Fresh Basil Plant

[james]

Summer is here and we're making pizza tonight -- hey, no school tomorrow.

Putting everything together, I thought about our basil plant. We get very little sun here, but out plant is doing well on the kitchen window sill. What do you do for fresh basil? Do you have a plant, or do you buy fresh?

I feel a poll coming on.

Here is a photo of tonight's dinner. Can't wait to eat.
James

[thebadger]

We have 5 basil plants going for pesto and the leaves... Our plan is to bring some in over the winter to have some fresh leaves available as well.

Very easy to grow. Just plant and water.

Dick

My 4/6 year olds love Pesto!

[mfiore]

Dick

Funny about the kids. My boys are obsessed with basil. My five year old loves eating it as a snack. While playing outside, he runs up and picks leaves to chew on, sometimes wrapped around a cherry tomato.

We make fresh pesto as a family. We use a mortar and pestle to grind the leaves with salt, pine nuts, garlic, emulsify with Ligurian Olive oil. That is summer for me!

[thebadger]

Mfiore,

That's hard core - we use a food processor. I cut back on the amount of evoo and we use walnuts vs. pine nuts due to the expense...

My kids are exposed to way more types of food than I remember growing up. I don't think I knew what pesto was until I was an adult.

Dick

[james]

Originally Posted by mfiore

Dick

We make fresh pesto as a family. We use a mortar and pestle to grind the leaves with salt, pine nuts, garlic, emulsify with Ligurian Olive oil. That is summer for me!

Very nice. What a great picture that evokes.
James

[Ageo308]

Well its winter now here but i had enough basil to sell lol. Basically i freeze them in sealable bags so they get me through winter (and suprisingly the flavour is almost the same) my nonna taught me that.

[SpringJim]

Originally Posted by Ageo308

Well its winter now here but i had enough basil to sell lol. Basically i freeze them in sealable bags so they get me through winter (and suprisingly the flavour is almost the same) my nonna taught me that.

We make and freeze pesto....but fresh leaves? gonna have to try that one!
Thanks

[Frances]

You didn't list my version which is

"I plant a new Basil plant in a pot each year and the slugs climb up the sides and eat it, and then the plant starts dying off from the stems upwards, so I get a new one and repeat..."

I don't know about children, but slugs LOVE basil!

[dmun]

I don't know about children, but slugs LOVE basil!

Here's a use for that broken glass that new builders keep wanting to insulate their ovens with: mulch the plant liberally with a layer of broken glass.

[egalecki]

I've never frozen leaves, but I froze basil and olive oil puree last year- I made it in the food processor- added the oil to get a spreadable consistency, and spread it in a half sheet pan lined with plastic wrap. When it was frozen, I popped it out, cut it into cubes (about a tablespoon size) and put it back in the freezer in a resealable bag. Pop them into sauces frozen at the last minute of cooking, and it tastes like summer.

I also got really lucky with a planter of basil I sowed late last year- it came inside, was really happy, and I had fresh basil until March. My Italian parsley, though, not so good.

Right now I seem to have volunteer basil growing under the tomato plants I put in the pots in which I grew basil last year. Smells the same, just doesn't look quite the same. Pretty cool.