Basil

Basil is my garden and kitchen staple. An extremely versatile herb in the kitchen, basil is a delicious addition to Italian, Southeast Asian, and so many other tasty cuisines. Basil’s flavor is spicy, pungent, and sweet and is wonderful in pesto, soups, on fresh tomatoes, pizza, and pasta, in marinades, smoothies, juices, dressings, desserts and more!

  • Basil packs in a lot of Vitamin K into their small leaves. Vitamin K is a fat-soluble vitamin needed for your body’s response to injury, aka normal blood clotting.
  • Make sure to have some healthy fats (like avocado or olive oil) with your basil to enjoy the full vitamin and nutrient benefits.
  • Basil has some pretty powerful antioxidants that protect our bod’s at the cellular level. This means, all those flavonoids keep our cell structure and chromosomes clean from the bad guys, oxygen-based damage.
  • Basil’s essential oil is very anti-bacterial. A study published in the Journal of Microbiology Methods showed that basil had the unique ability to inhibit strains of widespread and difficult-to-treat bacteria including Staphylococcus, Enterococcus and Pseudomonas.

Vegukate Tips:

Get a green thumb! Plant some basil your garden or in a pot in your kitchen. Not only will it look beautiful, but fresh homegrown basil is fast growing and a great way to save you money at the grocery store.

Store dried basil in an airtight container in a cool, dark place where it will keep for up to six months.