If your basil looks anything like the picture below then you might not have been aggressive enough with your scissors this summer. Not that I’m casting blame. Every plant in my front garden has grown tall and lanky despite my best efforts. I think local weather this season was conducive to bolting.
While the flowers may be fun to look at they aren’t exactly indicative of good flavor. Sweet basil flowers like a cranky old man. Tough leathery leaves have a bitter taste and aroma fairly reminiscent of their tender youthful past. Trimming at this point wont do you much good so now is a great time to yank your plants and devote an evening to pesto.
I’ve pulled all my sweet basil and plucked the most tender leaves while discarding the large tough ones at the base. As for pesto recipes this one works fine. I made a massive double batch and used it all week to flavor pastas and drizzle over garden fresh tomatoes. With the recent heat and humidity it’s hard to believe summer will soon slip away. Devour what’s left of it while you still can.
Flowering Basil
I think these farmers are up to something. On little plastic plates piled high for grubby hands were the sweetest, most perfect representation of peachy pleasure I’d encountered all summer. I’d been waiting for peach season for weeks and rumors that the rainy Spring was great for stone fruit was fueling desire.
At home with the sweet taste of peach still fresh in my mind I pealed my bounty with a paring knife while juice collected in my palm and ran down my wrist. I fumbled with the glistening skinless orbs as they slid around my cutting board hanging on to stubborn pits.
I popped a slice in my mouth and …
This wasn’t the peach I sampled at all. Tart, a little unyielding and less than flavorful. A slice from another confirmed my suspicion. These peaches were good, sure, but they weren’t the massively sweet specimens I’d hoped for and sampled back at the market.
That’s alright though I’ll hold no grudge. A little booze can make a perspective mate more attractive so I’ll slather these babies in a healthy splash of bourbon and sugar and let things macerate a while. I’ll top them with a sweet drop biscuit dough and bake them till they’ve reduced to a sweet and sticky filling. I’ll make a decent peach cobbler with a less than perfect peach.
