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Archive for the basil tag

How to grow, harvest, and cook with basil

May 16, 2023 • Leave a Comment

Basil is the herb that has probably encouraged more people to become herb gardeners than any other. It is also likely that the most popular use for it is in Italian pesto sauce. But it is widely used in many other ways. For example, bunches of fresh basil can be used as fly repellents at entryways.

In folklore, bunches mixed with dill, artemisia, and rosemary were hung in the doorway nearest to the southwest corner of the house to repel evil spirits. If a young man wore a sprig of basil while courting, it meant that he was serious. Medicinally, it is used in teas, baths, and potions to mildly sedate, to aid poor digestion, to reduce fevers, to treat acne and insect stings, and to relax tired muscles. In the language of flowers, it can symbolize warfare and hatred, or love and best wishes depending on which reference you use (be sure the person to whom you are sending the symbolic bouquet is using the same flower dictionary that you are!). It is frequently planted among tomatoes with garlic and borage to repel the green hornworm.

**Basil is easy to grow in pots, providing you take care of the basic necessities of sun, fertilizer and water.**

Growing basil

Basil is an easy-to-grow annual needing sun, adequate water, reasonably rich well-drained soil, and warmth. It will show “frost” damage if the temperature falls below 40 degrees. Very cold water causes black spots to form on the leaves. It is commonly grown from seed, although seed-produced plants can contract a sudden wilt syndrome (fusarium) that turns the stems black and kills the plants in 1 or 2 days. Many seed companies offer improved varieties that do not have this problem.

Basil is easy to grow in pots, providing you take care of the basic necessities of sun, fertilizer and water. You can grow it on your windowsill if you have a sunny window. It is not a long-lived plant, so don’t bother to dig it up from the garden in the fall. Instead, start with new young plants to get you through most of the winter. The bugs that bother it include slugs, aphids and spider mites. If you get up one morning to find holes in the leaves, you most likely have a problem with slugs. Put sharp sand on the ground around the plants to discourage them. A strong stream of water usually washes the aphids and mites away.

Harvesting basil

When you are harvesting your basil to use fresh in the kitchen, cut the leaves and tender tips. Wash gently if necessary. When harvesting for drying, wait until the dew has dried from the plants and then cut only 1/2 to 2/3 of the plant at a time. Start harvesting in July when the plants are at least 12 inches tall. By harvesting early you avoid many of the insect problems, and the fresh leaves are still sweet and tender. Try to keep the plant from flowering, since once it flowers, the primary growth of the plant is done. However, the flowers are edible and make tasty additions to salads.

Basil turns black when it is frozen unless it is already processed. Make it into pesto and freeze it in an ice cube tray for easy wintertime use. To store the leaves dry, cut the whole plant before the first frost, rinse it if necessary, and pat it dry. Next, put a rubber band around the stems without making too large a bunch or it will turn moldy before it can dry, and hang the bunch in a dark and airy place until it is crispy dry. Store the dried basil in a bottle away from heat and light.

Basil varieties

There are about 35 varieties of basil in cultivation, and many more “named” varieties that are really duplicates of other ones. Herb nurseries carry a lot of them, and it is nice to be able to see and smell the plants before you buy them so there won’t be any surprises later on. Basil leaves have volatile oils that taste mainly of a mixture of anise, cinnamon, clove, lemon citrus, rose, thyme, and camphor. Plants and their oils can vary widely according to growing conditions. The varieties most commonly grown are categorized based on which oils are predominant, as in licorice basil, cinnamon basil, lemon basil, and holy basil (camphor and citrus). There are also basic basils, where the flavors and fragrances are quite evenly distributed including sweet, ‘Genovese,’ ‘Napolitano,’ ‘Nufar’ (probably the most resistant to fusarium wilt), Italian, pesto, spicy globe, and most of the purple-leaved varieties. Varieties can have large leaves, small leaves, purple or purple and green leaves, or ruffled leaves. There are small plants, tall plants, ball-shaped plants, and woody-stemmed shrubby plants, all of which are basils.

Basil recipes

There are many pesto recipes around—at least one or two in every cookbook or basil article. The basic recipe calls for 2 cups of fresh, chopped basil, 2 cloves of garlic, 3/4 cup of olive oil, 3/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper to taste, and pine nuts as a garnish. We mix these ingredients in the blender or food processor. Use pesto over pasta, added to soups and salad dressings, and mixed with bread crumbs to stuff mushroom caps. At the farm we add 1/3 cup of lemon juice and pour it over fresh tomatoes, pepper strips, zucchini strips, cucumbers, and cooked and chilled cheese ravioli for a wonderful summertime salad.

You can make basil vinegar by stuffing a pint canning jar 2/3 full of basil leaves, filling it with vinegar, and letting it steep for 2 or 3 weeks. This makes a great addition to salad dressings and barbeque sauces. Using the opal basil leaves will turn the vinegar a lovely pink color. Basil makes a nice addition to herbal tea mixes. The spicy basils add a lovely fragrance to potpourri blends.

Basil is a great addition to any garden and is readily available as baby plants during the growing season at your local garden center and farmers market. Buy a pot of basil and give it a try!

Jean and Roxanne Riggs operated Sunshine Farm and Garden in Oakland County, MI.

Elsewhere: Start summer off with a sampling of fresh herbs

Cooking with culinary herbs

September 1, 2021 • Leave a Comment

The culinary herbs have been the seasonings of the human race for centuries. Culinary herbs, along with medicinal plants, were among the first plants to be given space in garden plots. These tasty gems have always been a cook’s companions, and the more one uses them, the more one wants to know—including their history, lore and legends.

Basil

An annual, basil is usually associated with tomatoes in salads and vegetable dishes. It pairs well with meat, egg and cheese dishes, and soups and stews. It is the main ingredient in a classic pesto. Lemon basil is good with fish. Basil reminds many people of a mixture of cloves, cinnamon, and anise. It was hung in bunches in stables to repel flies, and girls wore a sprig of basil behind their ear to invite a kiss. Don’t bother to bring in a plant from the garden; it has about a six-month life span and will not live long. Start with a baby plant to grow on your windowsill for winter dishes. If you want to dry it for winter, pick a nice bunch from August to the first frost, and use a rubber band that will hold the bunch as it dries. Hang it upside down in your kitchen or a dry place. If you want to freeze it, process it with olive oil or make it into pesto first.

Thyme

The thymes are important to cooks. Most varieties are perennial in Michigan, but they are little subshrubs that only grow about a foot tall, and they tend to get woody, which some gardeners consider unsightly. Thyme is also pleasant on the windowsill for the winter. It holds its flavor and fragrance well when dried, so you can hang small bunches until they are crispy dry and then strip the leaves into a jar for storage. The creeping varieties can be planted between stepping stones where they tolerate light traffic and give off their lovely fragrances. The creeping thymes are important additions to fairy gardens too, where the wee folk enjoyed the fragrant leaves when they danced. It was also thought that fairies lived in the large patches of wild thyme. Sprigs of the flowering herb were embroidered on scarves and flags of knights believing that it bestowed courage onto them. In the kitchen, it is included in “fine herbs” and “bouquet garni” mixtures and is a great herb for meat, soup, vegetables, and fish.

Parsley

Many people think of parsley as a garnish, but it is a garnish that is worth eating! It is a biennial, but most cooks treat it like an annual and plant it fresh each spring to ensure a supply of tender leaves. It comes in three basic varieties: curly, which is usually seen as the garnish; flat leaf or Italian, which is important in lasagna and spaghetti; and Hamburg or root parsley, which has a flat leaf and develops a large turnip-type root used in soup stocks and more. It grows easily on the windowsill to have over the winter, and is good dried as well. It is now recognized as being very nutritious. It was originally used as a garnish so that people would eat it after the meal to freshen their breath and absorb odors. Parsley sprigs are highly nutritive, rivaling oranges for vitamin content.

Sage

Sage is an herb that makes cooks understand the meaning of the old saying, “You should always leave the dinner wondering which herb made the food taste so wonderful.” Too much sage and it will make the dish bitter and distasteful, but the right amount gives a warm taste that is irreplaceable. It is used in poultry seasonings, cornbread and biscuits. It was used in meat sauces to help preserve the meat, and to cover the taste of meat already going bad in the olden days, such as sausage, and to help stop the growth of bacteria in the meat. An ancient Roman proverb asked, “Why should a man die whilst sage grows in his garden?” It is still an ingredient in herbal teas to soothe and relax. Sage flowers attract butterflies and hummingbirds to your garden, and the silver leaves are popular with landscapers and flower arrangers.

Rosemary

A flavoring that is well-known by cooks, rosemary was used in historic times as a wreath for the head to strengthen the memory. Students in many countries still use a sprig of it to help them concentrate. It is also the herb of remembrance and fidelity, and so it is included in both wedding bouquets and funeral arrangements. It was popular as a Christmas herb and in incense mixtures. It was an important ingredient in many magical spells. Rosemary will not winter outdoors in Michigan. Note that it does not go dormant, so it must be watered regularly and well during the winter months on the windowsill. It must also have good drainage so that the roots do not stand in water. A plastic or glazed pot is best so that the tiny rootlets do not dry out between waterings. Use it gently in the kitchen, where it adds character and zest to stew, soup, vegetables and new potatoes.

Mint

A plant that we like to call “easy to grow,” mint is a Michigan native, and is grown commercially in the southwest part of the state. A cook can control this important kitchen herb in the garden by growing it in a pot sunk into the ground. It flavors many drinks, candy, gum, sauces, jellies, meat and fruit salads. It is used with green peas as well as potatoes, carrots, and cabbage. It repels mice, and pennyroyal mint is used to fight fleas. It was for these qualities that it was used as a strewing herb in European castles. It is believed to make the heart merry and to encourage laughter, and is a welcome addition to wedding bouquets.

Knowing all of these things about the culinary herbs makes cooking with them fun and more enjoyable, and can even encourage non-cooks into the kitchen to help!