Basil
Basil is a culinary herb, actually in the mint family. Basil is a hearty vibrant green plant, it is very fragrant and widely used in many cultures.
It is best to tear your basil, but also popular to chiffonade your basil with a sharp knife. I sharp knife is key, as to not bruise your basil. A delightful combination is a tomato, basil, and balsamic glaze.
Store your basil in a glass of water on the counter. If you store basil in the refrigerator it will turn black, basil doesn’t like the cold.
Vitamin K, A,C, manganese, copper, calcium, folate, iron, omega-3, magnesium
Basil and oil cubes ready to be frozen. These are a welcome thaw in the winter for spaghetti sauces.
Herb butter is a great way to preserve herbs over the winter months.
Here is a quick step-by-step on how to chiffonade your basil:
Roll one basil leaf up lengthwise:
When you get to the end of one leaf, add another one and continue to roll like so:
Continue the process with 3 or 4 leaves until you have a good sized roll.
Take your roll and slice crosswise and you’ll be left with these lovely little ribbons of basil! The exposed surface area of the cut leaves provides the most “bang for your buck” in terms of flavor.
One question we’ve been asked is “are the basil flowers edible?” The short answer is yes, you can work with basil flowers!
If you are a gardener and have basil in your garden, you can cut back the basil tops to keep them from flowering for as long as possible. This allows the plant to transfer energy to the delicate leaves rather than trying to produce the flowers. If your basil flowers, however, there are some ways you can enjoy them! You can try them in a salad, though truth be told that is not so much our thing. A tea is always a welcome treat (definitely Jess’ thing), especially a basil flower iced tea in the summertime. As basil is part of the mint family, and it can be a lot like mint under the hood, especially mixed into cool drinks.
This doesn’t have to be a fancy recipe, simply toss some stems with basil flowers into your pitcher of tea or lemonade, and enjoy! It brings a welcome and refreshing summer kick to your standard beverage. We hope you enjoy these ideas, and as always, please let us know if you have anything to add!
If the late summer CSA is going strong, this is a great recipe that uses peppers (bell and jalapeño), onion, beefsteak tomatoes, basil, oregano, eggs, garlic, and ricotta. You can make part of it ahead of time and then bake for 15-20 minutes just before dinnertime. If spicy is not your thing, fear not the jalapeño in the recipe, it really adds flavor in lieu of spiciness.
This one is great for using basil that may have flowered and is on it’s way to seed. My other half didn’t like it, but I did (I added a drizzle of honey)! So clearly I had to help drink both of them (hiccup). Hope you enjoy this one! Please note that the vodka and soda water used for this cocktail are not on our “staples” list in Veggiescope, so those will have to be extra ingredients to pick up.
