Pesto
Pesto
Pesto (/ˈpɛstoʊ/, Italian: [ˈpesto]; Ligurian: [ˈpestu]) is a sauce originating in Genoa, the capital city of Liguria, Italy. It traditionally consists of crushed garlic, European pine nuts, coarse salt, basil leaves, hard cheese such as Parmigiano-Reggiano (also known as Parmesan cheese) or Pecorino Sardo (cheese made from sheep's milk), all blended with olive oil.
Etymology
The term Pesto is derived from the Italian verb pestare, which means to pound or crush. This refers to the original method of preparation, with marble mortar and wooden pestle. The ingredients were pounded or crushed to a paste, hence the name.
Ingredients
- Garlic - Garlic is a species in the onion genus, Allium. It has been used both as a food flavoring and as a traditional medicine.
- Pine nuts - Pine nuts are the edible seeds of pines. About 20 species of pine produce seeds large enough to be worth harvesting.
- Salt - Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts.
- Basil - Basil is a culinary herb of the family Lamiaceae (mints). It is also called great basil or Saint-Joseph's-wort.
- Parmigiano-Reggiano - Parmigiano-Reggiano is an Italian hard, granular cheese produced from cow's milk.
- Pecorino Sardo - Pecorino Sardo, also known as Fiore Sardo, is a firm cheese from the Italian island of Sardinia which is made from sheep milk.
- Olive oil - Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives, a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin.
Related Terms
- Sauce - In cooking, a sauce is a liquid, cream, or semi-solid food, served on or used in preparing other foods.
- Italian cuisine - Italian cuisine is a Mediterranean cuisine consisting of the ingredients, recipes and cooking techniques developed across the Italian Peninsula since antiquity.
External links
- Medical encyclopedia article on Pesto
- Wikipedia's article - Pesto
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