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NECTAR OF THE BOB

Today I finally got a morning to harvest the several square meters of basil I was beginning to feel nervous about because I've been tenterhooked in the city the past two mornings as we near the time of the first frost, when the dawn air can suddenly take on a sharpness too sharp for what is basically a Mediterranean plant and one morning you go out to your green banners of basil and find a black brown shrivel. But I was on time this morning, maybe even a little early, so I just cut the large tops off (I love the way basil leaves curl so voluptuously in their green sheen, like they just can't contain the delicious beauty they embody), leaving thirds to perhaps grow out in the next few days if I'm frost lucky.

In previous years I've used much of my Genovese basil (I grow mainly Genovese and Spicy Globe) to make pesto (with pine nuts, garlic, walnuts, olive oil, parmeggiano and salt), and it is really prize-winningly deliciously soulfillingly fantastic when made with fresh Genovese basil, but it's so good it's gone in a week.

Last year I decided to try something new: I separately packed the Genovese leaves and Spicy Globe stems/leaves in olive oil. I pack the basil in and then fill the jar with oil. I can then use the basil for some months until it reduces to a kind of sludge that settles to the bottom, when the oil itself becomes darker and exquisitely fragrant with the essence of basil (just imagine that!); I use a small amount of that very flavored oil in salads or to flavor larger volumes of olive oil for cooking.

When I opened one small jar in the back of the cupboard that I'd forgotten about for 8 months or so, the top of the oil was covered with a fine pure-white mold like that on camembert or brie; when I lifted the mold off like a cm-thick white hockey puck, what shimmered beneath was the legendary Nectar of the Bob. The oil is very dark green, yet still clear. Needless to say I don't have much left, so this new batch will cure just in time to fulfill the deep nectarian needs of said Bob.