Basil is a common spice from the family of mint grasses. Due to the high content of essential oils, basil is widely used in cooking. As a seasoning, basil is valued for its brightly pronounced tart aroma, which, depending on the variety, has licorice, lemon or cinnamon flavor. The color of the basil leaves is green, purple or saturated purple.
Benefits and harm basilica
Along with valuable aromatic and taste qualities, the basil has medicinal properties, which causes its use as an effective therapeutic agent. The plant has a disinfectant, anticonvulsant, analgesic effect. In addition, basil is a remedy that increases immunity, and is used in dietary nutrition, as it burns fats in the body. The presence of a significant amount of essential oils is determined as the benefit, and the harm that the basil brings. Basil has a number of contraindications: it is not recommended for use by people who have had myocardial infarction; suffering from blood clotting disorders. It is also undesirable to use it in the nutrition of women during pregnancy and breastfeeding.
Basil is used both in fresh and dried form. You can tear off plant shoots throughout the spring-summer period, because new ones grow instead of the lost branches. Before the beginning of flowering, the content of essential oils in spicy grass reaches a maximum, so the basil is recommended to collect for harvesting at this time. Drying basil is necessary in a ventilated room, where direct sunlight does not reach, then all the properties will be preserved in the dried basil.
How to store fresh basil?
Home cooks are interested in the question of how to store fresh basil so that its useful qualities and wonderful aroma last longer? After cutting the withered leaves, collect the sprigs of basil in a bun and wrap it in cellophane. In the refrigerator, like all spicy herbs, the plant can be stored on the bottom shelf for two weeks. The aromatic properties of the basil are preserved in a salty form. To pickle basil, rinse the branches, allow them to dry, cut, spread in pre-sterilized jars, pouring salt. Salted basil is stored in the refrigerator until spring.
Very often basil is used in a mixture with other herbs. What is the combination of basil? Virtually all spices are well complemented by the cool-fresh taste of the plant. Therefore, you can safely mix spices - coriander, mint, rosemary , parsley, tarragon with basil. Dishes in which you add this mixture of fragrant herbs, will acquire a special piquant taste and aroma.
Basil in Cooking
Basil is a spice that is actively used in national Italian, Indian cuisine. Seeds are added to soups, meat dishes. Greenery will complement the taste of salads, sauces, dishes from poultry, meat and fish, pates, vegetable soups, marinades and pickles. In Italy, basil is an indispensable component of pesto sauce and an additive to dishes with tomatoes. Adding basil in table vinegar, you can, having ennobled its taste, also apply an aromatic liquid for dressing vegetable salads. Experienced culinary experts recommend not cutting the grass with a metal knife, and tearing with your hands so that the useful properties of the plant are not lost. Another important point:
Basil can be added to tea, especially if you suffer from increased nervousness, colds, oral diseases and low blood pressure.
In conclusion, you can recommend: a beautiful and useful plant can be grown at home in wide low pots. It will serve as an ornament of the interior of your kitchen or loggia, and you will be able to use fresh shoots in home cooking.