This is the first article of something I will be doing every week. On Sunday evenings, I will post a new
'Central Ingredient'. What will this consist of? A little bit of background information as well as uses for the
Central Ingredient. Recipes that contain the Main Ingredient will be featured as well.
Please, anyone with recipes, hints or information on the week's central ingredient, please post. I really want this to be interactive and a community affair. Let's get this party started:
Basil
The leaves are usually dried and used for medicinal, culinary and cosmetic purposes, as well as the essential oil, yet the seeds or roots are rarely used. The leaves are added to salads and are used to flavor tomato based dishes, pasta and vegetables. Basil is and has been used in many different capacities.
Internal Uses:
Basil has been an herbal remedy, used for ages to treat diseases of
- the brain
- heart
- lungs
- bladder
- reviving vitality (when infused as a tea)
Basil is normally used to combat:
- colds and influenza
- poor digestion
- nausea
- abdominal cramps
- gastro-enteritis
- migraine
- insomnia
- when your spirits are low
- anxiety
- exhaustion
External Uses:
- The leaves are dried and used as a snuff to combat headaches and colds.
- It is also used for acne, loss of smell, insect bites and stings, snakebite and skin irritations.
- Cosmetically, basil is used as the main ingredient for an aromatic body rub, which tones the skin.
- An infusion of basil in wine is also used on the skin to close enlarged pores.
Basil Cooking Tips:
Basil is the ultimate complement to
tomatoes and it also pairs well with onions,
garlic, and olives. Basil stimulates the appetite
(I wonder if I could live on Basil alone????) and helps curb flatulence, perhaps another reason why it works so well with garlic. Basil tea is said to help with dysentery, nausea, and stomach distress due to gas.
Basil Leaves are the prime part of the plant. Small stems are okay, but thicker stems and stalks should be discarded because they tend to be bitter. The stems and large veins also contain compounds that will cause pesto to turn brown and dark. Although pinching back the flowers will encourage more leaf growth, the creamy-white flowers are edible.
Most other herbs tend to overpower basil's flavor and aroma, but Oregano, Rosemary and Sage work well with Basil.
Important: For the most intense flavor, basil should be added at the end of the cooking process. Prolonged heat will cause basil's volatile oils to dissipate.
Ground with garlic and olive oil into a paste, basil is a prime ingredient in
pistou, a Mediterranian specialty. In Italy, pine nuts and sometimes grated hard cheese are added to the paste to become Pesto. Pesto may easily be frozen, but if you plan on freezing it, leave out the
cheese.
Pesto is most often served with pasta. To help eliminate Enzyme type reactions between basil and flour (which may cause an unappetizing brown color to the pasta), when serving pesto with pasta, add a squeeze of lemon juice to the pasta cooking water to help keep the pasta from turning dark.
Basil is a perfect candidate as a flavor for infused oils, but does not work as well with vinegar for long-term.
You will never get full flavor when using dried basil, so keep this in mind when substituting dried for fresh. However, if you find yourself in a pinch (pardon the pun) and without fresh basil, use 1/3 the amount of dried basil substituted for fresh. One tablespoon of fresh chopped basil equals 1 teaspoon dried. When substituting fresh basil for dried, triple the amount. One-half ounce of fresh basil leaves equals 1 cup chopped fresh basil.
Please visit the below website for some healthy, summer recipes for a wonderful Summer Herb that is abundant this time of year.
I myself have an herb garden and I plan on making some Pesto so I can enjoy the 'bounty of summer' all winter long!
http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes_menus/collections/healthy_summer_recipes
Litina
