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Basil is one of the main ingredients in pesto, an Italian sauce with olive oil and basil as its primary ingredients. Many national cuisines use fresh or dried basils in soups and other foods, such as to thicken soups. Basil is commonly steeped in cream or milk to create flavor in ice cream or chocolate truffles. [citation needed]
Ocimum tenuiflorum, commonly known as holy basil, tulasi or tulsi (from Sanskrit), is an aromatic perennial plant in the family Lamiaceae. [2] [3] It is widely cultivated throughout the Southeast Asian tropics. [1] [4] [5] It is native to tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, Australia and the western Pacific. [1]
Ocimum gratissimum, also known as clove basil, African basil, [1] and in Hawaii as wild basil, [2] is a species of basil. It is native to Africa , Madagascar , southern Asia , and the Bismarck Archipelago , and naturalized in Polynesia , Hawaii, Mexico , Panama , West Indies , Brazil , and Bolivia .
Thai basil (O. basilicum var. thyrsiflora) is a common ingredient in Thai cuisine, with a strong flavour similar to aniseed, used to flavour Thai curries and stir-fries. [citation needed] Lemon basil (Ocimum × citriodorum) is a hybrid between O. americanum and O. basilicum. It is noted for its lemon flavour and used in cooking. [citation needed]
Ocimum americanum, known as American basil, lime basil, [2] or hoary basil, [3] is a species of annual herb in the family Lamiaceae. Despite the misleading name, it is native to Africa, the Indian Subcontinent, China, and Southeast Asia. The species is naturalized in Queensland, Christmas Island, and parts of tropical America.
The best time to prune basil is during its growing season, which is typically in late spring to early summer. Prune when the plant is about 6 to 8 inches tall and has many leaves, says Kelly Funk ...
The Greek basil and various other basils have such different scents because the herb has a number of different essential oils in different proportions for various cultivars. [4] The essential oil from European basil contains high concentrations of linalool and methyl chavicol (estragole), in a ratio of about 3:1.
Basil cultivars vary in several ways. Visually, the size and shape of the leaves varies greatly, from the large lettuce-like leaves of the Mammoth basil and Lettuce leaf basil to the tiny leaves of the Dwarf bush basil. More practically, the fragrance of the basil varies due to the varying types and quantities of essential oils contained in the ...