Posted on 08/22/2006 1:58:24 PM PDT by nuconvert
Hailstorms cause pesto shortage in Italy
By ARIEL DAVID, Associated Press Writer
Mon Aug 21, 5:24 PM ET
Lovers of pesto, the tangy green pasta sauce, are bracing for increased prices or even shortages after unseasonable hailstorms in northern Italy destroyed much of the most prized variety of basil, the key ingredient in the Genoese specialty.
Hailstones the size of tennis balls smashed glass panes on scores of greenhouses and pummeled fragile basil plants this month, wiping out entire crops near the town of Pra, west of Genoa, the capital of the Liguria region in northwest Italy.
"The heart of basil production has been hit," Andrea Sampietro, director of the Ligurian chapter of Confagricoltura, an Italian farmers' lobby, said Monday.
Local authorities estimate that some 35 producers suffered a total of nearly $6.5 million in damages. Farmers have asked the government to declare a state of natural calamity, so they can receive funds to repair the damage.
Although the fragrant plant is grown throughout Liguria and most of the rest of Italy, the countryside surrounding Pra is the cradle of Genoese basil, the variety traditionally used by makers of the pesto sauce in the port city of Genoa.
"It will not affect industrial production, but high-quality production will suffer," Sampietro told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. Industrial production refers to the mass-produced pesto sauces that are found in Italian and foreign supermarkets. Large-scale producers don't depend on the upscale variety grown in the Pra area, which provides 20 percent of Liguria's basil production.
Sampietro said it will take months before the greenhouses are repaired and the next crop grows. "The situation will be back to normal by the end of October," he said, adding that four harvests are done each year.
The alkaline terrain in Pra and the microclimate created by the Mediterranean Sea give the small-leafed Genoese basil variety a less pungent taste, making what many consider a more delicate, perfect pesto.
The greenhouses are partially open to the outside environment, with the air's salinity and humidity influencing the quality of the plants. Sampietro also credited centuries-old farming practices that cultivate higher-quality basil. The basil is hand-picked by workers who are suspended over the plants on boards laid across the greenhouse to avoid trampling the plants and disturbing the soil.
The basic recipe for pesto, a delicacy that dates back to Roman times, includes basil, olive oil, garlic, pine nuts and pecorino cheese. Besides pasta, versions of the sauce are used across Liguria — from Genoa to the picturesque coastal towns of the Cinque Terre — to season bread, fish and minestrone.
Restaurants say they will swallow any increased price rather than pass on the cost to diners. They say they will continue to buy in Pra what little basil survived rather than lower their standards by getting the plant elsewhere in Liguria.
"Our supplier has been hit hard and prices have almost doubled," said Giampaolo Belloni, a chef and owner of the Zeffirino restaurant in Genoa. "I have experimented making pesto with more than 60 varieties, and this is the best one."
Belloni said the restaurant's supplier grows the plants in pots and sells them by the pot. He said the restaurant used to buy basil for 40 cents per pot and the price is now at 60 cents per pot.
The storied restaurant, opened in 1939, counted Frank Sinatra as one of its long-standing clients and used to ship its homemade pesto to the American singer.
You forgot the garlic!
The Bush-Rove Weather Generatortm misfired.
Now I'm really Pest Off!
They use them in farming areas here sometimes too.
Pretty loud aren't they? It's interesting to hear the charge of compressed air shoot up into the atmosphere. They haven't gone off much this summer - maybe ~3-4 times...
A great quick meal from the freezer. Put a large pot of water on the fire. Remove Italian sausages and pesto from freezer. Thaw sausages in microwave.
Thaw pesto in water bath.
Roast sausages in toaster oven.
Cook pasta in salty water, al dente, of course.
Toss some mixed greens with viniagrette.
Toss cooked pasta with pesto and a little pasta water.
Serve.
Less than 30 minutes.
Don't forget the wine!
I'll have to send friends in Genoa a care package of my basil: enormous bounty this year.
Mama Mia pizzeria!
The simple things are best.
(BTW- no Chinese pignioli nuts...the Italian are the best but hard to find)
The missus and I grow our own basil. You can clip it down and and it will grow back like grass. to We put up some of our own pesto sause this summer to enjoy over the next year. I frankly don't see how one kind of basil is any better than any other.
All this talk of food is making me hungry.
I admire this man's dedication.
60 varieties of basil alone.
Then, all those many varieties of so many types of garlic.
Add to that, all the different varieties and regional variations of pine nuts.
Oh, and the humongous number of varietals of olive oil...
THEN come the permutations of combining the various "best of the bests", followed by the testing of the infinitude of various proportions of each.
It is amazing he was able to accomplish all of this, in one life time, what with all the OTHER foods he had to so extensively test, which he oh, so carefully prepares.
I'm going to try growing basil indoors this winter....might be good for a leaf or two.
Didn't Alkaline play with Pesto on the Tigers in the 50's?
Northern California digger pine, preferably Shasta or Modoc County any day. If you can find either the Canby 1958, Hat Creek 1963, or especially, Nubieber 1965, you are in for pine nut ecstasy!
Pesto made with Italian parsley is delicious, if you can't get basil.
It's alimentary.
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