An interesting point...
I buy chopped or pureed garlic at the grocery store...looking at the jar, its in soybean oil with ciric acid and a stabiliser...while I agree with Bucky in that it is nowhere near as "sharp" as fresh chopped garlic, it cooks out well...and this requires it be kept in the fridge after opening...this was probably "cooked" to one extent or another before being sealed, is this what is saving our buying public from botulism?
Why can't you do this yourself?
Have met others, and myself have peeled garlic and stored in olive oil (the storage time was roughly a month, either used it up, or the garlic got too soft)....mind, I was cooking the stuff, and "fondly believe" that heating like this would have killed off a lot of things that might not have been too good, had they been consumed "raw"...
Could Marmalady and Jennyma, and others, carry on with this thread, and point out what the dividing line between "safe" and "unsafe" might be?
With Thanks!
(And this might expand the "education pool" here, and save some people a very tough time, so it would be well worth the effort of anyone that's got quantified data to share)
Lifter