Hmmm. Fresh basil? What recipe did you use?

I have you had pesto before?

Pesto can be bitter if you have the wrong ratio of fresh basil leaves. I just make my pesto by taste so the measurements are approximate.

Fresh Basil Leaves about 2 c. of loosely packed leaves
EVOO about a cup
Garlic probably 6 large cloves
Fresh Ground Pepper abt a tsp

Toasted Pine Nuts about 2 handfuls
Pamesan Cheese btw 1-2 c.

Put the first 4 items in a food processor and blend well. Then add the pine nuts and parmesan and pulse once.

Michelle

I used to harvest basil just when I needed it and wondered why it did not taste "sweet" -- I finally decided there is something to the instructions to harvest herbs early in the morning. You also need to keep trimming the plants --even if you toss some of it. That way you keep the plant producing tender new growth. This may be part of your problem -- and then again, you may not like pesto. PS I am not Italian. -- Kay

Also, if the basil has begun to flower, the leaves will be bitter. And I always make my pesto with half basil and half Italian flat leaf parsley.

Use a good recipe. IMO, the above recipe has too much pine nuts, garlic and parmesan to the amount of leaves. And it needs some olive oil.

My secret to making good pesto is to blanch the garlic cloves for about one minute in the large pot of boiling pasta water. Then, I blanch my fresh basil for just two seconds, just dump it all in and then scoop it out with a sieve right away. I saw Martha Stewert do this one time and have done it ever since. It takes away that raw garlic taste and the basil also gets a bit tempered. It doesn't matter that it looks like wilted spinach when you pull it out of the water. In addition, I do not use much olive oil when I make pesto, maybe 1/3 of a cup. Choose an extra virgin oil that you like the taste of. I hate oily pesto. Also, toast your pine nuts and use about 1/4 of a cup of the pasta cooking water to loosen up the pesto and replace some of the volume of the olive oil left out. We love fresh pesto and eat it whenever I have enough fresh basil....anyway, these are my tips to avoid heavy, oily, strong tasting pesto.

I think harvesting the leaves when young helps, I also think that using a blender like I have done in the past does not do the basil any favors. It really is better to mortar and pestle which sucks at harvest. Not sure what's better - perhaps a food processor causes bitterness than a blender?
I love pesto but there are do's and don'ts and I'm not sure I have found them all either as I have run into the same problem as the OP.

Use a good recipe. IMO, the above recipe has too much pine nuts, garlic and parmesan to the amount of leaves. And it needs some olive oil.

EVOO is Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

I guess my approximate measure recipe is not good. LOL!

Michelle

Thank you all for replying, I will try it again with your tips.

What kind of Olive oil did you use? Spme brands are bitter and if it's a little old the oil can also be bitter.
I loooove pesto....and put it on tosat, in salad dressings and soups as well as jusgt on pasta.
Linda C

No matter the recipe pesto is not a lovely color and that may have put you off.
Try it again and play a little. I don't find ratios all that important and I always add a little sour cream stirred in well. That makes it much easier to coat the pasta well.

Pesto is one of those things that I never measure the ingredients for. Just do it all to taste. I usually toast the pinenuts.

Here is a link to some good guidelines for making Pesto. There are a couple of recipes here including one that uses "blanched" basil. Notice that Marcel Hazan recommends Never blanching basil. Basil is one of those herbs that should never be "cooked".

Basil

hmm. you have a bunch of recipes and a lot of good tips here but one thing i haven't seen. if the basil is old and has gotten wet or collected moisture inside a bag, the leaves will start to turn a dark green to almost olive brown. and it DOES stink! my guess it that it's possible you didn't cut some of that away from the leaves you used...if the basil looks and smells fresh, i think the finished product will be good, unless you just plain don't like basil :) i'd give it one more try and if that doesn't work either, you haven't lost much...personally, i LOVE the stuff!

LOL. Yes, it's possible not to like pesto (ask my youngest!). You've got lots of good tips here. I don't like my pesto oily, so if I'm using 2 cups of basil leaves, I don't use more than 1/2 cup of oil or so. You have to play with it. Did you use pine nuts? Most of them time I don't have pine nuts on hand, so I use pecans (I always have them around for pecan pie and my stuffing recipe).

When the pesto is done, I add a tiny pit of lemon juice. Not enough to change the flavor, just enough to help the basil stay green.

So, do you think you'll give it another try, or was the first experience so bad that you've thrown in the towel? ;-)

Laceyvail-I never thought to try a basil and flat-leaf parsley mix. I have an over-abundance of flat-leaf parsley, and was wondering what to do with it. Thanks!

I grow basil and have been experimenting a lot with pesto. Sometimes it turns out great, others not so good. There is a variety in the quality of basil leaves. I tried blanching it this morning . . . eh. Also I've been getting a lot of bitter garlic lately. Olive oil can go rancid, so can nuts. I store my nuts in the fridge because I don't use them that fast. My most common mistake is overtoasting the nuts, which makes bitter pesto. I think I may just stop toasting them all together, since I cannot get them right to save my life. I think the best pesto I made was with untoasted nuts. I think the main reason my basil has been so so this summer is that I overplanted it in the pot and it just hasn't gotten the nutrients and water it needs to really be succulent.

Maybe Pesto by itself is just too intense for your taste. Try stirring a little into mayo for salad dressing or a sandwich spread. I also like to stuff cherry tomatos for an appitizer. If you make red sauce for pasta, stir some into the sauce before serving. I also like it as a pizza topping.

Pesto can sometimes be bitter. One way to tame it is to use a mixture of basil and either arugala, or italian parsley, or a mix of all three. The arugala adds a good tang, and the parsley just tames it down.

We love pesto at my house. I always use the recipe from the Silver Palate cookbook or it may be the Silver Palate Goodtimes cookbook - it is one of those. It calls for walnuts. My DD and I made once this summer and I am planning on making a bunch for the freezer. We use it in appetizers too. Sue

Pink, I toast my pine nuts in a small frying pan with just about 1 TBL oil or maybe a bit more. Heat the oil, the oil should just be med warm not hot, put in the nuts and gently shake the pan like you do when making popcorn. Don't let the nuts just sit there as they will toast too quickly.

I am going to try pecans for my next batch of Pesto!

Michelle

There's lots and lots of different varieties of basil, too. Genovese, Sweet Basil, Italian Basil, and others along that line are the ones I like the best. African Blue basil I grow for the bees, but it's kinda bitter so I don't use don't use it for cooking. I use Lemon Basil occasionally, but haven't figured out just how to use it yet. The point being that maybe if it's not one of the above suggestions, it could be the variety you used.

Sally