In the Market: African Blue Basil

A trip to the market to make a tomato salad recently led Gothamist to a variety of basil that we'd never seen before. Whole Foods is currently carrying African Blue Basil, a hybrid of an East African basil and a typical garden basil called Dark Opal. The package of African Blue Basil comes with basil leaves, stems and lavender colored flower buds in full bloom. Gothamist used both the basil leaves and the flower buds in a tomato salad with excellent results. The basil leaves and purple flowers have a licorice and pepper flavor, reminding us a bit of tarragon.

African Blue Basil is currently at Union Square Whole Foods for about $2 a pack.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Joe DeSalazar in Food on September 6, 2005 1:24 PM

Comments [rss]

dhex

[cheapshot]see, genetically modified foods are totally ok so long as they cost $2 a bunch![/cheapshot]

Kanye West

George Bush doesn't care about African Basil.

I hate the way they portray us in the media. If you see African Basil, they say it's looting. See General Basil, they say it's looking for food.

jenn

I work at the WF in Union Square, so I see how many people have been buying that basil-- a LOT. People seem to really love it. We've had a few chefs from heavyweight restaurants come in recently and they were using it in some bigtime recipes. I haven't tried it, but maybe I should...