The food lab better home cooking through science ( PDFDrive ) 874

Mother SAUCE #3: PESTO Most people know pesto in its classic Genovese version, made with basil, pine nuts, garlic, Parmesan, and plenty of olive oil Traditionally pesto is made by grinding the ingredients to a paste in a mortar and pestle (pesto literally translates as “paste”), but these days the process is made much easier with the food processor Making pesto can be as simple as dumping all the ingredients into the bowl and switching on the machine, but I’ve made a few upgrades to the classic recipe to address some problems I had with it First is color When it is first made, pesto has a lovely emerald green color, but that color quickly fades to an unappetizing brown as it sits This is due to oxidation reactions that occur when plant pigments are exposed to the air To prevent this from happening, blanch your herbs in boiling water for about 30 seconds before dropping them into an ice bath, then drying and processing them This blanching step will deactive the enzymes that are responsible for the oxidation reactions, and your pesto will stay bright green even after days of storage I add the garlic directly to the blanching water along with the basil leaves, which helps soften its harsh edges Check out these two pestos The one on the left was made without blanching, while the leaves for the one on the right were blanched first Over the course of a day or so, the difference in color becomes even more pronounced  ... pestle (pesto literally translates as “paste? ?), but these days the process is made much easier with the food processor Making pesto can be as simple as dumping all the ingredients into the bowl... which helps soften its harsh edges Check out these two pestos The one on the left was made without blanching, while the leaves for the one on the right were blanched first Over the course of a day or so, the difference in color becomes even more pronounced... deactive the enzymes that are responsible for the oxidation reactions, and your pesto will stay bright green even after days of storage I add the garlic directly to the blanching water along with the