I am new here, but I'm sure that someone with more experience will chime in if I get this wrong. My thought is, if it is an untested recipe and you don't trust it, you should break the seal immediately even for storing in the refrigerator. There are strains of botulism which can grow even at refrigerator temperatures, so anaerobic + low acid + moisture + refrigerator temps can be a problem.

If you break the seal immediately, botulism isn't a concern. So then just watch for signs of other spoilage, like mold, off smells or colors, etc. The recipe sounds yummy, so if it were me, I'd toast up some bruschetta or cook some pasta, and eat it all up in the next few days.

You are getting worked up about generalized "rules" instead of considering reason. Like the "rule" concerning oil - things are canned with oil all the time - soups with meat, salad dressings, chili, I even canned some olive oil pickles one time from an approved recipe (it just had a little oil). The biggest concern I have when dealing with oil in a recipe is ensuring I clean the lip of the jar as much as I can before placing the lid. And your comment about "low acid veggies," something that makes up most pickle and relish recipes, and just about all get no more than BWB... just like those recipes, vinegar or another acid is used to reasonably increase the acidity as appropriate for canning at BWB temperatures. Think of something like ketchup or salsa, both of the pickling concept, and not all that different from caponata. And we all really WANT salsa to be thick - so it doesn't just run off our chips. I've even made a salsa roasting peppers and onions with a small amount of oil (like the caponata), and it is never a problem. When I'm doing pickling, I usually consider that I can include just about any vegetable combination, so long as my overall quantity is right, so long as my acid amount (vinegar, lemon or lime juice, etc.) is appropriate for the given quantity of vegetables. I stick with approved recipes, but what is coming from my garden at any given time does not always perfectly align with a recipe. So if I include more hot peppers in place of sweet peppers, or add in squash in place of cucumbers (or even an under-ripe watermelon), or include some green tomatoes, or some extra onions, or some okra - these are all low acid vegetables, and the acid that is being added, or sugar in some types of recipes, is designed to properly preserve the combination. So keep it in the fridge if you want, but if you properly canned it, how is it any different from the jar of Pace or Campbells in the pantry?

I'm definitely not an expert but here's my take. Whether using oil is safe or not depends on the recipe. The NCHFP's marinated mushrooms recipe has 2 cups of oil and the marinated peppers recipe has 1 cup of oil. Both recipes make 9 half-pints so that equals about 1.75 tablespoons of oil per jar for the peppers and about 3.5 tablespoons per jar for the mushrooms. And both recipes are BWB.

Wine vinegar isn't an issue. You can use any type of vinegar you want as long as it's at least 5% acidity.

The low acid veggies also aren't a problem as long as it has enough acidity added.

Can't say anything about the thickness or about being a cup short or about how long it will last in the fridge (but I would guess it would last indefinitely).

Rodney

I know the science and principles behind preservation to some extent, so I base my actions on actual data and I'm always going to concern myself with it. The Ellie Topp recipe is from a cookbook and has been tested. However, it still doesn't seem (to me) to fit the criteria for safe boiling water bath canning, because too many things can go wrong with it. I can't use commercially canned things to compare because they are canned under much higher heat conditions than what can be achieved in a boiling water bath. In fact, the boiling water bath in home canning does kill some bacteria but not all, it is more for sealing the jars. It's the acids and sugars that keep the bacteria at bay, which is why the balance of acid and sugars, particularly when canning low acid fruits and vegetables, is critical.

Case in point of the kinds of things that can go wrong, this morning while washing up some of the dishes I realized I used the 1/3 cup measure instead of the 1/4 cup one for the olives, and more important, the jars didn't seal so they went into the freezer. It is a very delicious recipe though, I will vouch for that.

Oh, and if I can score some more eggplant I might make up another batch to experiment with. I definitely recommend it as a pasta sauce, BF and I both love pasta puttanesca, and it would make a good sauce for that. Some of the best caponata I have had. I think it's the roasting that makes the difference in the recipe. Plus, my cute little eggplant was very tasty compared to some others I've used.

" There are strains of botulism which can grow even at refrigerator temperatures, so anaerobic + low acid + moisture + refrigerator temps can be a problem. "

What? Tell me about this. I'm ashamed I didn't know. Where's Linda Lou?

Deborah

"There currently are seven known types of Clostridium botulinum bacteria. These differ in such characteristics as proteolytic activity, tolerance to salt and reduced water activity, minimum growth temperature and heat resistance.

The proteolytic type A, B and F strains produce very heat-resistant spores which are a major concern in the processing of low-acid foods. These types digest proteins in foods and produce a foul odor that may warn consumers of spoilage.

The nonproteolytic B, E and F strains can grow at refrigerated temperatures, but produce spores of very low heat resistance. These types cause problems primarily in pasteurized or unheated foods. Because they are nonproteolytic, no off-odor or evidence of spoilage may be produced with toxin development.

Type C strains cause botulism in birds, turtles, cattle, sheep and horses. Type D is associated with forage poisoning of cattle and sheep in Australia and South Africa. No outbreaks of type G have been reported; however, type G has been isolated in cases of sudden and unexpected death in humans."

Here is a link that might be useful: Entire article from CO State