I love fresh herbs and basil is definitely my favorite! In my climate it grows as well as any weed and requires little tending to create luscious leaves of delicious basil! In addition to being delicious, basil is said to have health benefits, including a reduction in inflammation!
My favorite way to use basil is to simply chop it up and sprinkle it on top of Italian sauces, make pesto with it (see my pesto recipe from July 18th on the blog), and top loaves of crusty garlicky bread. It brightens any food!
Here are my notes on growing your own basil:
It grows best in an outdoor pot, though you can grow it in a sunny window.
Prune it regularly by pinching off the top leaves. This will keep it growing and creating more and more leaves.
Plant a natural insecticide plant in the same pot to keep the caterpillars away. Those sweet babies love basil and will take down a bush in one day. I don’t want to harm them so I plant other things in my basil pot that they do not like and it keeps them away. (Sometimes I plant basil in my yard for the caterpillars because I love them too!)
Water your pot when it is dry and keep it in a sunny location.
During the hottest part of the summer when my basil is most plentiful I harvest, chop, and freeze it. Basil will turn darker when it is cut and when it is frozen but the fresh flavor stays the same.
Enjoy!!
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