Polk County Master Gardeners
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Basil
If I could only grow one fresh herb, it would be basil. This is the one that
can improve almost anything except ice cream (and I am not so sure about
that - just never tried it). It is wonderful in salads, in soups, on fish,
scattered on tomatoes, and spaghetti just would not be the same without it.
It is also wonderfully easy to grow. It wants rich soil with lots of organic
matter, full sun, and plentiful water. You can sow the seeds directly in the
ground after the soil is warm in the spring; you can grow basil in a pot in your
kitchen if you have a window where it will get lots of sun; the plants are
pretty enough that you can tuck a few into your flower beds.
Once they are growing well, pinch back the tops to make the plants bushier
and harvest the outer leaves often. The ancient Romans believed that the more
basil was abused, the more it would prosper, and it almost seems as if they were
right because I have never been able to keep up with the two or three basil
plants that always seem to produce more leaves than I can use.
If you have only used dried basil, you have a treat coming because this
wonderful herb loses a lot of its flavor when dried. A better way to preserve it
is freezing. Gather all of the leaves when your plants start going to seed, wash
them and chop them finely, and put them in a plastic zip-top bag and pop it in
the freezer. When you need a bit of basil, take it out and crumble the amount
you want into your stew or salad and stick the remainder back in the freezer. It
will keep about six months.
Another great way to preserve basil is in pesto. Dump 2 tablespoons pine
nuts, 2 large garlic cloves, 3 cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves, 2
tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, and 2 teaspoons lemon juice in your food
processor or blender. While it is running, slowly add 3 tablespoons olive oil
and process until well blended. If you do not use all of it right away, freeze
it in ice cube trays. When it is firm, put the cubes in another zip-top plastic
bag and store them in the freezer. This will keep several months also and does
wonderful things when you drop a cube into soup or stew. To say nothing of what
the pesto does when you mix it with linguine, fresh tomatoes, and some feta
cheese.
By Barbara M. Tobias
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