Fresh basil

i can’t seem to find any basil in this city…I’ve gone to Costco, I’ve gone to the breeze center…I’m even thinking of going to bloody Italy to go snatch some myself (along with some good tomatoes, but that’s another story…)

any suggestions?

You won’t find Basil at Costco. Most Welcomes and vegetable sellers have it though.

wtf? every market has the damn stuff! they throw it in for free when you buy other veggies, it is overflowing in wellcome, costco…

i must not be looking around the right places…

i’ll keep looking - the wellcome near my apt, at least late at night, never seems to have any veggies

(or maybe what you think is basil isn’t really basil…)

If you want the sweeter western basil, you might be out of luck. However you can buy the whole plants cheaply at Chien Kuo flower market if you want to grow it.

bah - the difference between italian style basil and asian basil is miniscule. bloody artsy fartsy types. :wink:

Well forgive me for liking the sweet red basil in my garden. Take a trip to the flower market and you will discover there are numerous different “basils”, just as there are numerous different “mints” etc.

At the DIY shop they have a lot of seeds… you can grow your own basil on your window ledge, and just clip some as needed.

[quote=“embryopoet”]I must not be looking around the right places…

I’ll keep looking - the wellcome near my apt, at least late at night, never seems to have any veggies[/quote]

it’s called “jiu ceng ta” in Chinese. I’m with AWOL, it may not be exactly the same but it tastes damn good in the tomato sauce :slight_smile:

About growing your own basil… the ‘potting soil’ that is available at welcome and B&Q seems to be really poor grade fluffy stuff that I suspect is peat. Does anyone know where I can buy decent stuff?

I guess a good place to try would be the weekend flower market under Chienguo Bei Lu, if you’re near Shihlin there’s a big plant market on Wenlin North Rd. just a bit south of where it meets Chengde Rd. This is actually a nice place to walk around and check out all the plants if you’re in the area! It’s fairly spread out and green-feeling.

I was at the flower market and a pot of sweet basil goes for a 100NT a bit expensive!

But if you’re looking for killer heirloom tomatoes I can help you out. Theres a vendor near Ren Ai and Dun Hua (sorry for typos), I can show you where.

I don’t have access to fresh Bocconcini but i used Mozzarella to make a nice Tomatoe Salad. YUM!!

Anyone know where i can find some Dill and Greek Style Yogurt

You can usually get dill at the scruffy import shop opposite hollywood fitness at Chung(Zhong?) Shang North road. He does yogurt too. Be warned though he seems to sell dill by the basket full. I suppose you could freeze it but i never got around to it and ended up with a brown wattery mess. :blush:

[quote=“roseha”]

Anyone know where I can find some Dill and Greek Style Yogurt[/quote]

You can find dried dill floating around. I have some, but forget where I got it. Check out MAMI off Shida.
Greek yogurt from Mykanos Restaurant, Lishui St. They sell things of it to take out. Good stuff. You can also make your own.

Yep, the Tienmu Grocery! Walking down Chungshan past the American School on the corner of the first or second alley there’s an Italian specialty store that has some fresh herbs too. Down past the Subway you’ll come to the Wellman’s market that has yogurt and a bunch of canned/boxed stuff cheaper than the Tienmu Grocery.

Hey thats great to know!! Thanks :slight_smile:

I’ve often seen fresh herbs in various Wellcomes. Look for them in the same place they have the fresh coriander – sweet basil (seperate from the native stuff), rosemary, dillweed, mint, parsley, sometimes even oregano and marjoram. They’re in decent-sized packages so there’s not much waste and they do freeze very well if you turn your freezer to its coldest setting for 30 mins or so before you put the herbs in (don’t forget to turn your freezer setting back to normal once the herbs are frozen).
Stocking is patchy, though, and sometimes weeks go by with no sign of them.
Breeze also often has fresh herbs.

Yupie!!! I found basil at Wellcome!!! :smiley: :stuck_out_tongue: :sunglasses: :wink:

Basil getting fresh.