Grow Your Own Pesto Recipe
It's a hive of activity at Glut HQ at the moment with lots of new and exciting products being developed and prepared ready for you to send to as gifts. To launch this series of new gifts we've started by reinventing an old classic....our Grow your own Pesto Kit.
In the gluttonous world we live in here at Glut HQ we believe that nothing quite compares to the taste and colour of a homemade pesto, the fresh bright flavours and vivid green colour make it worth the minimal effort it takes to achieve.
There are however times when we reach for a jar of shop bought pesto which has almost been a victim of its own success, with most supermarkets stocking fairly tasteless and far inferior pastes to the real thing. This was however until recently when we discovered a new award winning pesto from one of our favourite suppliers, The Oil Merchant, which is what prompted us to bring back this fantastic gift.
Our new Grow your own Pesto gift has been given a little bit of an update and now features a handsome stone pine tree ready to plant in the garden and produce delicious pine nuts in years to come. Accompanying their tree, the lucky recipient will find the most delicious jar of pesto we have ever tasted, a supply of basil seeds and of course our recipe for the definitive pesto sauce.
About the Stone Pine Tree
The Stone Pine, also known as the Umbrella Pine is a native of southern Europe, but has been grown in Britain for the last four centuries. The tree is distinguished by its thick spreading umbrella shaped crown, which is often broader than its height, and is a characteristic feature of the Mediterranean landscape. The tree will eventually grow to 18 metres, and the heavy cones, which hold the pine nuts, are borne after about 20 years.
Pesto Recipe
There is still only one recipe that we turn to when making pesto and that comes from Elizabeth David's original recipe from her book Italian Food (You can learn more about this fantastic cookery writer here):
Ingredients
- A large bunch of fresh basil
- A generous handful of pine nuts
- A handful of grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 or 2 cloves of garlic
- 2 fl oz of olive oil.
