Basil is easy to grow. The secret is watering with some seaweed emulsion fertilizer. If you don’t garden you can pick up fresh basil or even a plant at the grocery store and make pesto fresh at home. It’s *so* much better than jarred pesto.
As to basil’s health benefits: it’s soothing to the digestive and nervous systems. It can ease gas, stomach cramps, and nausea. It can be helpful for fatigue, depression, and nervous irritability. Full of antioxidants, it’s been shown to support healthy blood sugar, heart and vascular health, immunity, and cognitive ability. A delicious food that’s great for your health – truly food as medicine.
It’s easy to make Pesto with or without nuts. For that matter, the french make something very similar, Pistou, that omits the cheese and the nuts and focuses on the garlic and the basil. So you can make this sauce in whatever way you please. Here’s a variation recipe:
- a blender full of fresh basil (blanched or not, optional)
- 2-4 bulbs of garlic, roasted.
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1/4 c parmesan or romano cheese
- olive oil
- salt and pepper.
- optional – pine nuts or walnuts
Roast garlic by putting unpeeled bulbs in a toaster oven or toaster and toasting at 350 until the peels are starting to brown.
Roasting the garlic really adds a warm, nutty flavor to the pesto that I love.
To make your pesto place the basil in the blender with the roasted garlic, cheese, salt and pepper, lemon juice, and nuts, and blend away.
Delicious on pasta, toast, chicken, sandwiches, whatever… And so good for you.
Backyard Botanics 