African Blue Basil

African Blue Basil
Ocimum basilicum

days to maturity:
plant spacing: 1 plant every 2 feet
sunlight requirements: 8-14 hours
look out for: aphids, leaf miners
harvest notes: harvest frequently to keep flush green growth
perennial

African blue basil is by far our favorite basil variety to grow down here in hot, humid Tropical South Florida. The flavor of this basil is most similar to Thai Basil, but it has its own unique flavor profile with typical basil characteristics. You definitely wont be making pesto out of this herb but you can use it in Thai cooking, make an anise-flavored tea out of it, plus its great for herbal steams, potpourri, burn bundles and it has lots of medical uses. Even if you plant this and don’t eat up loving the flavor in your cooking you wont regret having it around as it literally comes alive with pollinators when in full bloom. Flowering branches also great make material for floral arrangements, since they will stay fresh for a long time and the leaves have a purplish tint to them. 

Medicinally, it’s a powerful carminative that will aid in the digestive process, plus its antibacterial, anti fungal and has high levels of antioxidants. Also very rich in essential oils, like eugenol, citriol and limalool. Our favorite tropical herbalist, The Garden Jules, says: “this is one of my favorite herbs to infuse in oil along with garlic and rosemary for cooking or to infuse in distilled white vinegar along with lemongrass as a house cleaner spray. The rich essential oil content makes this herb great as a natural insect repellant as well. I love to make Hydrosols and tincture it in organic witch hazel and then blend the two together for a natural mosquito spray.  You can simply burn the dried leaves and stalks to keep mosquitos away too. Also helpful for toothaches and hair growth, the leaves and flowers can be made into a strong infusion and then used as a mouth wash or hair rinse respectively.”

African Blue Basil is a very unique variety of basil bred by botanists to bear no seeds, bypassing the plants instinct to reproduce and die. Basil is notorious for going to seed quickly (bolting) and usually has to be replanted for continuous harvest. But African Blue Basil grows year round! It does produce prolific and beautiful, edible, dark purple flowers, but it will outgrow them and branch out into new shoots. Because it doesn’t go to seed this basil can get big, measuring in at 4 feet around when unmanaged. We’ve noticed this plant responds very well to hard pruning, keeping it full of fresh new growth and preventing it from falling over and becoming a monstrous messy plant.