Pesto alla Genovese is listed among Ligurian Traditional Food Products.

In recent years, the Italian people in general have mobilized, activating strong promotional campaigns for traditional Ligurian Pesto al Mortaio, including for it to be recognized as “intangible heritage of Unesco,” but precisely because of this massive participation, Heritage Unesco, the body whose task is to preserve traditions, customs and cultural heritages that are at risk, has chosen another of our typical Ligurian sauces: walnut sauce. The explanatory statement reads precisely that Pesto is already a globally recognized treasure, while walnut sauce is in danger of disappearing.

In one of the next articles on this blog we will talk about walnut sauce, which we love so much and produce in our workshop.

Instead, today we would like to tell some small trivia about the history of Pesto alla Genovese, which seems to have no very ancient origins.

Pesto alla Genovese dates back to the first half of the 19th century, first mentioned by Giovanni Battista Ratto in his book “La cuciniera genovese” published by the Pagano brothers in Genoa, and later by Emanuele Rossi in “La vera cuciniera genovese facile ed economica ossia Maniera di preparare e cuocere ogni genere di vivande.” In 1910 Emerico Romano Calvetti summarized the two works into one, giving his own version of Pesto, calling it “battuta” or “savore d’aglio.” That’s right: in fact, it seems, from extensive research, that pesto derives from aggiadda (agliata), a very ancient sauce made from garlic pestoed with vinegar, olive oil and salt.

Ligurian gastronomy is characterized by fish and herbs, which were already used by Ligurians in the Middle Ages, at the time of the Maritime Republics. At that time, the use of spices was reserved for the wealthy Genoese, while poor people to flavor soups used herbs, which in Liguria have also always sprung up spontaneously. Of necessity virtue, as they say, because although they did not yet know their merits, they continued to use them in cooking. Genovese basil is precisely one of these aromatic herbs, which in Liguria has an exclusive aroma thanks to the special and favorable climatic conditions, and was used for the sauce that for decades now has been counted among the most well-known and appreciated condiments in the world.

To conclude, we would like to give a brief mention of the famous legend about the birth of Pesto alla Genovese, which tells of a monk who lived in a convent on the heights of Prà (Genoa) named after St. Basil, who gathered the aromatic herb that grew on those heights, called “basilium “in honor of St. Basil, combined it with a few other ingredients brought as offerings by the faithful, and, crushing it all together, obtained the first pesto, which over time was perfected until it became the precious sauce it is today.

In our laboratory, we make pesto alla Genovese daily with love and passion, for the highest quality product that you can also buy in our ecommerce www.pestofresco.eu