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Janet Davis
When summer is warm, the
basil harvest is early – which is a good thing for all those gardeners who love
pesto, that delicious concoction made from basil leaves, olive oil, crushed garlic,
pine nuts and parmesan cheese. In my kitchen (and many others, I suspect),
finding culinary inspiration through a long winter is a case of “have pesto –
with pasta.”
So
what is it about basil, Ocimum basilicum,
that gives it that pungent, unmistakable flavor? According to Deni Brown in her
Encyclopedia of Herbs And Their Uses, an excellent comprehensive reference
book published in 1994 by reader’s Digest: “Basils are rich in volatile
oils, which often vary considerably within the same species and according to
growing conditions.” She goes on to list the main constituents: Methyl
chavicol (anise), methyl cinnamate (cinnamon), eugenol (clove), citral (lemon),
geraniol (rose), linalol (lilac/orange), thymol (thyme) and camphor. Brown says
the Mediterranean basils we grow for cooking contain mainly linalol and methyl
chavicol, which accounts for their spicy, anise-scented sweetness.
There are numerous cultivars
of O. basilicum. Two purple-leafed varieties, ‘Dark Opal’ and ‘Purple Ruffles,’
are grown mainly as ornamentals, and look lovely as foliage accents in a flower
border or in a formal herbal knot garden where color is necessary to
differentiate the sections.
But if you’re growing basil
to cook, you’ll come across three or four types. Sweet basil, the species
itself, grows anywhere from one to two feet high, depending on soil conditions.
It has many branches, elongated, bright green leaves and spikes of small
flowers at the top of the stems as the plants mature.
Curly
or Neapolitan basil, O.basilicum var. crispum, has large wrinkled leaves,
darker green than the species, and is excellent for cooking. The Italian strain
‘Genovese,’ which does not flower and go to seed as quickly as others, is considered the best pesto basil. Bush, or
Greek, basil is a dwarf type, about eight inches tall, also good for cooking
but labor-intensive to harvest with its numerous tiny leaves.
Basil is easy to grow from
seed started in spring, either outdoors after all danger of frost has passed
(basil is very frost-sensitive and will succumb to the first fall frost, too)
or indoors about four-six weeks before the last frost date. As true leaves
develop, pinch the growing tip back and continue to pinch the growing tips of
new stems until the plant has branched nicely. By removing the growing tip of
mature plants as you harvest the leaves for cooking, you can delay bolting
(flowering). However, I find the flower stems to be highly aromatic, and I use
them with the leaves in my pesto and pasta sauces.
Basil needs full sun and
likes rich, evenly moist soil, and needs very warm temperatures to grow well.
It’s a favorite of many pests – earwigs, slugs and spider mites to name a few.
When you harvest your basil,
try to pick the leaves before they become old and less succulent. If you’re
taking entire stems and can’t use them right away, don’t refrigerate them –
they’ll turn brown and wilt. Instead, keep them in a cup of water like a floral
arrangement where they’ll stay fresh for days.
Here’s my hint for
harvesting basil for winter cooking. Pick the leaves off, tearing the largest
into smaller pieces. Press them down firmly in a big non-metal bowl and add
light olive oil just to cover. I have a few old-fashioned plastic ice-cube
trays into which I press this basil/oil mix, topping off each cube with a
little more light oil. Then I freeze the cubes. I find that three cubes stored
in a plastic baggie is just right as a flavorful base for pasta, and gives a
garden-fresh aroma to the kitchen.
Adapted from a column that appeared originally in the
Toronto Sun