Hello friends and welcome back to The Stone Soup Cook! It’s so good to be back at my desk writing again after our two-week visit from Lady Covid.
This week I’m featuring one of my all-time favorite ingredients: sweet basil. Today, I’ll be sharing my recipe for pesto and some great, simple ways to use it; and I’ll also be sharing some fun facts about basil, sweet and otherwise.
Basil, of all kinds, is a nutritional powerhouse. The problem is that you wouldn’t sit down and eat a whole bowl of it. Here is what 100 grams of sweet basil looks like:
However, if you did eat that much sweet basil in a sitting, here are the nutritional benefits you’d get:
30% recommended daily allowance of vitamin A, 20% of vitamin C, a whopping 350% of vitamin K, 43% of copper, 50% of manganese and 18% of iron. Since you’d likely only eat about a tenth of that in one serving, the numbers don’t look nearly as impressive, except for the vitamin K, of which you’d still get a good 30-35% of your rda. Vitamin K is important in blood clotting and bone strength. Basil is also rich in antioxidants such as lutein, zeaxanthin, beta-carotene and beta-cryptoxanthin and essential oils like eugenol, linalool and citronellol, all of which help to regulate blood pressure and blood sugar and to reduce inflammation. In theory, I guess it could be classified as a “superfood,” except that it’s mainly used in small amounts as a flavoring additive.
In order to get the most benefit from these nutrients, basil is best eaten raw, or added at the very end of cooking, as heat destroys the delicate essential oils and antioxidants.
There are literally dozens of different kinds of basil, but the most common types are the traditional sweet basil, Thai basil and purple basil.
As you will see from the descriptions below, these basils are similar, but not altogether interchangeable.
Sweet basil is probably the type you see at your market most frequently. It has larger, more rounded bright green leaves and stems. It is milder, more fragrant and sweeter than its basil cousins and is used abundantly in mediterranean and Italian foods.
Purple basil is not as sweet as “sweet basil” and has a somewhat stronger flavor not unlike the spiciness of cloves. It is best eaten raw in a salad, as it is tender and loses that beautiful color and turns dark, almost black, when it is exposed to the heat of cooking. You should tear the leaves of purple basil, as the metal from the knife blade can affect the taste of the herb.
Thai basil has smaller, more pointed, green leaves that are tinged with purple; it can hold up better to the heat, so is the better choice for cooking. It has purple stems and has somewhat licorice flavor notes.
Another well-known and well-used type is “holy basil,” or “tulsi.” Holy basil is considered sacred in the Hindu tradition, and is used a lot in Indian cooking, as well as in traditional Ayurvedic medicine. It has a stronger, more pungent and almost medicinal taste and is therefore not usually eaten raw.
Pesto is one of the most common ways to prepare sweet basil.
I always use sweet basil for my pesto. While a lot of recipes out there call for blanching the basil and garlic, I don’t, so my pesto is punchy, brightly flavored and a lovely, bright green in color. Given the ephemeral nature of the nutrients in basil, I think it makes sense to do as little to it as possible–plus, I like the punchy, bright flavor! Since I make my pesto in a food processor with metal blades, purple basil is contra-indicated. Thai basil would probably be fine, but I’ve not tried it. Tulsi might be too bitter for this use.
Click here for my pesto recipe.
Every summer, I make a couple of big batches of pesto and freeze it in individual 8-oz jars. It keeps beautifully, and we are able to enjoy fresh, yummy, vibrant pesto all year. I have done some research on-line to try to find out if freezing affects the nutrients in basil, and I have yet to find any source that says that nutrition is diminished by freezing. In fact, there are several sources that recommend freezing the herb by itself and “breaking off” what you need for a recipe straight from the frozen chunk of basil. I have never tried this, but I intend to try it this year and report back.
Pesto is great as a quick and delicious sauce for pasta–just prepare the pasta of your choice and splash the pesto on until it’s to your liking. Add shrimp and a vegetable, like broccoli or asparagus for a one and done mea:
And it pairs well with seafood, such as salmon in this dish:
And it’s great for turning a can of tomatoes into a wonderful and comforting tomato-basil soup:
These are just a few ideas. Pesto comes together in minutes and lends itself to dozens of different meals, so I invite you to make a batch and get creative! And let me know how you use your pesto!
Tune in tomorrow for more recipes using basil!
Until then,
Peace, love and good food,
Keri
