Pesto: Traditional Ingredients and Attributes
Basil Pesto Sauce Recipe Photo: ShutterstockPesto is one of the most ancient sauces. His recipe appeared in the middle of the 19th century, and the first mention of it dates back to the times of the Roman Empire. Classic pesto hails from Genoa, a port city in the historic region of Liguria in northern Italy. Traditionally, it is prepared using a marble mortar and pestle, certainly wooden. The fact is that it is the wood, which is lighter than marble, that allows to obtain the optimal texture of the sauce when grinding the leaves of basil. By the way, the participants of the world pesto cooking championship, held every two years in its historic homeland, are allowed to use only traditional attributes - a mortar and pestle. And no blenders. Contact with the metal is believed to cause oxidation of the tender leaves of the basil and unwanted heating of the sauce. The classic components of Ligurian pesto are the leaves of young basil grown in Liguria, Ligurian virgin olive oil, pine nuts, parmesan, garlic and large sea salt. Strict requirements are imposed on the origin of all these products. For example, it is believed that basil growing outside Liguria has a mint flavor that negatively affects the taste of the prepared sauce. In the kitchens of some countries, there are variations on the subject of pesto. For example, in Austria it is often made from pumpkin seeds, in Germany basil leaves are replaced with wild garlic, and in French Provence they prefer “pisto” - a sauce similar to pesto, but cooked without the addition of nuts.
