Guilt of Over Abundance

In winter, if I have a small store bought basil plant I carefully dole out it’s precious leaves one by one. If a leaf has a brown spot, I cut it out so I can still use the good part. The scarcity of fresh basil in January makes each fresh leaf a treasure.

Today I asked Russ to cut down all the basil in the garden so I could process it while it was in its heyday. He gathered the lanky and bushy plants in a giant old beach towel left over from a commercial shoot I did thirty years ago. He lay the armload on the counter. I was over whelmed with the work ahead.

I pulled one branch at a time, washing the leaves while still attached. Ripping them from the stems, placing them in my giant colander. Washing them again. When the colander was full I took a handfuls of leaves out and put them in the salad spinner, this being the triple wash. Eventually those dried leaves went into the cuisineart with olive oil and were puréed. The mash going into plastic containers and into the freezer. Ready to be made into pesto or dolloped into soup in the winter, or drizzled onto tomatoes I oven roasted and froze from this summer’s harvest.

As is the case when met with an over abundance of basil I am, at first, careful about stripping all the leaves from the stems. If an edge has turned brown I cut that part away, much like I do in the with the precious winter leaves. Then as the hours go one I become less finicky.

The small leaves that don’t come off on the initial strip I leave on the discarded stem. The leaves that might have a bite out of them from an innocent pest I toss out, the leaves that cling to the towel I ignore. I have so much basil. I know that the perfectly good leaves I don’t bother to process will not be missed. I still have pesto in the freezer from last summer that must be eaten first.

After making two quarts of basil purée I stop. I gather all the spent stems and discarded leaves and throw them away. I have a small twinge of guilt.

Having too much of something cheapens it. This over abundance is under appreciated.

It is a real struggle in life to know how much of anything we actually need. Too much is just as bad as too little. The time that it would take to carefully honor every leaf has value too, so I don’t do it. Happiness is found in the balance. I am working on that.