the jar in my fridge...?

[jessjess]

Hi
A few months ago, I chopped fresh herbs, garlic, ginger and onion, put it all in a jar and topped it up with olive oil.
I use a spoon every time I want to fry something. (IOW it's always heated)
I top up the jar with more olive oil every now and then.
It's been a few months.
Lately it's started smelling a bit funny....
but it doesn't make me sick.
In fact, my digestive health has been great.
Is this concoction fermented?
thanks!

[Jetzs]

You have effectively excluded oxygen from your concoction by placing it in oil. This means that if you have fermentation occuring it would be anaerobic fermentation. There are a few anaerobic species that cause disease an others that are very beneficial to digestive health and some of both groups happen to be members of the genus Clostridium. A few of the species that cause disease are able to produce toxins at refrigeration temperatures and some are not degraded by heat and are termed "heat stable enterotoxins".

If it smells bad, I wouldn't eat it. You may initially have cultured some beneficial bacteria who may have set the stage for others who are not so beneficial!

Good luck!

[Tibor]

I would not put anything in the oil that contains any trace of water or moisture unless you use it very soon. When I was reading up on infusing olive oil with fresh garlic, all kinds of sites raised a red flag to simply dropping garlic in oil. You need to heat it up or dry the herbs or garlic. The oil will not support bacterial growth but the water containing herbs or garlic will. I don't know enough about it but I would be careful.