How do I love basil? Let me count the ways? I could talk about how I love it in a fresh pesto sauce with some extra virgin olive oil, toasted pine nuts, and parmesan cheese and tossed with pasta. I could talk about how I love basil when mixed with freshly sliced tomatoes and fresh mozzarella and then sprinkled with olive oil or a balsamic vinaigrette. The list of ways that I enjoy basil could be never ending, but outside of the more common Italian sweet basil and the spicier Thai basil, until recently I was not aware that there were over 60 different types of basil.

Basil has been highly regarded in a number of faith traditions throughout time. The Greek name for Basil means “King”[1] While there is no direct mention of basil in Judeo-Christian writings, it has been reported that it is one of the plants that was found at the site of Christ’s crucifixion[2] There are those who have argued it is also associated “with St Basil, whose feast day is celebrated in Greece on January 1 by having basil blessed at church.”[3]