On Food and Cooking

in Liguria and Provence, inventors of the
popular basil purees called pesto and pistou,
and was hardly known in the United States
until the 1970s. The standard “sweet basil” of
Europe and North America, Ocimum
basilicum, is among the more virtuosic of the
herbs, and has been developed into several
different flavor varieties, including lemon,
lime, cinnamon, anise, and camphor. Most
varieties of sweet basil are dominated by
flowery and tarragon notes, though the variety
used in Genoa to make the classic sauce pesto
genovese is apparently dominated by mildly
spicy methyleugenol and clove-like eugenol,
with no tarragon aroma at all. Thai basil (O.
basilicum and tenuiflorum) tends toward the
anise-like and camphoraceous; Indian holy
basil (O. tenuiflorum) is dominated by
eugenol.
The flavor of basil depends not only on the
variety, but on growing conditions and the
stage at which it is harvested. Generally,