What is Basil best used for?
The most common use of basil is for cooking, such as in tomato sauce, pesto, or vinegars. But it also can be sprinkled over salads and sliced tomatoes, either whole or chopped. Actually, don’t chop the leaves, but tear them instead for the most flavor.
Can you eat fresh basil leaves?
The leaves are also commonly used in cooking, though some people eat the leaves raw. Holy basil tastes spicy and bitter. There are many ways to incorporate holy basil into your daily life. You can cook with it, take it in supplement form, or make a tea with it.
How do you prepare fresh basil?
Preparing Basil To thinly slice fresh basil, stack several leaves. Roll stack lengthwise into cylinder. Cut cylinder crosswise at close intervals with sharp knife to form thin strips. Like many fresh herbs, basil tastes best when added near the end of cooking as it loses flavor when exposed to prolonged heat.
What can I do with fresh cut basil?
Trim the cut ends, put the bunch in a glass, jar, or vase of water that will fit in the fridge, and cover the whole thing, or at least the basil leaves, with a plastic bag. Put the whole in in a refrigerator. Basil kept that way will stay vibrant and green for up to a week.
How can I preserve fresh basil?
Simply harvest the fresh basil, wash the leaves, allow them to dry, and then slice the tender leaves into thin ribbons before adding them to an ice cube tray with enough olive oil to cover. Freeze the tiny cubes of oil solid before turning them out and transferring them to a freezer bag for long term storage.
What is the best way to store basil?
Store the basil leaves like salad greens. Pick, wash, and dry the leaves, then store in the fridge wrapped in a dry paper towel and sealed in a plastic bag. Clean, dry, ready to roll. This baggie will be the basil’s home for the next several days.
Should you refrigerate Basil?
Leave the basil bouquet out at room temperature, replacing the water every few days. Whatever you do, don’t refrigerate it. Exposed basil doesn’t do well in the cold. Once you’re ready to enjoy, wash and dry the leaves.
Does basil grow back after cutting?
When you clip basil stems back to a fresh set of leaves, you force those leaves to grow, doubling the basil produced on that stem. And as those stems grow, you can pinch them back and double their production – it’s exponential!
Is Basil a good companion plant?
Basil makes a great companion plant because it attracts butterflies to your garden and repels many harmful insects. It is said that basil repels aphids, asparagus beetles, mosquitoes, tomato hornworms and white flies. Basil is also reputed to slow the growth of milkweed bugs.
Can you still use basil after it flowers?
All parts of the basil plant are edible, including the flowers, leaves and stems. Moreover, all parts of the plant remain edible even after the basil plant flowers. Once the basil flowers, the taste typically becomes more bitter. Gardener Report says after basil flowers, its leaves also may have a milder flavor.
What happens if you let basil flower?
Check your basil plants frequently for flowers, and if you see any, pinch them off right away. If the flower stems are too woody to pinch (often the case with Thai basil), cut them off with shears. A plant allowed to flower will soon go to seed, stop growing, and die, so be vigilant about removing flowers.