If I Could Only Choose One Herb...
… Hands down it would be basil. I love it’s fragrance. I love it’s flavor. I love the varieties of basil you can grow.
As a kid growing up in the country I didn’t have much of an introduction to cooking with herbs unless my mother was feeling experimental (not often.) And even when she was, there were no fresh herbs to be found unless there was a bit of parsley in the fridge.
Basil? We never even had spaghetti unless it came out of a can so the idea of pasta with pesto was unheard of.
It was the 1980’s before I really discovered basil and all that you could do with it. The credit for that goes to my adventurous eater husband who is always discovering different dishes to enjoy, to the broadening of our culinary horizons that came with an increasing interest in food and cooking, spurred on by the emergence of TV chefs and meeting new friends from different backgrounds than I experienced in my small town including the grandson of Italian immigrants.
We were living in Southwest Michigan in the 1980’s and about an hour away Fox Hill Farm where owner Marilyn Hampstead had begun an annual “Oh Boy, Basil” festival. Hampstead and her farm became known for this annual festival, which even got a mention in The Christian Science Monitor. While we never made the festival it did inspire me to begin growing as many varieties of basil as I could.
I’m not the only one who remembers the “Oh Boy, Basil” festivals as sparking an interest in this wonderful herb. As I was looking for more information about the festivals and Fox Hill Farm I found this homage to basil and the basil festivals in this blog by a Southeast Michigan chef. Like me, Chef Pete considers basil on of his favorite herbs.
My taste for fresh basil has never dulled, so I was extremely excited to flip over my Herb Gardens calendar this month and find a recipe for Basil Vinaigrette as well as a wealth of ideas and information about my favorite herb. Some of the use suggestions contained in the calendar including making a basil simple syrup for cocktails, placing the cut herb in a glass of water to keep it fresh and making basil tea, which I’ve never tried. According to the calendar information basil tea calms the nerves, settles the stomach and helps the sinuses.
I dug out Marilyn Hampstead’s The Basil Book, a slender paperback chocked full of information about the herb and it’s uses. I plan to keep it out this year and try some of the many recipes for using basil that extend well beyond pesto but first I’m going to follow the successful pesto farmer’s advice and get some basil seeds started so that I’ll have plenty of herb to work with this summer.
Some of the recipes I want to try include pesto packed tomatoes, basil pepper jelly, the icy cinnamon basil fruit compote, hot holy basil tea (calming is good, right?) and cheesy basil puffs (cheese, basil, true Green oregano and puff pastry - what could be bad?).
I’ll keep you posted on the results.
Photo by Rob Pumphrey on Unsplash
Creative and targeted programs that make an impact are the hallmark of experienced marketing professional Ruth Steele Walker. Focusing on results that improve the bottom line, she accelerates projects from conception to implementation with a mastery of writing, production, placement, budgeting and coordination.
During more than 25 years with Foremost Corporation of America, the nation's leading insurer of manufactured housing and recreational vehicles, Walker consistently produced effective communications programs that resulted in increased net written premium. Her expertise in crisis communications was a vital part of Foremost's exemplary customer service in the wake of hurricanes, floods and earthquakes. Walker specializes in communications targeting the 50+ demographic, with an emphasis in communications for the 65+ segment.
Among other achievements, Walker developed communications for the merger of Foremost and Farmers Insurance, addressing audiences including customers, employees, trade and consumer media. For Foremost's 50th anniversary, she created a celebration program of internal and external promotions, special events, recognition and a 162-page commemorative book.
Earlier in her career, Walker was a newspaper reporter, a TV and radio producer, and worked in national sales and traffic at network TV affiliates. Walker earned a BA in journalism from Michigan State University and an MS in communications from Grand Valley State University.
She and her husband Scott operate a small vineyard in Michigan's Leelanau Peninsula, producing premium vinifera wine grapes. The vineyard has been the largest local supplier for Suttons Bay wine label L. Mawby, recently named one of the world's top producers of sparkling wines.
