Basil: More Than Spaghetti Spice
By Teodorico R. Magda teodoricomagda@yahoo.com
The International
Herb Society has chosen basil as the Herb of the Year. Basil, the king of summer garden, is an herb for all seasons. It stands out from the rest. With its wide degree of scents, tastes, and textures, it works well in the kitchen as a
culinary herb. Basil leaves and flowers are used as a finishing touch on the last few minutes of cooking. The herb yields aromatic oil used in foods, flavors, and fragrances. It comes in various types: sweet, purple, opal, lemon, anise, holy, camphor, licorice, and in other types of something excitingly different as usual. Besides food, trendy soaps, perfumes, and shampoos are now laced with basil essence. Basil is also used as medicinal.
Its English name is basil,
basilic in French,
basilienkraut in German,
tulsi in Indian, and
basilica in Italian. The herb is scientifically known as
Ocimum basilicum L., of the family
Lamiaceae (Labiatae). The spice plant is a tropical annual that is sometimes cultivated as ornamental. It has a distinct odor identity having the cut ends of the stem smell stronger than leaves. The spice plant is easy to grow and can be started directly from seeds or from stem
cuttings or from rooted sucker. In the Philippines where 20˚C temperature is rare at sea level, basil grows well outdoor all year round. With much typhoon and flood here, basil is usually destroyed but the plant is easily propagated from seeds and cuttings with less effort.