Contents
Basil varieties have recently been of interest not only to gardeners or gourmets, but also to landscape designers. In the State Register, you can find an extensive list, where the originators are agro-industrial and seed companies, rarely – institutes or breeders on their own behalf. And none of them attaches importance to the basis on which species – annual or perennial varieties of basil are derived.
This is due to the fact that the culture is extremely thermophilic and dies even with a short-term decrease in temperature. It makes no sense to cover it or plant it in heated greenhouses – basil reproduces well and gives a rich harvest of spicy greens during the season.
Varieties of basil
There is currently no official classification for basil, but if new varieties crop up again and again, it will soon. Now the culture is divided by the size and color of the leaves, aroma or other signs for convenience.
Types of basil
Often on the Internet you can find the incorrect use of the word “species”, which refers to different variations (features) of the same plant. Meanwhile, this is a rigid category, the main structural unit in the biological systematics of living organisms. There are criteria by which scientists separate one species from another. They also determine its belonging to a particular genus.
What citizens far from biology call a species is a variety, it can be a variety, a hybrid, even a plant of another genus or family. The same thing happened with basil. Here everything was mixed together – varieties, species, varieties, grouping external signs by color or size of leaves, smell … They did not even ignore the scope in cooking.
The types of basil from which most horticultural varieties originated are:
- fragrant (garden), which is also called vegetable, became the progenitor of almost all varieties used in the kitchen;
- mint-leaved (camphor) is a raw material for medicines;
- tint-colored (tulasi) is used in Ayurveda, for Hindus – the second-ranking (after lotus) sacred plant, used in medicine and cooking;
- eugenolic, the main value of which is the high content of essential oils in the leaves, it is a raw material for the production of spices, and is used in medicine.
basil flavors
When creating new varieties of basil, first of all, attention is paid to the smell. It is on what aroma the plant has that the scope of its application in cooking often depends. For example, varieties that smell of anise or lemon are suitable for fish dishes, peppery or cloves for fish dishes. In a mixture with other spices, complex flavors are created, their own for each national cuisine.
Basil can smell like:
- clove;
- clove-pepper;
- peppery;
- mint-pepper;
- menthol;
- anise;
- caramel;
- lemon;
- vanilla.
Basil color
The culture has two base colors: green and purple. Within their framework, the color varies greatly, it can be delicate, saturated, varieties with variegated leaves are often found.
Green basil is considered to have a delicate taste and smell due to its moderate content of essential oils. It is more typical of European cuisine. Often green basil is called sweet. It is usually used fresh and frozen. Nobody forbids drying green leaves, but most of the essential oils evaporate, and the aroma becomes very weak.
Purple varieties are more common in the cuisines of eastern peoples. They contain 1,5-2 times more essential oils than green ones, which makes the taste tough and the aroma strong. When the leaves are dried, the smell remains.
Basil varieties
The vast majority of varieties of basil used in cooking are based on one type – fragrant (garden, vegetable). Many of them were bred by breeders and entered into the State Register.
Ararat
In 2003, LLC “Agrofirma Poisk” from the Moscow region filed an application for inclusion in the State Register of the vegetable basil variety Ararat. It was registered in 2004 and recommended for cultivation in all regions of Our Country. Since then, the variety has become one of the most popular and often grown in the post-Soviet space.
Ararat is considered mid-season, and blooms about 71 days after germination. This is considered maturity as the plant accumulates enough essential oils to be cut to dry.
The Ararat variety forms an upright semi-spreading shrub about 60 cm high. Broadly ovate petiolate leaves with edges mottled with rare teeth are of medium size, greenish-violet in color and have a strong aniseed smell. Lilac flowers.
From a square meter, 2-2,4 kg of green mass is collected, one plant weighs 25-35 g. This variety of purple basil is well suited for drying for the winter.
Agrotechnics of growing basil Ararat
Purple basil variety Ararat is grown through seedlings. Seeds are sown in late March or early April to a depth of about 0,5-1 cm, dive in the phase of two true leaves. After about a week, they feed the first time, after another 10-14 days – the second. Pinch the Ararat variety when 6-8 true leaves appear. At the age of 25 days, young plants can be planted in the ground.
Baku courtyard
Variety of vegetable (fragrant) basil Baku courtyard is the newest. At the end of 2017, Agrofirma Aelita LLC, registered in the Moscow Region, submitted an application. In 2018, the variety was accepted by the State Register and approved for cultivation in all regions.
The Baku courtyard is an early ripe basil, 42-47 days pass from the moment of emergence of seedlings to the beginning of flowering. Forms a shrub of medium height with small ovoid anthocyanin leaves, the waviness of which is weakly expressed, and dark purple flowers. It has a clove scent. The yield per square meter is 2,2-2,5 kg, the weight of one plant is 300-400 g.
Basilisk
Gavrish Breeding Firm LLC has created vegetable basilisk Basilisk, which was accepted by the State Register in 2003. It can be grown throughout Our Country.
This is an early ripe variety, 46-50 days pass from germination to flowering. Forms a compact undersized bush with straight raised shoots up to 20 cm high. Numerous small leaves are ovate, smooth, green. The flowers are white, the aroma is clove-pepper. The basilisk can be grown as a pot crop, its yield is up to 700 g/sq. m.
Genovese
One of the best varieties of basil is Genovese, which is also called Genoese or Italian. It has an aniseed smell and is an indispensable ingredient in pesto sauce. Used to make tea and lemonade. Genovese grows to 45-60 cm and is often planted in pots. The variety is distinguished by delicate green leaves of medium size, elongated-oval shape with small teeth. The flowers are white. The mass of one plant is 25-38 g.
Genovese is one of the most common varieties with green leaves.
Clove
Basil Gvozdichny was created by the Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution “Federal Scientific Center for Vegetable Growing”, the author is Khomyakova E.M. The variety was accepted by the State Register in 1996 and approved for cultivation in all regions.
Clove is a compact, medium-sized bush with dense foliage up to 35 cm high, suitable for growing in a pot culture. The variety has a sharp clove-anise aroma. The stem is green with a purple tint. The leaves are large, wrinkled, with pronounced teeth, painted green. Clove belongs to the early varieties.
Yerevan
Fragrant basil Yerevan was created by Agrofirma Aelita LLC, intended for cultivation in all regions. The variety was accepted by the State Register in 2013, a protective patent was issued for it, the validity of which expires in 2043.
Yerevan purple reaches flowering in 45 days. Forms a shrub up to 40 cm high, with medium-sized ovate lilac leaves and pink flowers. Pepper-clove aroma. The weight of green mass from one plant is 300-500 g, the yield is 2,1-2,6 kg / sq. m.
Karamelynыy
Caramel basil was included in the State Register in 2000, the originator is the Federal Scientific Center for Vegetable Growing, the author of the variety is Khomyakova E.M. The tolerance zone is all regions.
This is a mid-season variety that can be grown not only through seedlings, but also by sowing in the ground. Basil Caramel forms a sprawling, medium-sized bush. The leaves are dark green, with a gray tint, smooth, medium in size. The stem is whitish, the inflorescences have a purple hue. Valued for its caramel-fruity aroma and high yield. This basil gives from 2,7 to 3,3 kg of green mass per square meter.
Red or Dark Opal
The Dark Opal variety was bred in the middle of the last century by American breeders. For some reason, it is called red in Our Country, although the leaves of this basil are actually purple. Due to its attractive appearance, it has been widely used not only in cooking, but also in landscape design. It blooms 40-45 days after the appearance of mass seedlings.
Basil Dark Opal grows to a height of 30-40 cm, can be used in pot culture. Distinguished by raised shoots and beautiful ovoid purple leaves and flowers. Gained popularity all over the world due to its rich peppery-clove aroma.
lemon miracle
The Lemon Miracle variety, created by Agrofirma Aelita LLC, was accepted by the State Register in 2014. A protective patent has been issued for this basil, which will be valid until 2044. It is recommended for cultivation in all regions.
The variety enters maturity 45-53 days after the emergence of mass seedlings. Forms a shrub of medium height with raised green leaves of medium size on a short petiole. The edge of the elliptical plate is slightly bubbled, the flowers are pink, the aroma is mint-lemon. Each plant weighs 300-320 g, per sq. m you can collect 2-2,3 kg of green mass.
Basil Globular Perfume
The unique strongly branching variety of basil Perfume forms a spherical bush with a diameter of 30-35 cm without pruning. It can decorate a French-style ornamental garden, planted in flower beds and as a border. Grown as a pot culture.
Of interest is not only the appearance of the basil, but also its aroma, which tasters rated as spicy-perfumery with hints of mulled wine. Leaves are very small and green. The variety is considered one of the best for flavoring olive oil.
Rose
The Dutch cultivar Rosie basil was entered into the State Register on the initiative of the originator, Enza Zaden’s seed campaign. Date of inclusion – 2010 Basil Rosie is recommended for cultivation throughout the Federation.
This vegetable variety reaches maturity 38 days after full emergence and is considered mid-early.
Rosie’s basil is medium tall, upright. Each rosette contains 4 medium-sized, epileptic-shaped blistered leaves, purple in color with darker flowers. Plants of this variety are one-dimensional, weighing 210 g, per sq. meters collect 2,2 kg of green mass.
Types of basil
In addition to various varieties of Fragrant Basil, which is commonly called Garden or Vegetable, two more types have become widespread in cooking – Tulsi and Evengol.
Holy Basil Tulasi
Basil Thin-flowered or Sacred is a separate species. In Ayurveda, it is one of the main medicinal plants. In Hinduism, the tulsi tree is an object of religious worship; it is considered the earthly incarnation (avatar) of the goddess Lakshmi. In Thailand, thinly colored basil is called kaphrao and is widely used in cooking.
From a biological point of view, tulsi is a perennial herbaceous shrub 30-60 cm high, which is easily distinguished from other types of basil by its pubescent leaves, petioles and stems. Within a taxon, there are two varieties:
- Shyama (Krishna) tulasi, which, in fact, is the object of worship of the Hindus, with stems and leaves of a lilac-purple color and pink flowers:
- Rama-tulasi with white flowers and green vegetative organs.
Leaves on short petioles in the form of an elongated oval in length reach 5 cm, with sparse teeth along the edge, completely covered with soft hairs. Two-lipped flowers are collected in false whorls. The taste of the leaves of this basil is reminiscent of cloves (spice).
In regions cooler than India, it is cultivated as an annual crop. It can be kept as a houseplant, the life of which is up to 5 years.
basil eugenolus
Eugenol Basil is also an independent species, even more heat-loving than Vegetable Basil. It is a herbaceous shrub with a pyramidal crown, branched, 0,7-1,5 m high. The stems and leaves are covered with hairs, among which a small part is glandular. Essential oils with a pronounced aroma of cloves flow through them.
The central stem, woody at the base, and the branches of eugenol basil have a tetrahedral section. Large, green, 10-15 cm long, oblong-ovate serrated leaves are arranged oppositely on petioles 4-5 cm long.
The branched, fibrous root reaches a length of 80 cm. The bell-shaped off-white flowers collected in whorls appear in August, by September the seeds are already ripening.
Eugenol basil is used in cooking due to its bitter taste and strong aroma of pepper and cloves. But the plant has found greater use in medicine and cosmetology, as it contains many essential oils.
Varieties of basil for the Middle lane
In fact, all the varieties of vegetable basil described above are grown in the middle lane. You can even not choose varieties in which less time passes from the moment of emergence of seedlings to the beginning of flowering. Basil does not bear fruit, or rather, its fruits are of no interest to gardeners, unless someone decided to stock up on their own seeds.
Young leaves and shoots are used for fresh consumption, freezing and canning, well-ripened green mass is cut at the very beginning of flowering for drying. So in the Middle lane you can harvest even late varieties if you grow them through seedlings.
In addition to those listed above, in the Middle lane and the Moscow region, you can grow varieties of vegetable basil:
- Tone;
- Aniskin;
- Velvet;
- The Dragon;
- Violet;
- Green fragrant;
- giant purple;
- Pepper flavor;
- and others.
Tulasi basil, like evengol, is less adapted to temperate climates than vegetable basil. But it is quite possible to grow them there.
Conclusion
Varieties of basil are diverse, numerous, and very different from each other in smell or appearance. They can decorate not only the table, but also the front garden, flower bed. If you grow basil through seedlings, then the crop can be harvested even in the northern regions.