The Whole Food Journal

We all have our favorites when it comes to herbs, and one of mine is basil. I grow it in my garden. I’ve purchased it in the produce isle. And, I keep dried basil on the spice shelf. Over the years I’ve grown many different varieties of basil including Thai, Holy Basil and some scented varieties like cinnamon and lemon. But the two mainstays are the fragrant common basil and Purple ruffled. Basil just makes any tomato dish come alive with flavor, and a whole lot more. Add a little chopped basil to salads and every Italian concoction you can think of.

Basil, like so many herbs, has a very interesting history. It is considered one of the worlds oldest herbs, native to the Mediterranean and reportedly originating in India. Some 4,000 years ago this aromatic herb traveled throughout Asia, Egypt, Europe and England. Early settlers then brought basil with them to North America.

In India, basil was considered sacred and used in burial rites. In France, basil adorned sidewalk cafes acting as an insect repellent. In Italy, basil was, and still is known as “a sign of love” and became the basic ingredient for pesto. Today in the United States, where Italian cuisine is so popular, basil is considered essential in any cook’s kitchen. Fresh basil is even used to decorate many a dinner plate by artistic chefs.

When it’s time to make pesto (and it will soon be that time) I harvest by removing the top half of my basil plants. I also gather parsley……a lot of it! I do rinse and dry the herbs because I don’t like dirt in my pesto. Then I grind equal parts of basil and parsley and quite a few peeled garlic cloves in my Vita-Mix machine. You can also use a blender. While grinding, slowly add the best olive oil you can buy in a rather thin stream until you get the consistency you like, but not runny. I remove this from the machine and mix in chopped or ground almonds. I like the crunchiness of chopped almonds in the finished product. You can actually use any kind of nuts that you prefer. Then I freeze in meal-size batches and enjoy all winter long. You can add parmesan cheese before freezing. For no particular reason I add the cheese after I’ve thawed the pesto. There are literally hundreds of pesto recipes, but I’m a busy lady and this one is quick, easy and delicious.

Nothing beats absolutely fresh basil, and as I read sometime back “it’s about as easy to grow as hair!”. In my part of the country basil is an annual and will bolt or go to seed easily, so it’s important to remove any newly forming flowered seed heads to keep the oils in the leaves until your done harvesting for the season. You can get two to three harvests from a single plant in a single season by removing at least the top third of your plant. Some take a full two-thirds. Basil plants are widely available in nurseries around the country or you can start your own inside or out. Basil is a rapid grower, but hates the cold and will turn black and die with the first frost in the fall, unless you bring it inside to use and enjoy.

I just remembered another little trick to keep summer goodness going all winter. Put fresh basil leaves (they should be DRY) in enough olive oil to cover. Don’t pack them in too tightly. Store covered in your refigerator and enjoy adding “fresh” basil to any dish you choose while winter howls around you. You can do this with parsley too. Do get basil into your life. It’s such a wonderfully versatile and aromatic herb and a beautiful companion plant to tomatoes in your garden. Actually it’s pretty enough to adorn any flower garden or patio planter. Try it, you’ll like it.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 at 6:38 pm and is filed under Whole Food 101. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.