When you eat basil, don’t throw those leafless stems away – use them to make a delicious basil oil that tastes like summer.
Yield: 1 cup
Time: 15 minutes, plus time to cool
Tools
- knife
- small pot
- fine sieve
- rubber spatula
- glass bottle or jar with cap/lid
Ingredients
- handful of basil stems
- 1 c olive or grapeseed oil
Directions
Cut off and discard any woody or hard stems.
Wash and dry the remaining soft stems, then finely chop and place in pot along with oil.
Heat until the oil just starts to bubble. Allow to barely simmer for 5 minutes.
Let cool for at least an hour, then strain the oil. Press out as much of the oil from the stems as you can, then discard them.
Transfer oil to a glass bottle or jar.
Notes
Unless you’re using green olive oil, your basil oil won’t be green, because you’re just capturing the essence of the flavor. For green oil, you’d need to use actual basil leaves instead, but this is just as tasty and uses something that would otherwise be thrown away, so you save money. Also, it is more shelf stable than oil with bits of herbs in it.
Basil oil is delicious drizzled over caprese, salad, and steamed veggies.
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