You know that *amazing* smell when you open a jar of pesto? I always thought it was dependent on the cheese or the pine nuts. Turns out it’s not! . This is lacto-fermenting basil. A nudge from @savage.craic gave me the impetus to use our crazily-growing back yard basil this way. I added 3% salt and pounded (actually, I should say my son Gabriel did the pounding – check out my story today if you want a smile :-)). . The brown liquid on the top doesn’t look particularly nice, but when I open the jar (which I topped with a small layer of olive oil) it smells like the most heavenly pesto your nose has ever sniffed. No cheese, no nuts…it’s just basil, salt and oil. . Now I want to grow even more basil next year just to get to sniff this (and I haven’t even tasted it yet!)