Anonymous Modernist 11928

Next time I'll try blanching the garlic and removing the herbs, see if it that helps. I'll probably try to fill my PC so the water doesn't actually touch the jars, too (may not be related, but seems an odd coincidence that this "dark layer" seems to go up to the water level). We'll figure it out eventually.

If it can help anyway diagnose this, the layer at the bottom is actually probably not oil. It seems slight thicker than oil when I tip the jar, more like a soft jelly.

I get this layer of dark oil at the bottom when I do it too. Actually it seems like it's dark red. (Pic : http://tinypic.com/r/bi6syh/6) Could it be the olive oil I'm using? Or maybe the garlic? I get my garlic pre-peeled from an asian grocer. Olive oil is cheap-ish olive oil from Costco. I've also learned that cool the PC by running cold water on it is a bad idea when dealing with jars. It causes a pressure change much faster in the cooker than in the jars, which will typically cause you jars to spill oil out in the pressure cooker. Not an issue since I started letting the pressure come down on its own.

I too had the problem where the oil leaked out of the pots into the pressure cooker when I tried the recipe.. Twice. Any idea why this happens and how I can fix it? Could it be because my lids are on too tight? (I did make sure to unscrew them 1/4, but I had them screwed pretty tighly before, maybe the lid had "stuck" on the rim?) I live at low elevation so that shouldn't be the issue. Thank you! Benjamin