Basil

Wholesale Fresh Basil

Basil is the highest-volume culinary herb in American kitchens and the most temperature-sensitive item on a herb order. Everything about how it is bought, packed and stored comes back to one fact: basil is a tropical plant that treats a walk-in cooler as an injury.

Types We Supply

Sweet / Genovese basil — the standard for pesto, caprese, tomato sauce and pizza.
Thai basil — purple stems, anise-clove aroma, holds up to heat in pho, curries and stir-fry.
Opal basil — deep purple leaf used for color on plates, in vinegars and in cocktails.

Never Refrigerate Basil

Below roughly 50°F basil suffers chilling injury: the leaves blacken, first at the edges, then across the whole leaf, and the damage is irreversible. Hold basil at 50–55°F, stems in water if it arrives bunched, loosely covered, out of direct airflow. Kitchens that store basil next to lettuce lose most of it. Handled correctly it holds four to seven days; handled cold, it turns overnight.

Selection

Look for firm, upright stems and leaves with no black speckling on the underside — that is where chilling damage shows first. Flowering tops are a sign the crop was cut late; the leaf turns bitter and thin once the plant bolts.

In the Kitchen

Add basil at the end. Heat destroys the volatile oils that carry the aroma, which is why basil stirred into a sauce at service tastes like something and basil simmered for an hour tastes like grass. Tear rather than chop when possible; a dull knife bruises the leaf and turns cut edges black.

Nutrition

Basil provides vitamin K, vitamin A and manganese, and is fat free, cholesterol free and sodium free.

Order Basil Wholesale

Tell us your volume, pack and delivery city and we will confirm current availability, sizing and pricing. Reach our Miami or Los Angeles desk through the contact page. Packs, counts and origins change with the season, so ask our sales team for this week’s specs.