Late July is the best period for one of the tastiest and highly valuable homemade preparations of our cuisine, the Genoese pesto. One of the most successful icons of Italian cuisine in the world, a refined at the same time popular symbol of Mediterranean gastronomy that draws from the earth its most delicious flavors.
Ancestors
The origin of pesto, despite illustrious and ancient ancestors is actually quite recent: the first classifications of this Ligurian recipe dates back to the beginning of the nineteenth century. That is to say in the middle of that period, which began in the eighteenth century, the basis of our gastronomic identity happened, a sort of "gastronomic Risorgimento" born from popular cuisine which then conquered the world. So, we were talking about our ancestors. The most illustrious is certainly the Roman moretum, a sort of cheese enriched with aromatic herbs that was pounded in a mortar together with oil, vinegar, and walnuts or pine nuts. All elements of which the Ligurian Riviera has always been particularly rich in.
In the Middle Ages, in the midst of conflict between the Maritime Republics of Venice and Genoa, the Venetians controlled a large part of the trade to bring precious oriental spices to rich tables of nobles and merchants. A fact that forced the Genoese to stand side by side with the spice trade with the humblest aromatic herbs which was immediately met favorably by the population. At the same time the agliata genovese was born, made with garlic, vinegar, salt and extra virgin olive oil, which was used to better preserve cooked foods and to flavor meat. The agliata was then enriched with fish in Sardinia and almonds and ricotta cheese in Sicily, until it became a pasta topping.
Gastronomic Risorgimento
Basil’s debut in Liguria arrives only several centuries later. To speak about it for the first time is Giovanni Battista Ratto who, in his work La Cuciniera Genovese (1863), reports the following recipe for pesto: "take a clove of garlic, basil (baxaicö) or in the absence of this marjoram and parsley, Dutch cheese and parmesan cheese grated and mixed together and pound everything in a mortar with a little butter until it is reduced to paste. Then dissolve it with plenty of fine oil. With this mixture season the lasagne and gnocchi (troffie), adding a little hot water without salt to make it more liquidy". As you can see, at that time the maritime trade made Dutch cheese more available than Parmesan cheese or Sardinian pecorino, which in pesto only arrived at the beginning of '900. Whilst the alternative to parsley was almost certainly justified by the need to produce it in all seasons. The presence of butter isn’t surprising either, as the fat dominated menus in northern Italy.
Differences in flavor
The undisputed star however is the Genoese basil. That is, 3 of the 69 varieties of this plant native to Asia: giant Genoese basil, dwarf Genoese basil and common Genoese basil. Today the main production areas are in Sarzana (outdoors), Savona, Albenga, Imperia and the surroundings of Genoa (in greenhouses), with the epicenter being the Genoese district of Prà. Basil grown in the open field is exposed to direct sunlight rays and has larger, more robust leaves with a more intense aroma, therefore producing a much stronger pesto. In the greenhouses the plants are slender, with light green leaves and a fine but enduring aroma, which will produce a more delicate flavor of pesto. No matter what the basil must still have small leaves, must be extracted by the roots and grown under the sun and sea air. To prepare it the leaves need to be washed dried in the sun without wrinkling them, before proceeding to the mortar. The use of blenders or food processors, although more practical, have the side effect of producing small oxidations due to heat and somewhat lower quality results.
Today's official ingredients...
The official recipe of the Genoese Pesto Consortium (and not "alla" genovese, a ploy behind which at supermarkets you can find everything) includes 2 oz of PDO Genoese basil, half a glass of Ligurian extra virgin olive oil (more delicate than those of Central and Southern Italy), 2 cloves of garlic, 6 tablespoons of PDO Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, 2 tablespoons of PDO Pecorino cheese (Sardinian flower) and a tablespoon of pine nuts (the best are the Tuscan ones).
... and variations over time
In Liguria, each pesto is different from one another: for a stronger flavor you can increase the percentage of basil and reduce the percentage of cheese; also widespread is the use of walnuts in addition or instead of pine nuts. How much garlic as written in the academics Giuseppe Gavotti book I Liguri a tavola. Itinerario gastronomico da Nizza a Lerici (1973) (1973) wrote that at one time pesto was more "rude", that is to say rich in garlic, up to three or four cloves for a few basil leaves. In fact, Ligurian sailors considered garlic a real cure. And bad breath aside, they were not wrong.