When life gets cold…make pesto.
With the night air approaching freezing in North Carolina, my backyard basil recently began browning. I picked all remaining leaves with some two-year-old help.
Of course–much to my chagrin–I was a little too late for some of the basil…
After harvesting our year’s pine nut crop procuring plenty of pine nuts, the entire process was utterly simple. A little measuring and Cuisinart pulsing later, I had a nice supply of pesto, whose insistence on browning immediately did not endear it to this photographer. But as I say–‘taste trumps appearance.’
While this process is second nature for many of you, it was my first experience turning my end-of-garden basil into a usable product. And it underscores the beauty of those old foodways like end-of-garden cooking and canning. While eating food picked that day is fabulous, why let the changing season halt garden-grown eating.
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