Integrative Assignment #3: Presto! It’s Pesto!

Brooke Cohen

Integrative Assignment #3

Presto! It’s Pesto!

Assumption

I always thought pesto was a simple dish with no rules to making it. I had always seen the chefs on the Food Network just throwing a handful of herb and nuts in a food processor and “streaming in” olive oil through the top and never thought more about it, this was until I read an article about true Genovese Pesto in class.

Dish

Pesto is a sauce prepared with a bountiful handful of an herb (basil or parsley for example) and a nut (walnuts or pine nuts for example), with a steady stream of olive oil added in to bring the mixture together.

Chemical Analysis

When thinking of the chemistry involved in pesto, the word emulsion comes to mind. An emulsion is the mixing of two immiscible substances into one mixture with an emulsifier, also known as a stabilizer. I would say that basil and pine nuts are brought together by olive oil, with the addition of garlic, lemon, and parmesan. The chemistry lies in the olive oil being added in slowly bringing the mixture together, the olive oil is the emulsifier. The ingredients are bonded together by the addition of the oil and with the addition of parmesan cheese the mixture becomes a cohesive spread, but stops short of being a paste.

There is also chemistry involved with adding the sauce to hot pasta. Adding hot pasta water will help to bind the sauce to the pasta, as the residual starch in the water will form a gel between the sauce and the pasta. The addition of cheese helps to solidify this mixture even more.

Cultural Analysis

I never realized the cultural significance of pesto, but after reading about it in class I realize the history of pesto in Genoa. The Genoese peasants made pesto because they grew bountiful amounts of basil and added in other cheap ingredients that were readily available. I also learned that there are strict rules to making and serving pesto. When you make pesto, you must put the ingredients in a mortar and pestle and grind them that way, traditionally speaking. If you do not grind them in a mortar and pestle, you must place the ingredients in a food processor in which you have put the blade in the freezer to keep the freshness and greenness of the basil in tact. The basil must also be of the Genoese variety to keep with the tradition. Pesto is also, traditionally, a sauce made with an herb and a nut served over pasta. I did not know that pesto is traditionally only considered pesto when it is served over pesto. Who knew it is not culturally accurate to put it on my pizza! Oops!

Integration

Overall, you cannot have the cultural aspects of pesto without the chemical elements, as the basil, nuts, olive oil, and parmesan cheese all have cultural elements to them and also have chemical consequences on the mixture. The emulsion that is created is only possible with the basil (Genoese basil), the nuts, and the olive oil. Even the chemistry with the sauce geling so well with the pasta has a cultural background, as pesto is traditionally meant to be eaten on pasta.