An Italian hallmark, pesto sauce originates in Genoa and is made from basil, cheese (Parmigiano Reggiano or Parmesan and Pecorino Sardo – sheep’s milk), crushed garlic, pine nuts, coarse salt and olive oil.
The original recipe called Pesto Alla Genovese features garlic, olive oil, pine nuts and Parmesan cheese, but today chefs like to add various other ingredients to the sauce. These include cashew nuts, avocado, spinach, mint, sage, walnuts, sun-dried tomatoes, red bell peppers and pumpkin seed.
Pesto sauces vary so much nowadays because people have been reinventing the recipe and creating their own version of the sauce, which often includes a key ingredient. In the traditional Genovese recipe the main ingredient is basil, but people now also make sage pesto, avocado pesto, almond pesto, and so on.
On Pesto Alla Genovese – the traditional recipe
Genoa is located in northern Italy, and it is there, in one of Italy’s most underrated but beautiful cities, that pesto was invented. The name itself – pesto – means to pound, which is translated from the original word pestâ in Genoese dialect.
Traditional Genovese pesto isn’t, however, made exactly by pounding the ingredients, but by grounding them. This allows the aromas to release fully and offer beautifully flavored sauce.
Many of the restaurants in Genoa continue to make the traditional recipe and serve it fresh when the flavors are strongest. Pesto is never heated, only slightly warmed when added to the pasta.
- How it’s made: young basil leaves usually grown locally or regionally are ground using a pestle and mortar device.
- Salt and garlic are added, then pine nuts, grated cheese, and authentic olive oil. Cooks use a ratio of one clove of garlic to every thirty leaves of basil. They add the cheese and the oil one after another repeatedly and mixing simultaneously. This allows them to achieve the proper consistency.
The earliest reference to Genovese pesto dates from the late nineteenth century, although the recipe is different to the modern sauce. And what’s more, before the nineteenth century version, other similar sauces including variations of pesto existed in Italy, from as far back as the Roman times.
Basil-based pesto is traditionally Genovese, but there are other authentic Italian pesto sauces too. In some parts of Italy, pesto rosso is very popular. This type of pesto has two main ingredients, which are sun-dried tomatoes and almonds.
In other regions pesto is made using cherry tomatoes or sweet peppers as main ingredients.
So there we have it. While the traditional recipe boosts a delicious combination, there is no reason not to experiment with other ingredients and create your own version of pesto.
The most important thing to remember is that pesto is really a pesto when the ingredients are grounded using a mortar and pestle. This is an essential kitchen gadget to use and not just in relation to pesto. It’s the world’s oldest kitchen utensil, and even with all the advancement in kitchen gadgets, it remains the epitome of flavor.
Great news if you’re traveling to and from Genoa. After seizing hundreds of jars of pesto sauce, airport authorities at Cristoforo Colombo airport finally understood that foreigners love their pesto, and the Genoese residents love to take it abroad, so they changed the rules as of June 2017.
People can keep their pesto jars so long as they weigh no more than 500g and make a charity donation in exchange for a special sticker. The pesto is then scanned through a specially designed X-ray machine and allowed on board as hand luggage.
Pesto can be of up to 500g one jar or 2 jars of 250g each and has to be Genovese.