IngredientsSpices
Basilikumbasil
Ocimum basilicum, a mint relative. Large soft leaves with a sweetish note somewhere between anise and clove.
The old German dishes do without it: roasts and cabbage call for other herbs. Where it is fixed is tomato, herb quark and herb butter.
Im Topfin the pot
It is not cooked. The leaves go on the finished dish whole or torn.
Tear rather than chop: a knife edge blackens the cut surfaces and the leaf goes dull.
In Mexikoin Mexico
It is called albahaca and every market has it. A pot on the windowsill keeps going for a long time in the Nayarit climate.
Dried basil is a different spice, not the same herb. Tomato salad and quark only work with the fresh leaf.