Basil
Basil, I love basil! The scanned image shown here is from the 2004 Burpee seed package. In my opinion, everyone that can should grow basil at least once in his or her life. Of course, if I write about all of my favorite herbs, I will say the same, “Everyone should grow it.” Basil is easy to grow. The plants need full sun, and they can be grown from seed or plants. The seeds are tiny, so it is best to sow them in a flat and then set the seedlings in the garden 12″ apart. I read the back of my Burpee seed package and they recommend sowing the seeds in the ground and then thinning the seedlings to stand 12 inches apart. After that, Burpee wrote, “Pinch to promote bushy growth.” That is not unusual, but then Burpee wrote, “use the pinchings.” I found that funny, but I know what they mean. Basil is so good that it is a shame to throw away the pinchings.
Today I cut back my basil plants (I have three). They are blooming and it is time to make Pesto. I cut most of the plant off, but on each plant, I left one or two blooming branches. The stubs of the cut branches should sprout new growth. After cutting the branches, I shook each one in an effort to rid the plant of bugs.
Inside the house, I had a sink full of cold water ready for the branches. Before putting them in the cold water, I rinsed each branch thoroughly with hot tap water. Bugs are more likely to let go when sprayed with hot water. After spraying the branch, I put it in the cold water. When I was finished, I placed a heavy plate over the plants in the cold water to make them stay under the water. After around 10-15 minutes, I removed the plate. I removed each branch, one at a time, first shaking it under the water and then rinsing it under fresh cold water, making sure that I sprayed all of the leaf surfaces. I laid the branches in a large strainer to drain.
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| Image shows cleaned basil and the basket of stripped stems. The stripped stems were returned to the garden. |
After that, it was simply a matter of plucking off the leaves without getting any branches. I placed the leaves on paper towels and patted them dry. I measured them by placing them in a large measuring cup, just shaking them down a bit, not packing nor allowing them to be too fluffy. I had 10 cups of leaves. Once I knew how many cups of leaves that I had, I made the pesto and packed it in pint bags for the freezer.
I could write more about basil, how wonderful it smells and tastes, its long regal history, what its name means, other uses for basil other than pesto, but it is time to cook the evening meal. See you around!
Donna Young
Yum coffee! Thank you Lisa! 
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I set aside a few hours today and completed the remaining 14 manuscript animations. These animations are located in the Beginning Manuscript section in Handwriting.
I love basil, too! I’ve had a lot of success with it this year. We’ve been eating pesto on everything!
I can almost smell it. Too bad that is not a scratch & sniff picture.
I have a rosemary plant. I don’t know why I chose a rosemary plant because it is not something I use much of in my cooking. I have a good place for growing some basil and some spots that ‘need something’.
Melanie, pesto is so tasty!!
Sheri
You do need to fill that spot with some basil!
Rosemary, it is another favorite herb. I use it for tea as well as cooking. I grew sage this year to use in the rosemary tea. My stash of dried sage is almost used up and I hope to replenish it this year.
I ought to publish my rosemary tea, I call it Ahmsane (I’m sane)
Hmmmmm, I am looking at my recipe now, it also calls for an herb that I forget to plant. I will need to get some if I can find it.
Sheri, I use my rosemary plants all the time. I stuff the cavity of my roasted chickens with it (among other things) and you can also separate the skin from the breast and tuck rosemary leaves in pocket. That is really good, and it’s easy to do. I used to have a list of cool stuff to do with rosemary, but I’ve lost it.
So how would you use pesto? I’ve never made if or used it either. I really should get into growing my own herbs one of these days.
Elaine, there are some ways to use pesto written at the bottom of the recipe page that I have here. The page is at Pesto
If you love the flavor of pesto, then the uses for it are broad, much more than what I have listed on the recipe page.
I found out yesterday that my cat loves pesto. He licked two large gobs off of the wooden spoon that I was using to scrape the pesto out the Vitamix.
My Vitamix could not handle the full load of 10 cups of leaves, the oil, and all of the other ingredients. I had to make it in two batches.