[Artemisia] Period Pesto?

[Jeri Foster]

Take a quick look at Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pesto . It mentions the first appearance of pesto in a cookbook. However, you might look up sauces. I found one made with parsley that is similar to a basil pesto in The Book of Sent Sovi, they grind parsley with cinnamon, ginger, cloves and toasted hazelnuts. Clifford Wright mentions in A Mediterranean Feast that pesto is closely associated with Genoa, though thought to be of Persian origin. He also says "Although we can't be sure of the first use of pesto, we do know that Genoa was associated with basil, the star ingredient of this pesto, as early as the mid-fifteenth century, from the story of the humanist ambassador and lawyer Francesco Marchese who won his fame on the basis of a remark he made to the Duke of Milan upon presenting him a tub of basil: if treated well, basil gave off a nice scent; if dealt with harshly, it produced serpents and scorpions. Using a metaphor from the most
 famous ingredient of Ligurian cuisine was a hint on how Milan should rule Genoa."
Jerilyn


________________________________
 From: Dawn Tavares <dtavares1 at hotmail.com>
To: Kingdom list <artemisia at lists.gallowglass.org>; lochsalann at yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Saturday, September 15, 2012 10:58 PM
Subject: [Artemisia] Period Pesto?
 

For any cooks who may not be on Facebook:  Is pesto Period? I've found documentation for use of basil and pine nuts in Mediterranean/Andalausian cooking, but couldn't find any reference to actual pesto or even a basil-&-nut-based paste. I looked all thru Stephan's Florilegium for leads, but came up blank. I've already checked the Godecookery site. Any suggestions where else I should dig?

I have all this home-grown basil that I'd like to use for Lochtoberfest.... Aurora de PortugalBLS                            
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