BASIL, SWEET BASIL, HORAPA

Basil is a herb Ocimum basilicum as a seasoning. However the Indians and Africans use it as an insect repellent. Others think it repels warts.

Basil (Ocimum basilicum) is used mainly as a culinary seaoning and as a medicine. Indians and Africans rubbed the leaves on their skin as an insect repellent. This aromatic herb also contains antiviral compounds. It has been used in the past to fight warts.

This grows easily from seeds or transplants. Avoid frost and make sure the soil is warm.

Spice Islands Cooking School. 1990(?) "A Study in Spice. The Ultimate Spice Guide.

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BASIL is an annual herb whose flavor is closely associated with the cuisines of Italy, Greece and Southeast Asia, including Thailand. Its bright flavor goes esxpecially well with tomatoes and garlic. Basil also adds flavor dimension to bruschetta and pasta sauces. Thai noodle dishes and stir-fries. Blending basil with lemon juice and melted butter makes a refreshingly simple dip for crab, lobster, artichokes and asparagus.

Mazza, Irma Goodrich. 1952July. Herbs for the Kitchen. Little, Brown and Company, boston. p. 9

BASIL

Ocimum Basilicum Annual

No Italian garden lacks a green bed of basil from spring till early fall. Perhaps the owners of those gardens lend ear to the East Indian belief that the house surrounded by basil will be blessed. Or they may simply know that this herb blesses the food it touches.

Basil's uses are many and varied. Soups, ragouts, salads, pot cheese, meats, sauces, and fruit drinks, all are more appetizing for a bit of this seasoning. It repays one for the little work involved in growing it each year. The more it is cut the better it grows.

Herbs & Spices for Thai Cooking. "Welcome to Chiangmai & chiangrai p. 73. [incomplete reference of Thai spices and herbs]

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HORAPA is a sweet basil similar to the kind used in Italian Pesto and various European Tomato dishes. Used as a vegetable and for flavoring.

Ocimum spp.) is a staple of the kitchen, the herb garden, and even the ornamental flowerbed. There are more than 35 species of annual and perennial basil in varying colors, flavors, and leaf sizes.

Sweet basil (O. basilicum) is the most commonly grown basil; the annual 'Sweet Genovese' is a popular choice for cooking. Purple-leaved basil (O. basilicum 'Dark Opal') is often grown as an ornamental. Basil cultivars feature flavors as varied as lemon, licorice, and cinnamon. They grow 1 to 3 feet in height.

Excerpted from American Spice Trade Association. 1966. A glossary of Spices. American Spice Trade Association. 76 Beaver Street, New York, NY 10005

"The smell of Basil is good for the heart and head," wrote one of the 17th Century herbalists," and maketh a man merry and glad."

This delightful annual herb of the mint family (also called Sweet Basil) is native to India and Persia. Hindus plant is around their homes and temples to insure happiness while a romantic young Italian wears a Basil sprig as a sign of being in love. In France it is called the herbe royale and its aroma is highly esteemed in that food-loving nation. Basil leaves are bright green, and up to 1.5 inches in length.

Basil leaves rival oregano as a seasoning for pizza, spaghetti sauce and tomato dishes. They add appetizing aroma to vegetable soups, meat pies, stews and peas, zucchini, green beans or cucumbers. For the gourmet touch, sprinkle Basil over lamb shops before cooking. Commercially, Basil is used int he preparation of Chartreuse and other liqueurs.

Basil is grown int he United States and also improted from France, Hungary and Belgium.

Ruth Winter.1978. A Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives. Crown Publishers, Inc., New York.

An herb having spikes of small whtie flowers and aromatic leaves used as a seasoning. A ntural flavoring distilled from the flowering tops of the plant. Slightly yellow, liquid, with a spicy odor. Used in sausage and spice flavorings for beverages, candy, ice cream, baked goods, condiments, and meats. The oleoresin is used in spice flavorings for baked goods and condiments. The oil is used in loganberry, strawberry, orange, rose, violet, cherry, honey, licorice, basil, muscatel, meat, and root beef flavorings for beverages, ice cream, ices, candy, baked goods. No known toxicity. GRAS ACCEPTABLE

Garrett, Theodore Francis (edited by). 1898. the Encyclopedia of Practical Cookery. L. Upcott Gill, 170, Strand, W.C. London. Vol. I

(Ocimum Basilicum) is a herb used for seasoning meats, and particularly flavourings of turtle. The leaves when pinched emit a very pungent odour, not unlike that of cloves, and are sometimes added to Frenchy salad. The plant is a native of the East Indies,. It is generally used dry.

Simon, Andre L. 1952. A Concise Encyclopaedia of Gastronomy. Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York.

Latin ocinum Basilicum; French Basilic; Itallian Basilico. A plant of the Labiate family and one of the pot-herbs; its leaves have a strong flvour of cloves. Always included in the making of Turtle Soup.

Grimes, William. 2004. Eating Your Worlds. Oxford University Press.

is an aromatic annual herb of the mint family, native to tropical Asia.
-the leaves of this plant used as a culinary herb, especially in Mediterranean dishes. -
ORIGIN Middle English: from Old French basile, via medieval Latin from Green basilikon, neuter of basilikos 'royal'.

Igoe, Robert S. 1983. Dictionary of Food Ingredients. Van Nostrand and Reinhold Company.

is a spice obtained from the dried leaves and tender stems of Ocimum basilicum L. The fresh basil resembles licorice in flavor and the dried leaves have a lemony anise like quality. This delicate herb can be used generously and has an affinity for tomato base products. It is used in tomato base recipes, with vegetables, and in tomato sauces.

Excerpts from Bender, Arnold E. 1990. Dictionary of Nutrition and Food Technology. Butterworths, Boston.

May be one of four different types of herb, but the main one is the European sweet basil, Ocimum basilicum. Used in seasoning.

Excerpts from Passmore, Jacki. 1991. The Encyclopedia of Asian Food and Cooking. Hearst Books, New York.

**BASIL, OCIMUM BASILICUM, OCIMUM spp.**

This herb of the labiatae or mint family has a large number of varieties, offering a wide range of flavors. Thought to be native to central-western China, records do not indicate the use of the herb in Chinese cooking, but it may have been used medicinally. Basil and many other fresh aromatic herbs are important ingredients in Thai, Laotian and Vietnamese cooking, being an essential element in their salads and raw vegetable platters as well as curried dishes. Basil is used to a small extent in Indonesia and Burma but rarely in other parts of Asia.

Day, Avanelle and Lillie Stuckey. 1964. The Spice Cookbook. David White Company, New York.

he word basil stems from two possible origins. One is from the Greek for "royal" or "kingly"; the other, from a tongue twister, also Greek, meaning "lizard." In Greek mythology this was indeed a very special lizard, a basilisk, which needed only to look at or breathe upon his victim to kill him.

The Greeks believed that only the soverign himself should be allowed to cut the basil, using a golden sickle. Yet, according to history, basil was a symbol of hate; why this was so is open to conjecture.

On the other hand, in Italy, basil has always been a token of love, and is called "kiss-me-Nicholas" in some of its regions. Any girl who wears a sprig of basil is suggesting to her beau, and not too subtly, that there is no need for him to keep his distance. In Romania, however, things are somewhat more definite: when a boy accepts a sprig of basil from his girl, it means he is engaged!

In its native India, basil, called tulasi, is considered a holy herb and grown in pots near very temple and dwelling of devout Hindus. Though especially sacred to Vishnu, Krishna, and Lakshmi, all the other gods esteem it, too.

Throughout the ages, doctors and herbalists have used basil in medicine and magic, although there seems to have been a happy lack of agreement as to its merits for either. "This is the herb which all authors are to-gether by the ears about, and rail at one another like lawyers," wrote herbalist Nicholas Culpeper in 1652. "Galen and Dioscorides hold it not fit to be taken inwardly, and Chrysippus rails at it with downright Billingsgate rhetoic. Pliny and the Arabian Physicians defend it."

That this fragrant herb aroused controversy adds to its interest. John Gerard, Shakespeare's contemporary, was enthusiastic, saying: "A smell of Basil is good for the heart and head - cureth the infirmities of the heart, taketh away sorrowfulness which cometh of melancholia and maketh a man merry and glad."