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Basil is super easy to grow; it loves sun and you want to make sure to water daily, but what a treat to have basil at your fingertips all summer long! Follow these steps to prune your basil plant and help it reach it's full potential this summer. Then, cut your basil leaves into a lovely chiffonade for your caprese salad, to throw in your pasta dish, or use wherever you love to use basil.
What you'll need:
Scissors (if you are harvesting your own basil)
Step 1
When people grow their own basil, I think a really common mistake is that they just pluck off the leaves when they want to use them. This is not the thing to do if you want your plant to grow into a nice, healthy little basil bush; this will cause your basil plant to grow into a tall, skinny little basil tree. First, locate a point on the thickest basil stem that has 2 little "nodes" coming out right across from each other. The nodes look like tiny little basil leaves, and it's where fresh shoots will grow. In the photo below, my fingers are pinching right at the spot I am going to cut.
Cutting the basil plant at this point encourages it to grow outward, instead of just upward. Just pruning your basil in general will also encourage growth, so be sure you are using that hard-earned basil!
Step 2: The Chiffonade
This is such an easy and beautiful way to cut your basil; you'll end up with little basil curls that are just lovely. Start by rinsing your basil under cool water and patting dry with paper towels or a tea towel. Then lay your basil leaf flat on your cutting board, OR if you want to do more than one basil leaf at a time, stack them on top of each other from largest to smallest.
Step 3
Next, roll your basil leaves up into a nice, tight little roll.
Step 4
Keeping hold of one end of your little basil roll with your non-dominant hand, use your chef's knife to make thin slices right down the line, moving towards your other hand.
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