Urban Farm Hub

My family loves pesto; we eat it on noodles, pizza and even toast.  This weekend the basil looked ready so we moved into action.  In year’s past I’ve always used the traditional pine nuts but one look at the tiny little bag selling for fifteen dollars made me decide that maybe walnuts would be just as tasty.

Freshly picked basil.

The food processor recipe I used called for:

• 2 cups of packed basil leaves
• 1/3 cup of olive oil
• 2 and a 1/2 cups of finely chopped walnuts
• 2 cloves of minced garlic
• 2 and a 1/2 cups of parmesan cheese
• 2 teaspoons of salt, (optional)
  

  These walnuts tasted great and were much less costly than the pine nuts.

I didn’t have quite enough cheese or walnuts and had huge mounds of basil so quickly decided to just mess around until it tasted right.

Green gold

Last year I froze it in ice-cube trays then put these in freezer bags but this go around I put it in canning jars.  To prevent browning I topped it up with more olive oil then put the half filled jars in the freezer.  It’s important to freeze pesto and NOT to can it.  There is a risk of botulism with canned pesto.

Yup, pesto on toast