Thai basil is a type of basil with an anise or black licorice flavor that’s native to Southeast Asia. It has a purple stem, purple flowers, and thin, dark green leaves. As you’d expect from the name, it’s used in Southeast Asian cuisine, including Thai, Cambodian, Lao, and Vietnamese recipes.
What kind of basil is used in Thai dishes?
Thai cuisine utilises three main type of basil: Thai basil, holy basil, and lemon basil. A fourth less common basil is tree basil. The latter two are the most difficult to find outside of Thailand and the first in the list the most commonly available.
Which basil is best for Thai food?
Thai basil is a variety of basil (Ocimum basilicum) best known for its use in Asian and Thai cuisine. Unlike its cousin, Italian basil (aka Genovese basil), Thai basil has sturdy, resilient leaves that stand up well to extended cooking times and prolonged heat.
Can you use regular basil in Thai cooking?
If you can’t find Thai basil, you can substitute sweet basil, but it will lack its distinctive grassy and spicy flavor. If you are to substitute, supplement the sweet basil with mint to make up for this loss of flavor.
Is Thai basil different than regular basil?
Thai basil is a type of basil that originates in Southeast Asia. It’s got a stronger flavor than that of it’s sweet basil cousin with more of an anise flavor. You can usually find Thai basil at a well-stocked grocery store or your local International or Asian market or grocery store.
What is another name for Thai basil?
Thai basil may sometimes be called chi neang vorng, anise basil or licorice basil, in reference to its anise- and licorice-like scent and taste, but it is different from the Western strains bearing these same names.
Is sweet basil and Thai basil the same?
But setting looks aside, Thai basil is spicy with an anise, or licorice-like flavor, while sweet basil has a more mild peppery and sweet taste (for reference, sweet basil is commonly used as a main ingredient in Genovese-style pesto).
What kind of basil do you use for Thai green curry?
Thai sweet basil
Traditional ingredients in Thai green curry paste include fresh green chilies, shallots, galangal, garlic, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, and Thai sweet basil.
Is there a difference between sweet basil and basil?
Sweet basil is a sub-type of common basil with milder or licoricey taste. It is the best choice for Italian sauces and soups and for making pesto. Sweet basil leaves can sustain better in high-temperature cooking than common basil, so they are widely used in the South Asian cuisine.
What kind of basil is best for cooking?
Sweet Basil
It is the most used and popular basil variety to grow. Sweet basil is used extensively in cooking for its aromatic foliage. Ranging from green to purple, the herb can attain a height of 12-18 inches.
What’s the difference between Thai basil and Genovese basil?
Genovese basil is the plant name for the most commonly used type of basil in western cooking. Thai sweet basil is quite different in appearance to typical Genovese basil. It has a more solid stem, and thus the herb branches are often sturdier while regular basil is more delicate.
Can you buy dried Thai basil?
Dried Thai Holy Basil Leaves 0.9oz
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What type of basil is Thai basil?
Thai basil is a type of basil with an anise or black licorice flavor that’s native to Southeast Asia. It has a purple stem, purple flowers, and thin, dark green leaves. It’s common in Southeast Asian cuisine, including Thai, Cambodian, Lao, and Vietnamese recipes.
What is sweet basil used for in cooking?
Sweet basil has a special affinity for tomatoes and tomato-flavoured dishes, and it is an essential ingredient to make a truly wonderful pesto sauce. You can also add sweet basil to beans, cheeses, chicken, eggs, fish, marinades, marrows, mushrooms, pasta and pasta sauces and salads.
What is sweet Thai basil?
Thai basil is a popular herb in Southeast Asian cuisine and is a flavorful garnish served with Vietnamese pho (a savory broth of noodles and meat). It holds its flavor and texture better after cooking than other basil varieties and adds a kick to salads when sliced and eaten fresh.
Should you refrigerate Thai basil?
Store basil for up to 1 week in the refrigerator. Leave it in its original plastic container or rinse the leaves, roll them up in paper towels, and place them in a resealable plastic bag for up to about 4 days.
Can I eat Thai basil raw?
Thai basil is wonderful eaten raw, slivered, and added to salads, both your plain old cucumber-tomato salad or something meaty like northern Thai larb. But its hardy leaves stand up especially well to cooking—their flavor infuses readily into food and the leaves don’t wilt quite as much as Italian sweet basil’s would.
What health benefits does Thai basil have?
Research shows that Thai Basil is high in antioxidants, anti-cancer, anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and anti-fungal properties, which is why it has been used in traditional healing since centuries ago. Aside from ingesting Thai Basil, you can also bruise the leaves and inhale its aroma to relieve stress.
Should I pinch off Thai basil?
Check your basil plants frequently for flowers, and if you see any, pinch them off right away. If the flower stems are too woody to pinch (often the case with Thai basil), cut them off with shears. A plant allowed to flower will soon go to seed, stop growing, and die, so be vigilant about removing flowers.
Does Thai basil grow back every year?
Basil Plants Do Not Come Back Every Year
Sweet Basil (Ocimum basilicum) is an annual herb in the culinary herb garden. New seeds, plants, or cuttings need to be planted each spring. Basil plants grow from seeds in the spring, produce basil leaves in the summer, and eventually flower and grow seeds as fall approaches.
Can you grow Thai basil from a cutting?
Starting Thai basil from stem cuttings:
Take a 4-inch stem cutting right below a node and remove all of the leaves from the bottom 2 inches of the stem. Place the cut end of the stem in a glass or jar of water, allowing it to grow until newly generated roots are a couple of inches long.