Pesto

Pesto is a tasty Italian paste that comes from the city of Genoa in Liguria. It is made with fresh Genovese basil leaves, extra virgin olive oil, Parmesan or Grana Padano cheese, pecorino sardo cheese, pine nuts, and a bit of garlic. All these ingredients are blended together to make a green sauce that is very popular in Italy.

Traditionally, pesto is made in a special tool called a mortar and pestle, which crushes the ingredients into a smooth paste. This way of making pesto has been used for a long time and is a key part of Italian cooking. The sauce is most often used to add flavor to pasta, but it can also be enjoyed with other dishes.

Pesto gives a bright, herby taste to meals and is loved for its fresh and simple ingredients. It is a wonderful example of how a few basic things can come together to make something delicious.

Etymology

The word pesto comes from an old way of speaking. It is the past form of a verb in the Genoese language that means "to pound" or "to crush". This is because the ingredients for pesto are crushed or ground in a special stone bowl using a wooden tool. The same root of this word is used in the Latin language for the word "pestle". While there are other foods that might be called "pesto", when we just say "pesto" we usually mean pesto alla genovese.

History

Pesto has ancient roots, dating back to the Roman age. The ancient Romans made a paste called moretum, mixing garlic, salt, cheese, herbs, olive oil, vinegar, and sometimes pine nuts. This sauce was described in old poems.

During the Middle Ages, people in Genoa enjoyed a sauce called agliata, made from garlic and walnuts. Basil, the key ingredient in modern pesto, was first added in the 1850s. Recipes from this time used basil, garlic, cheese, pine nuts, and olive oil.

Pesto became popular in the Liguria region of Italy and later spread to other places. It gained attention in North America in the 1980s and 1990s.

Ingredients and preparation

Pesto is made using a special method where ingredients are gently mixed together in a marble bowl with a wooden tool. First, garlic and pine nuts are mixed until smooth, then dried basil leaves, salt, and cheese are added. Finally, olive oil is poured in to help everything blend well. When stored in a jar with a layer of olive oil on top, pesto can stay fresh in the fridge for about a week or be frozen for later use.

There are many types of pesto. The classic kind, called pesto alla genovese, uses Genovese basil, salt, garlic, special olive oil from Liguria, pine nuts, and grated cheese like Parmesan or Grana Padano. Some people are working to get this special pesto recognized by UNESCO.

In Provence, a similar sauce called pistou is made with just olive oil, basil, and garlic, sometimes without cheese. It can also include almonds or breadcrumbs for thickness and is often used in vegetable soups.

Outside of Italy, people sometimes use different nuts like almonds or peanuts instead of pine nuts, and add herbs like parsley or spinach. There are also regional versions like pesto alla siciliana from Sicily, which includes tomatoes and almonds, and pesto alla calabrese from Calabria, which has a spicy flavor from grilled peppers.

Some recipes for pesto leave out cheese altogether and use ingredients like miso paste or nutritional yeast instead.

Non-traditional variants of pesto

Sometimes people use different nuts instead of pine nuts in pesto because they are more affordable or easier to find. These nuts can include almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, pistachios, walnuts, or even peanuts. Some recipes might toast or roast the nuts before using them.

Many pesto recipes online, especially in English, add black pepper or white pepper, which are not used in the traditional Genoese recipe. Store-bought pesto often uses cheaper oils instead of extra virgin olive oil. Some store pestos also have fillers like potato flakes to make the flavor milder.

Some pesto recipes use different herbs and greens instead of basil or pine nuts, such as coconut, avocado with parsley, carrots with coriander and cumin, turmeric, ginger, perilla leaf, spirulina, or walnuts.