Genovese basil all the way!! It is hands down the most aromatic, flavorful basil i have ever tasted.

I like all herbs and spices, the ones I use the most are cumin, the devil with it all of the ones listed above are good to me.
My brother on the other hand is just a salt and grease kind of guy and he is paying for it too.
When I was a little kid, 10 or 11 my mom would give me money to get her a mother’s day gift.
I would always buy her one of those spice racks with all of the spices and herbs in it.

As a child I spent as much time in the kitchen learning how to cook as I did feeding cows and hunting, fishing and gardening.
Most boys didn’t do this when I grew up.

She even let me invite the whole church congregation and neighborhood over so I could cook for them when I was 12 or so.
There must have been about 75 folks show up, I worked my tail off that night.

But back to herbs, I never met an herb I didn’t like.

I just planted a flat of 32 cells of basil this morning. Gigante Genovese (16 cells), Violetta (8 cells), Minette, a type of small-leafed bush basil (4 cells), and Thai Basil (4 cells). Everyone in this forum is here because they love tomatoes so it's natural that basil is way up on our favourites among the herbs. I freeze pesto from the Genovese basil in ice cube trays and then pop out into freezer bags. That works really well. Nothing beats the purple basil for sheer beauty in a summer salad and the Minette is great on pizzas. I've tried growing other herbs from seed with disappointing results for the most part. We have a light set-up this year, however, so I might just jump back on that horse. Next in line from the sheer amounts used in our household would be Italian flat-leaf parsley, cilantro for the liters of salsa we put up, oregano for pasta sauces, rosemary for barbequing, especially lamb, summer savoury for beans, thyme and tarragon for frittatas, and sage for roasted poultry. What I usually do is get a few pots of hard-to-grow-from-seed things like rosemary, sage, thyme, and tarragon and put those things in an elongated window box planter right outside the front door so I can dash outside in my pjs to pick some herbs for breakfast. The ones we use a ton of like the basils, oregano, cilantro, and parsley go into the garden, tucked in between other plants.

We also have some mints in a separate bed where they can be as invasive as they want to be: Peppermint, Spearmint, Ginger Mint, Catnip, and Lemon Balm. They come back every year so I don't really count them. Lavender was planted out in the front yard this year and I didn't pull it up in Fall. We'll see if it survives.

Other basils I wouldn't mind growing would be purple ruffles (hard to find seed) and a serrated leaf green one. They look pretty to me and hopefully taste very good as well.

[b]Basil [/b]

[i]Have grown lots of varieties.. prefer Genovese[/i]

[b]Mexican Oregano[/b] (Lipea graveolins)

[b]Sage[/b]

[i] If only to throw on the hot grill now and then to impress the neighbors[/i]

[b]Thyme[/b]

[b]Rosemary[/b] (Arp variety)

[i] Poke the denuded stems into a pork tenderloin on the rotisserie for delicious flavor. Blend the chopped needles and an habanero into Smucker's plum jam + a little wine for an unbelievable sauce for the tenderloin.[/i]

[b]Bay Laurel[/b]


jt

Let's see thyme is what we use the most of because we have a very good potato/garlic/thyme recipe that we make.
Next would be basil but for some reason mine won't germinate this year even though it is fresh seed :( . My son loves garlic basil bread.
Then Parsley Di Gigante, never seen such a big parsley. Love it use it in everything.
Sage for everything chicken.
Lemon Balm because it wouldn't all go away when I pulled it up and I have now learned how to make lemon balm bread so glad it is still here.
Chinese celery- love the taste
Stevia-never use it but it comes back every year so I trade the seeds for stuff I really want.
Startig some oregano and sweet aztec herb this year too.
Have grown lots of others and have chocolate and lime mint spreading out of control but don't use it for much yet.