bottle is in the oven) and added extra virgin olive oil.Should you refrigerate chili oil?
Opened chili oil will usually keep for about 24 months when stored in the refrigerator. Refrigeration may cause the chili oil to become cloudy and solidify, but this will not affect the quality or flavor \u2014 once the oil is brought back to room temperature, it will return to its normal consistency and color.How To Make Proper Chili Oil (Chinese Style)
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Answer 2
Yeah my chilli oil always does that too... I just skim the "floaters" off the top with each batch, because i like control of being able to pour just the oil on its own without flakes in there... if i want flakes i spoon them from the bottom
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