Although, I haven’t in the past. In the past I have just tried as best I could to keep the basil fresh for salads, and failed at it.  I know I am supposed to keep it in water in the fridge, but it still would go bad far too quickly. I said as such when I was picking up my basket to day, to one of the helpers at my CSA.

What about pesto? she asked, and so, I set out to make some.

The basil in a water jar

I found a good recipe in the Broccoli Forest, that appeared to ask for the ingredients I had, which is always a good thing when making something late at night when I don’t want to run out to store. On the opposite side was a recipe for tomato sauce I thought I would make, but when I had taken all the basil that was called for, I had none left to make it. Well, perhaps some other time, or I’ll make something else with the tomatoes.

Last time I left the tomatoes too long, before doing anything with them. Unfortunately, the sun shines on the kitchen counter in the summer, so things go bad more quickly then they might otherwise..

pulverized basil, oil and garlic

The recipe called for 3 packed cups of basil, and 4 large garlic cloves, dropped into a blender, which I did. After not getting it to blend for a long time, I added 1/3 of a cup of olive oil. The olive oil seemed to make the leaves stay down, so it finally blended. Once it was blended, I took it out of the blender, and mixed int he grated Parmesan (1/3 of a cup).

Three cups of basil, equal half a jar of pesto

But once it was all mixed, it ended up about being a half a jar’s worth of pesto. The recipe says that it will keep, so I will have to find something to put it on.