Sweet basil, called the “royal herb” by the Greeks, is used a lot in Mediterranean and Italian cuisine. It has a bold sweetish-savory flavor with faint after-notes of licorice.

Cooking notes

• Use in pesto, tomato sauce, cold meat sandwiches, and salad dressings.
• Enhances the flavor of eggs, fish, shellfish (especially crab, shrimp, and lobster), mutton, pork, beef, eggplant, tomatoes, zucchini, sweet peppers, mozzarella and parmesan cheeses.
• For a Mediterranean flair in your food, pair with onion, garlic, rosemary, olive oil, and olives.
• For an Italian flair, combine with oregano, tarragon, sage, garlic, summer savory, rosemary, and thyme.
• For a pleasantly intense flavor, add the basil at the end of the cooking process with a dash or two of salt.
• A little bit goes a long way with this one! Be sure to check your recipe before adding a lot of it. Or, if you prefer to maverick your cooking, add a little bit at a time—tasting occasionally—until you find the flavor you like.
• If your recipe calls for fresh basil, substitute 1/3 the amount of basil leaf.