Basil Pesto - lots of it!

Now we are in the thick of it.  Preserving. Yesterday was pesto day.  The first of several pesto days.  I had planted 40 basil plants in the spring, and set out another 40 more plants only a few weeks ago.  What was I thinking?  I do love basil, and the first batch of seedlings had a serious set-back when we had that extra late frost at the end of May...but seriously, pesto from 80 plants....We also dry the basil leaves, and have eaten it with virtually every salad, egg dish, and pizza that has graced our table since mid-June, but it really takes pesto to make much of a dent in a basil garden.

Our favourite recipe is our own version of a vegan pesto - made with olive oil, fresh garlic, sunflower seeds (or pine nuts, whatever your budget prefers), nutritional yeast (in place of parmesan), sea salt, and a little lemon juice, plus basil!  We pack it into small glass mason jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace, then store them in the freezer until use.

Best Pesto

I heard from farmer friends on the outskirts of the city that there has already been a light frost, ending their tomato and basil crops abruptly. Although I feel we've been innundated with tomatoes & basil this year, especially a new variety of cherry tomato we tried which grew profusely and the genovese basil which was exceedingly abundant due to all the rain (I planted 40 plants for pesto!), I'm still not quite ready to end the harvest yet. So, I went out today to gather armloads of basil, and make up yet more pesto to put away in the freezer for use over the winter months.

I like to make a dairy-free version of pesto, so that it's versatile when vegan friends come to dinner. Of course, it can also be made the "richer" way using parmesan cheese and pine nuts. Either is delectable, and so easy to prepare when the basil is fresh. I also love to make up a few batches using cilantro instead of basil, and use it in bean, burrito, or egg dishes in winter when fresh cilantro is not available locally. Here's my recipe:

Best Vegan Pesto
4 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
6 cloves garlic
3/4 cup olive oil
5 Tbsp nutritional yeast (or parmesan cheese)
1/4 cup sunflower seeds (or pine nuts)
dash of sea salt
dash of lemon juice, optional

Blend well in food processor. Store in 2 cup containers in the freezer, or freeze in icecube trays and then store in freezer bags.

Spring basil!

Took a few hours to transplant our basil plants into larger containers today - we have about 150 plants, and various varieties. We usually keep about 50 genovese (pesto) basil to fill one of our raised beds, but as basil is a popular seller at our seedling sale I made sure to plant lots this year! The thai basil is so fragrant, and the purple (dark opal) basil looks especially beautiful.

Our 6th annual seedling sale coming up on Sat, May 24 from 9-12 noon. There will be about 15 varieties of tomatoes (including red, yellow & orange cherries, mennonite orange, green zebra, polish pink, red slicers, yukon red early, some good determinate container varieties, and many more); eggplants, various kinds of hot peppers, flowers, brassicas, basil, other herbs and so on... Our friend Angie, from Fertile Ground CSA, will also be there for the day selling seedlings and leading a workshop on biointensive gardening. If all goes well, there will be freshly baked wood-fired bread and other baked treats available too...The seedling sale is one of our favourite days of the year, and makes for a nice kick-off to the garden season, and feels like a little neighbourhood festival.