Monday, June 7, 2021

Thai Basil

Every year I grow regular basil.
But this year I'm also growing Thai basil.
The plant is pretty in bloom,
 but apparently I should be pinching off the blooms
to encourage the plant to grow more leaves.

The flavor and fragrance of Thai basil is unusual
 and is described as anise or licorice flavored and slightly spicy.
Follow the link to see some Thai basil recipes I'm considering.

10 comments:

  1. I wonder if that is the kind of basil that is used at our local restaurant named Thai Basil. I often get spring rolls, which are raw veggies...and there are those big leaves in them, which unfortunately don't seem to taste much at all to me. I do enjoy regular basil, and will often toss some into a salad.

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    1. Hi Barbara, thanks, I think basil leaves need to be added after cooking or used fresh.

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  2. Basil is one of the herbs that I grow also... as it is probably the most used herb outside of curly parsley that I use. I'm not sure I would like the taste of Thai basil as licorice is not a flavor I care for. We use bay leaves also and have (or had) a beautiful 10 ft bay leaf tree in our yard. We think the Arctic freeze this past winter has killed it.

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    1. Hi Rian, thanks, my parsley went to seed and just clipped it back, do you know what bay tree you have? we used to have california bay and later I found out it is toxic

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    2. Actually I don't know what kind of bay tree it is/was. But we've had it for years and used the leaves for cooking with no problem. Next time I'm out back I will see if there's any tags, but I doubt it as we've had it so long.

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    3. Hi Rian, thanks, I just looked it up and they are not toxic if it is umbellularia california. Years ago it might have been because that's what I learned in plant id class but perhaps the thinking has changed since then or my teacher was incorrect. Here is a link I found with bays that are toxic and ones that are not - https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/herbs/bay/which-bay-trees-are-edible.htm

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  3. I really like all of the basils.

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    1. Hi Sue, thanks, I'm squeezing in as many herbs as I can around here and using them fresh or drying them

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  4. I love Thai Basil! We usually get ours from our local Asian grocery market but I sure would love to grow it. Yours not only looks pretty, but so healthy too. Thanks for the link. We cook a lot of Thai dishes around here. Have you come across Marion's kitchen on YouTube? She introduced us to Chili Crisp and we can't get enough of it. We also introduced it to our son and daughter-in-law and they have already gone through the two jars we gave them. Marion does a lot of Thai Dishes:

    https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=marion%27s+kitchen

    Thanks for the link. I'm going to check it out right now.

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  5. I love its licorice flavored taste. Thai basil is the star of Pad Krapow Gai, my all-time favourite Thai stir fry.

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I love suggestions, questions, critiques, thanks for your comment