Master Gardener Home Page--July 1996
Most of us know sweet basil (ocinum basilicum) as a wonderful companion to tomatoes and the prime ingredient in pesto, but it offers many other pleasures as well. In addition to its unique flavor, it comes in many forms and colors and has a surprising assortment of aromas. So if you love basil, you might want to explore more of its possibilities.
You can't find many of the more unusual basils at your local nursery, but seed for them is easy to obtain, and basil is very easy to grow from seed even in poor soil. The Park Seed Company catalog offers seed for cinnamon, licorice, lemon, and holy basil.
Cinnamon and licorice basil grow into rather large decorative bushes with purple-red stems and flowers and have spicy scents to pleasure the nose. They can be used like sweet basil and also make tinted vinegars. The lemon basil is particularly nice. Not only does it smell like lemon, it has a lemony tang. Its delicate leaves and stems are good in pestos.
Holy basil is something special. It is used in religious ceremonies in India and in the Greek Orthodox church. Its haunting, delicate aroma enhances any scent oriented garden and is wonderful tucked into bouquets or dried for potpourris.
A number of basils can be used decoratively in the garden, and you can still use them in your recipes. Spicy Globe grows in neat spherical mounds of tiny leaves, and does well in vegetable garden borders and as a container plant. I like Green Dwarf from Le Jardin du Gourmet even better. It has a similar growing habit but seems to me to be easier to grow. Both varieties make great pesto and have no woody stems.
If you like very big basil leaves, Park offers Valentino on a compact 15-inch bush. Others are Dark Opal (Park) and Purple and Green Ruffles (from Burpee), very decorative varieties which need full sun to maintain identity (otherwise the purple seems to turn to green giving a harlequin effect.) They are great in company with marigolds and chilis.
Shepherd's Garden Seeds offers a wonderful array of delicious sounding basils, including a number of Italian basils. Their basil Genova Profumatissima (Perfume Basil) is said to have an "intense, almost perfumed flavor, quite haunting to the taste. Not having grown them, I cannot comment.
To preserve basil the leaves can be frozen in small amounts in sandwich bags or blended with olive oil in a food processor and stored in small glass jars in the fridge for short periods of time. It can also be dried.
Making Basil Vinegars
The best way to preserve the flavor (and scent) of basil is in vinegars. They are easy to make, and can be very pretty. Begin with a good quality vinegar, either cider or white. Bring the vinegar to boiling in an enamel or other non-reactive pan and pour over half a quart jar of loosely packed basil leaves of your choice.
Fill the jar to an inch from the top, seal it, and allow it to steep in the sun about a week. Strain the vinegar through several layers of cheesecloth, discarding the stems, and funnel it into sterilized decorative bottles. Add a sprig or two of basil flowers before capping. Cinnamon basil produces a vivid pink in white vinegar, but you will also discover that each basil has its own character, and each makes a distinctive and delicious salad vinegar. All the vinegars are very attractive, and make great gifts if you are willing to part with them.
Pesto for Pasta
There are as many variations in making pesto as there are basils to make it with. I like this recipe because it is easy to remember: Put 1/2 C basil leaves, 1/2 C pine nuts and 2 garlic cloves in a small food processor.
Blend to a paste. Add 1/2 C freshly grated parmesan cheese. Blend again. Add 1/2 C olive oil a little at a time until pesto is a creamy consistency. Add salt to taste. The pesto is never heated, but be sure the pasta is served hot and buttered. Mix 2 tbsp pesto with the pasta, and also add a dollop on each serving. Makes enough for 1 lb. box of pasta.
--Ginny Baier, MG
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