Food - Drink
The Easy Trick That Will Prevent Your Pesto From Turning Brown
By LAUREN ROTHMAN
Simple, easy to make, and packed with an herbaceously rich flavor, what’s not to love about pesto? Unfortunately, one of the drawbacks of this vibrant sauce is that when homemade its iconic green color can quickly turn brown, but luckily, there’s a quick and easy fix to avoid this problem.
Pesto turns brown because the delicate basil leaves that make up the sauce oxidize very easily, turning darker as they’re exposed to air. To avoid this, transfer your finished pesto to the smallest container it will fit in — to reduce exposure to air — and then pour a generous cap of olive oil over the top; the layer of fat will prevent any air from reaching the basil leaves.
Alternatively, if you don’t want to use up that much olive oil, you can blanch the basil leaves by quickly scalding them in boiling water before submerging them in an ice bath. The process of blanching the leaves deactivates the enzyme that causes them to oxidize when they’re exposed to air, making it well worth the extra effort.