How Do I Turn 1kg of Basil into Pesto?

I have the opportunity to buy basil for cheap, and wanted to know how I’d turn this into pesto, basically what would be the proportions in grams.

My goal is to refrigerate/freeze them for future use. (If refrigerate option, how long would it last?)

  • Lvxferre
    5•1 year ago

    Giallo Zafferano lists it by weight, and it’s generally a reputable site. I’ll scale it up to 1kg of basil for you, provided that this weight is leaves only (no stems):

    • 1kg basil
    • 1L olive oil
    • 715g Parmesan
    • 430g pinoli
    • 430g Sardinian pecorino
    • 30 cloves = ~2.5 heads of garlic
    • 43g salt

    Sub the pinoli with walnuts or cooked pinhão/piñón depending on availability and prices. Pecorino can be subbed with a bit more Parm if you want. The garlic should be ideally from a milder variety.

    Note: this is a fuckload of pesto. I don’t recommend doing so much; instead you might be better off freezing the basil instead, and making it as you need.

    If you have a favourite recipe instead, a metric cup of basil weights 21.3g.