@@nateman10 Very true. Or the ingredients/parts are made by slave labor in China. A few years ago I made up my mind to not buy anything from China. But it’s impossible to find out sourcing. Even things “made in the USA are made with components made in China. It usually isn’t quality stuff. Very discouraging.
@@Mrs.TJTaylor There's a lot of high quality stuff made in China, or where parts are made in China. Yes, they also make cheaper stuff, but the labor force has become considerably more specialized and well-trained in recent years. It really isn't the go-to place for cheap labor anymore. Nearby Vietnam, for example, is significantly less expensive. As for products, look at Apple - while I have always been a Windows/Google over Mac person, their hardware has a stellar reputation, and their stuff is (or at least was) largely manufactured in China. If you want to avoid it for moral reasons, I'm with you, although it is effectively impossible to avoid products that aren't at least partially sourced in China, unless you want to live a very agrarian lifestyle.
@@nateman10 Yes mate, the Chinese economy was run on slaves, that is how they will soon become the largest economy... Just how brainwashed can you be lol
@@Mrs.TJTaylor Yes mate, the Chinese economy was run on slaves, that is how they will soon become the largest economy... Just how brainwashed can you be lol
If they read the ingredient list, would have saved a trip to Italy! (Edit) OK, this comment semi-blew up. Seems like lots replying didn't get the joke lol.
@TsLeng Joke or not, it's still true. And I still suspect that the pesto company payed for this, since the framing was very positive. It's basically a sophistiacted commercial. And I am not joking...
The water you saved after squeezing out the basil can be used for adjusting the consistency of the pesto if you find it to be a little thick. Make sure you heavily incorporate it into the emulsion after adding.
What people don't realize is that "pesto" is just an Italian word for a pounded sauce made in a mortar and pestle (hint: pestle and pesto have the same root). Pesto Genovese is the kind that is known ubiquitously in English as "pesto", but swapping some other herb for basil or swapping a different kind of nut in doesn't make it not pesto any more than swapping goat milk for cow milk makes something not cheese. It just makes it a different kind of pesto.
@@OrangeFluffyCat Absolutely! I also have done it with cilantro and almonds, parsley and walnuts, whatever you've got. I do think you do get a superior flavour from a mortar and pestle as you do from a blender, though, making it a "true" pesto in that sense. But of course nothing is stopping you from using a blender in your own home. You can check out Kenji's video about pesto if you want an explanation of why m&p does tend to make a better-tasting pesto than a blender or food processor.
To be honest, the reason was obvious to me; just read the ingredient label of your cheap pesto and you'd know. However, seeing the actual menufacturing process and the reasoning behind the substitutions was informative. I buy cheap pesto at the grocery store. It's convenient and lasts a long time in the fridge. But sometimes I make it myself, using a few similar swaps of my own (the nuts and cheese). I don't think there's a wrong way to make pesto if it tastes good!
Exactly - this is really the point of the video. He could have just done the research and answered it in 60 seconds if he wanted. But we get to see and hear from people involved in different processes!
@@Rainersherwood I wouldn;t call that pesto, but I agree in principle. Any jar of stuff is never going to be as good as the real thing, but if you want to make your own pesto go ahead with your own budget, but my advice would be to not skimp on one item. Gran Padano is as good as Reggiano in a sauce, so go for that. Supermarket basil is all you're ever going to find unless you grow your own. The pine nuts you find will probably be Chinese. So with all that use a good olive oil, and hope as the lady says that it will overwhelm the flavour of the sauce.
I make pesto but not with pine nuts. Toasted walnuts work just fine. Plus, I grow my own basil. Pesto can be frozen also, just add a little lemon juice. We freeze it in silicone ice trays. We enjoy it all winter.
I also make it with walnuts, because I like the taste better. I also split the oil between olive and sunflower. Sunflower oil is very healthy when not heated to high temperatures, so it’s a good way to tame a strong olive oil.
same here, I grow my basil and make pesto at home, i normally make some with basil and some with nasturtium leaves, the nasturtium version have a more peppery flavor and it works very well for pesto, you should try.
@David Szakacs The lemon juice is not necessary to preserve your pesto: just put your pesto in the usal container and push it well so all the excess air goes out, flatten it out and add a little bit of olive oil in order to cover the top and it prevents it from oxidating. I normaly use really small and narrow plastic cups with a lid so a tea spoon of oil's enough and you can pile them one over the other so it doesn't take much space in freezer. As a matter a fact, you can even preserve like this fresh made pesto in the refrigerator for a couple of days. At least, that's how italians do.
One of the reasons that cashew nut is so expensive is that it needs to be removed from the cashew apple by hand. Machines can be used to remove the nut, however they usually break the cashew nut into smaller pieces which are not an A+ product, therefore sell for a lower price.
Well, cheaper than pine nuts. Not the cheapest nut, but it's mild flavour and richness make it a good substitute. Like using sunflower oil blended with olive oil, cashews won't overwhelm other flavours, like walnuts for example. And, as someone mentioned, they're sold in grades. Whole nuts, half nuts, or pieces. Raw, blanched, or roasted. Whole, raw cashews are at the top. Cheaper cashews are available.
Costco has a great deal on Chinese pine nuts. It's gone up recently, but at $22 / lb it is still a bargain. The Italian nuts are more expensive because they "taste better." I'm not convinced.
When you study Economics you learn about Economy of Scale. The manufacturers are buying basil by the ton while you buy it by the ounce. They get a much better price. Also the grocers that are selling fresh basil have to consider that much of it will spoil before they can sell it so they have to sell it for a much higher price.
@@bluekitty3731 not really. Because there are also diseconomies of scale. Meaning producing more becomes disproportionately more expensive. Basicaly relative costs depends on the product.
I'm italian and i've tried all kinds of pesto, even my grandma grows his own basil to make it. Saclá is not one of my favorite but there are still some bottled pesto that are quite good, usually tho they are find in fridges and not in bottles or jars. Even if its not the traditional pesto, it is still good or they would not sell. (So many italian people did not even try traditional pesto or do not like it for it's strong taste)
I worked for a high-end catering outfit for almost 20 years, and made a lot of pesto. We used a mix of 2/3 basil and 1/3 fresh spinach leaves, only EVOO (though probably not the best stuff), good cheese, but no nuts. The reason we eliminated the nuts was because pesto does not LOOK like it has nuts in it, and several times, we had people with nut allergies grab some toasted rounds of French Bread with Pesto on it. After one guy went to the hospital, we decided no more nuts. But we got rave reviews for our pesto.
Aren't you obligated by law to specify X ailment contains nuts in restaurants? I remember at least, it being commonly done oversea, even if in italy it's not done all that often.
@@iota-09 yea but it doesn’t mean people read it. And say someone ordered appetizers and the person with the allergy wasn’t looking at the apps menu beforehand.
@@Dolo888 yes it can feel bad to have someone have to go to the hospital because they went into anaphylactic shock or just had a bad reaction to eating where you work but if you have the proper signage it's not really your problem at the point
I love how she keeps trying to explain how the sub ingredients make the “taste” somehow better, whilst he meanwhile is like, “NOPE, it’s because it’s cheaper, right?” LMBO!
The right cheap ingredients in the hands of a good chef can be amazing. Great ingredients can be ruined by bad technique. I think a factory with a team of food scientists and chemists who can control every single variable of the process, combined with bulk buying and years of recipe experimentation will take you further than a lot of the homemade pesto.
I did a very brief stint working for a similar company, we took calls from a million different places but one of them was the customer service number for the Soreen loaf (sold in the UK, not sure what it would be called anywhere else), we rarely got phone calls but when we did it was mainly from older customers asking about a recipe change or some rando complaining who would just get sent some vouchers.
@@ruth4492 I've only called up one of those lines once. As what i purchased tasted burnt. Other people that tried it thought the same. So I gave the batch numbers etc. They were very quick to offer a voucher worth about double the cost of the item. I think they knew they had messed up that batch already. Funnily the colour and texture were not affected somehow.
I worked in a place packaging pesto among other things. The boss told me we don't use any cheese because people are allergic to dairy and if we did add it they would buy it anyway and since they are idiots they would complain. If we used nuts same story. They would have a reaction after buying it even though it would say on the label and after they would sue. So no cheese or nuts. Cost cut. Next was mostly canola oil with a splash of olive. He challenged me to find a way to make it cheeper but better. We had Kale on stock so I cut back on the basil and added kale also adding back a nutty flavour. Something like 50/50 basil to kale. I saved him more money on just the pesto production than was my paycheck. When I saw him calculate the savings with excitement and not offer me a raise I knew what I was doing. I prefer to work with good food so after 5 years and no raise there I quit. He would call me back every couple years offering maybe a dollar raise. I was like nope. I'll earn more unemployed
You can use walnuts or no nuts at all, some one posted what they use in the restaurant they work at, and I will be trying that, mostly canola oil, splash of olive oil, and basil. She also said 50/50 kale and basil will give a nutty flavor.
@@sheilawilson6809 yes that's more of a viable option when you have a thin money bag. Personally I rarely use parmesian as there isn't so much in my house. Same goes for basil I use any kind of flavory leaf to replace it : last time I did pesto it wa with carrot leaves. For the nuts as you said you can replace pine nuts with almonds. I think all things considered pesto is quite flexible in terms of ingredients so long as you stay with the general formula (leaf + oil + nut + salt or salty cheese)
When you’re buying ingredients in mass bulk like a business would directly from a distributor, you get the very base prices that are way cheaper than you’d get in a grocery store.
@@Humungojerry the "real thing" is subjective, but sure. It's not just ingredients, but method and time that result in a different flavour; it's just not possible to buy a jar of pesto at that price and have it be that fresh and made with the best ingredients. Buuuuuut... jarred pesto is the "real thing" of sauces-called-pesto-that-are-packed-in jars, so your point is moot.
I wonder if the women being interviewed knew that the questions and conversations were aimed to focus on less expensive ingredients. She probably thought it was just an innocent tour on how to make pesto
I don't think it's really a secret that they use cheaper alternative in order to lower costs. They weren't saying the product was subpar, so there was no reason for her to be defensive. She even said that the more expensive, locally grown ingredients were for a different 'artisanal' product.
From the way she was talking I think she wanted to show while on a budget they are still using decent and natural ingredients, this is actually good PR for them, at least in italy suspicion would be they use almost rotting basel, palma oil and chemicals to stabilize the flavour.
Yeah from what I can gather food is very central in Italian culture, and doing it properly is also very central so even the boss of the company will know what he’s doing and be happy with the way it’s presented.
It is true . I make my own pesto without any compromise on the cost but you should not use only extra virgin olive oil as it is too strong and will hide the taste of the other ingredients . Use a good olive oil but not the extra virgin one , keep it to brush some baguette brushed with garlic .
@Riviera Barocca All the extra virgin olive oil have the same criteria (unrefined , cold pressed less than 48 hrs after being picked , less than 1% of oleic acid ) so they are much stronger in taste than the other types of olive oil . Look at it as a fruit , the extra olive oil will be the freshly squeezed juice and the other made from concentrate .
@Riviera Barocca It is just different grades . On the lowest grade you are also allowed to mix the olive oil with other olive oil but you can only sell it as olive oil , not extra virgin or virgin olive oil . This is for example the one used for preserved vegetables (ie sun dried tomatoes , eggplants , peppers etc....) as it is not strong it did not cover the taste of the vegetable.
@@PLF... it's an acquired taste. I love bitter olive oil. Also, the bitterness comes from the phenol compounds, i.e. the antioxidants which make olive oil healthy.
@@PLF... Fresh cold pressed extra virgin oil is so good, it smells and tastes like green olives, which is a very interesting flavor. It is expensive and hard to find a brand that makes good ones, but it last long enough to be worth the cost.
Still tastes good. In this case i don't actually mind that they use some ingredients to stretch the otherwise very expensive product. Cashews and the less aged cheeses still are excelent products in their own right.
Honestly, while it tastes good, it's very different from the original. It is essentially a cheese sauce, while real pesto is basically an emultion with basil and olive oil, the other ingredients being used in very small amounts.
@@federicoclaps5099 There is no question that the best results in terms of authenticity you get with fresh ingredients and the original recipy. I still stand by my point though. The product they sell is tasty and affordable. I think in terms of protected regional products a case could maybe made that it should not be called Pesto. That might be tricky though looking at the translation of Pesto which describes a sauce with crushed ingrediences which seems a rather general term.
@@CS-sj9kr Cheers :) i put it on the wishlist. Full Throttle just has this rough humor i quite enjoy and Ben is a character to behold. Well i was a bit younger when it came out and played it first time, but when the remastered edition came out on steam i couldn't resist and it still holds the test of time.
Présenter: So, you use cashews because they're cheaper? Company representative: The pine nuts are for flavour, cashew nuts, they're for the crunch. Presenter: But pine nuts, they're very expensive... Company representative: Well, the cashew nuts nuts also help... to control that...
@@benmcnutt223 yeah but pine nuts are like the filet of nuts. They’re harder to produce. Where I live they’re around $24 a pound. They’re usually about double the price of your average nuts.
Made some pesto last night! $10 for the good cheese, $4 for the basil plant, $4 for the pine nuts, and 50 cents for the garlic. Almost $20 worth of ingredients and it made just enough for 1 package of gnocchi. Huge difference in flavor though
Per forza costa cosi’ tanto se lo raccolgono in quella maniera li capisco benissimo , comunque con due cucchiai di pesto originale ci condisci tre piatti di linguine!! O trofie ancora meglio
Nothing wrong with a grana padano, its a quality cheese, pecorino is also fine But diluting it with cashews and sunflower oil would make my nonna cry, you can make weaker pesto without cashews! Honestly there has to be a better nut to weaken the flavour with
I like to make make pesto with the kernel of the sunflower seed, I toast them in a pan that I have wiped with a thin layer of oil on. I can't say for sure how close the taste is to pine nuts but it is still delicious and brings down the cost of the ingredients significantly. Another bonus is that you can serve it to people with nut allergies.
@@DLORD3000 I don't know of having a nut alergy, I love mixed nuts, but...every time I eat something with sunflower seeds in it...I get a mild reaction. go me, eh? otherwise, yeah, pine nuts are nice, but spendy, for sure.
All Italians make pesto at home and when they don't have the right ingredient, they use alternatives like almonds or walnuts, other basil, also a smashed little potato... at home sometimes alternative solutions are even appreciated, as long as it is pasta (I say thick spaghetti), virgin olive oil and cooked "al dente" which is vital.
@@didijoon I'm a levantine... Italian, Greek, Armenian, born in Egypt, grew in Sudan and lived 27 years everywhere... now I live in Rome... I need more space to describe this.
@@eugeniadandrea Sorry for you, I'm 67 years old and I have a different perception - the Italian community abroad seems to be so proud of the so called Mediterranean cuisine - don't get me wrong, I wouldn't be surprised if they lied. However, it doesn't mean that this basil paste is always home made but that it is easy to do and find.
I like this video. It showcases the traditional, expensive, artisanal, hand-picked way to make pesto but also appreciates the cheaper, mass-produced, widely available way as well.
@@fingerstyledojo thats literally what i thought. The Barilla Pesto Genovese is the Go-to but it's like 3-3,50€, while this Lad is going on about how ist only Like £2 in the UK
@@MrDeutschGerman As a Italian i actually hate the Barilla one. When I want it and want it cheap I buy the star/tiguglio one. Is A LITTLE more expensive (like 1,2€vs1,7€ when on discount ) but is way better
@@bobbiusshadow6985 It's going to depend a lot on local climate. Also, many people aren't lucky enough to have outside spaces to grown plants, and anything grown indoors needs different levels of attention
In Saudi Arabia, basil is considered a weed. When all the university instructors realized that basil was growing wild all over the campus, it was pesto heaven. Mama mia
-Basil costs nothing, i grow it myself, it’s the easiest thing to grow. (Buy it from shops during winter time) -Switch to different types of nuts for the sake of experimenting and changing. -Garlic has literally no cost. -Olive oil for the amount you use does not get that expensive. -Parmigiano/Pecorino is literally the only “expensive” thing in a pesto. Why would it be expensive to make it yourself? I prep my pesto every weekend :)
Well not every country/region has similar prices. Cities for example are more expensive. More developed regions are also more expensive compared to less developed ones
@@lerevivaliste You mean those poor folks who don't get....sunlight? Basil will grow easily in the same temperature range people generally keep their homes. Even if you cannot keep your home at the ideal temperature range, indoor greenhouses can be made for next to nothing using easy to obtain materials. Growing basil (and many other things) is not a luxury. It does require effort though. It's the effort that keeps people back. And excuses.
We make the bulk of our homemade pesto with cilantro. I harvest about two bushels each summer from the garden and spend a few days putting it up in various ways. Oh so good.
@@kaelthunderhoof5619 Probably not enough light. I don't have any space for natural sunlight, so every time I try to grow things, they become top-heavy, because evolution has told the plants that if it's dark, maybe there's a bush in the way or something, so they need to grow taller to find the sunlight.
Basil is pretty cheap in italy, and parmesan it's manageable, pine nuts are used sparingly, while oil is just simply so used in italy that even with the price we don't complain... It's interesting to see how oversea every single one of these ingredients is considered extremely pricey.
@@iota-09 I'm in America in New York and even as expensive as New York is, I can still afford to make pesto! Especially if you grow your own basil right outside the windowsill
Genovese here, there's a variation few people know outside Liguria, not even all Ligurian do that, and some consider it heresy, it works only with fresh pesto, not the store bought stuff, add some butter in the pest before you add the pasta. The most traditional way to serve it is to boil some chopped potatoes and green beans with the pasta, it brings it to a whole new level.
I'm a Ligurian and I'm just here to say belin grow your own basil at home and spend 5 minutes making it in a blender if can't do the mortar. The Saclà version feels to me like a pickled Full English. Like, an unholy creation!
keep doing what ur doing!! i love these videos!! as more people discover this channel they will too. who doesnt love learning about the stuff we eat all the time in such a cool manner w travel and meeting w the actual producers. cool stuff
How come basil is expensive in England? Basil is really easy to grow in my experience: you buy a little branch (fresh), take off most leaves (not all of them, leave a few), put the branch in some water (exchanging the water every day) and, in a few days, it will sprout roots, then you just plant it in a vase. That's it, you get a supply of basil from one branch. Ps.: 1)Untill it sprouts its own roots, the basil twig will live off of only water, which doesn't have much nutrients. So you take off most of the leaves so that branch won't have many parts to mantain and thus need fewer nutrients. That way it won't simply spoil on water. It still needs leaves for photosynthesis, so don't forget to leave a few good ones. 2)When you put the branch in water, try to put just a lit bit of the bottom in the water and the rest of it keep it above the water level. If too much of it is kept under water, it will produce too many roots and make it difficult to plant later - although it isn't much of a problem. 3)I live in a warm climate, even warmer than Italy, so I don't know if that would be a problem for the brittish. I figure that if you keep it in a vase indoors where's there's enough heat and sunlight it should be fine, but I'm hardly a botanist nor a farmer, what do I know? 4)Nowadays I plant basil in a very small vase. A bigger vase would yield a very big basil plant, and I don't need that much (it's just a condiment, not a food per se). 5)I just water the plant. No special treatment, no fertilizer... Maybe the dirt I got here is really good, I don't know. Again, not a botanist, not a farmer.
You can grow it in English gardens, but not always with great success. All my plants failed last summer even in a greenhouse because we had a cool, cloudy summer which is no good for basil. You're right, there's the option to grow inside but again, unless you've got grow lights there just might not be enough sun on a windowsill, plus it takes a lot of basil to make any decent amount of pesto, more than I could grow inside my one South facing window. It's just not the right climate, at least here in the North, but we keep trying, some years are better than others and I've frozen bags of it at times. We can buy it fresh in most supermarkets and its not that expensive if you just need a little for garnish. It is expensive to make your own pesto but the taste is far superior to supermarket jars which, of course, is the same for many foods.
1:00 open differentials are pathetic. For those not verse in diffs: Open: Power is sent to the wheels with the least resistance (grip) but what it lacks in performance it makes up for in stability. Locked: Can't turn to save its life, but power is sent evenly to both wheels at all times. Limited Slip Differential: Power is sent to the wheel that has the most grip and is the best solution to the differential problem.
Indeed. I can't think of another country which doesn't love pesto. Perhaps the unique British quality is that we even stopped to consider other countries at all. Sigh.
It was on British TV so of course they mentioned that. They also mention that it can be enjoyed and loved around the world. If it were a french programme, it would be weird to specifically mention British love it, but not weird to mention French people love pesto. Same logic here, it’s a technique to relate to the audience and draw them in. Nothing more. You need to stop reading into things too much
Wow. You just reinvented the whell. Who would have thought that they put cheap, mass produced ingredients into a supermarket pesto? Thank you for opening up my eyes, I wouldn't have figured it out without you.
I never got a pre- packaged pesto that was better than I can make myself. Sometimes I use walnuts instead of pine nuts to cut costs and it’s still very delicious, albeit untraditional.
I learned to make pesto this past summer and I had no idea it would be so delicious. I used up the rest of the basil I was growing in my garden, but since it wasn’t quite enough, I put in a bunch of parsley which was still in abundance. Someone else has mentioned using baby spinach too, so I will try that if my basil plant is too sparse. I also used walnuts, which I prefer to pine nuts. I found the rest of it in my freezer last week and it was still excellent simply dressing some pasta.
Yep. Has a weird sort of bitter/astringent aftertaste, no aroma and leaves a film on your tongue. If you’re using it to mix with something else to make a dip or something it’s fine but to use it as the main ingredient is not much better than eating freezer meals.
It's mostly just the scale I am guessing. When you can buy tons of ingredients and make tons of product all at once it really gets the costs down. Cashews aren't all that cheap either, but as you may have seen the basil wasn't prepared very well, the stems were still present and you have probably noticed the strings of stem In your store bought jars of pesto.
The real story is what happened to the host's intended clothes for the meeting. not to say the wrinkled T-shirt and cagro shirts were not looking FRESH AF
So the answer is: cheap basil (difference in quality perhaps), use cashew nuts, and sunflower oil (both cheaper). Also, grocery stores increase costs dramatically and tend to overcharge on fresh produce & herbs ( last remark is my personal opinion)
I don't think they're overcharging all that much on fresh herbs and stuff, it's just kind of difficult to transport. Can't really just have it stacked on a palette like boxes of milk or something
quality, potentially, but it's more likely that the mechanisation of the process, eliminating the need for humans except to control the machines, is going to lower the cost. also, if you buy basil in grocery stores, you're not going to pick a bunch that has even a little wilting. the wilting barely matters at all for the taste though, so this place can use all of it.
Basil is easy to grow, I use the square foot garden. I have 4 x 4 ft beds raised 2 feet high. The compost is rabbit chicken and goat poo. The earthworms help break it down. And we have long freezing winters. Unfortunately, the goats won't eat it, (it grows well enough I considered it as a feed).
1 butternut squash or equivalent amount of pumpkin cut into small cubes. Mix in a baking dish with bread crumbs, parmesan, salt, pepper, and just enough olive oil to make everything stick. Toss. In another baking dish, do the same, but instead of squash or pumpkin, use around a pound (half kilo) of sliced mushrooms. Roast in convection oven at 425 degrees F until browned. Toss with pasta (whole box) and pesto in a pot. Use pasta water to dissolve/dislodge the fond at the bottom of the roasting pans and add to pot.
It would have been nice to have a comparison between the expensive original recipe pesto and the cheaper ingredients version - in a blind test with street people around the world.
I love how he coaxed the truth out of her as she was feeding in the line of "improves the taste" he was like "it keeps cost down" now this is a great journalist.
In California, you buy giant bags of Basil at farmer's markets for nothing. My girlfriend was in italy, and brought a giant wedge Romano cheese in the airport, and carried it home on her lap. I've never seen Pine nuts cheap. If all of us could buy directly from famers, and paid twice the price industry buys at, food would be near free, and the farmers would double their income.
One point is that if we all braught from the farmer they would spend more time dealing with individuals rather than one or 2 big companies so they would have to take that cost and probably have to hire staff but I agree it would be cheaper.
No, this is a thorough misunderstanding of food production, supply chains and costs. Food has never been this cheap for the consumer. We may be plundering the earth and mortgaging our future for it, but food is cheap.
@Daan Made in Holland Not nearly as much as it would cost without plundering the earth, Daan. Without irreplaceable fertilizer, without huge amounts of energy and unsustainably large amounts of water, yields would crater.
And of course use pestle and mortar when making pesto at home, the outcome is really different! 😊 the blender is unsuitable for this job and half of the flavor is lost.
@@TenOrbital Isn't that just a matter of blending more? I mean, it wouldn't liquefy unless blending also pulverized the cell walls. Also, I'm not convinced that you need to pulverize the cell walls to have a flavorful dish. I could roughly chop garlic and basil, gently mix it with some olive oil, salt, and cheese, and it would still be extremely flavorful, especially since chewing is essentially pulverizing the food in your mouth. I'm pretty sure it's just a difference of texture, but I could be wrong.
@@lucasfabisiak9586 - Lucas I’m sure the difference is marginal, I do it both ways. But the purists insist on mortar and pestle. Last time I made it I used a hand blender.
If cashews are a lower cost substitution you are talking about a high quality product. Also, basil grows like a weed in nice weather. I bought a few small basil plants last summer and they grew faster than I could cook with them (and pesto takes a LOT of basil). The pine nuts are the tricky part cost wise. I may try subbing in other high quality nuts next summer!
@@andrij1848 this is worse. All your joints on the hardwood too. I know the guy had 1 pillow for himself but that’s not enough. Your body would be pretty badly affected if you did this 8 hours a day for a long time.
While I love parmesan, I prefer pecorino. It's has, in my mind, a nicer, nuttier taste. So I'm not mad. I also use pecorino cheese in homemade pesto, as I always have it, unlike parmesan.
I tried making my own once. Cost me a fortune but boy was it worth it! Pine nuts - £6 for 150g Oil EVO - £8/litre Basil £3 for two small trees Parmigiano £3 for 150g Garlic and sea salt flakes
My family has been making our own pesto for years, with all the best ingredients. Protip: Best made with purple basil. We're not even Italian, just regular Canadian folks.
I was never a great fan of pesto until a purchased a jar of artisanal pesto from Genoa. It was absolutely amazing. Fortunately my local Italian deli stocks a very similar pesto which is so much better than those you can get in the supermarket. But yes, it comes with a bigger price tag.
So, cheaper ingredients. Who’d a thought?
@@nateman10 Very true. Or the ingredients/parts are made by slave labor in China. A few years ago I made up my mind to not buy anything from China. But it’s impossible to find out sourcing. Even things “made in the USA are made with components made in China. It usually isn’t quality stuff. Very discouraging.
@@Mrs.TJTaylor There's a lot of high quality stuff made in China, or where parts are made in China. Yes, they also make cheaper stuff, but the labor force has become considerably more specialized and well-trained in recent years. It really isn't the go-to place for cheap labor anymore. Nearby Vietnam, for example, is significantly less expensive. As for products, look at Apple - while I have always been a Windows/Google over Mac person, their hardware has a stellar reputation, and their stuff is (or at least was) largely manufactured in China.
If you want to avoid it for moral reasons, I'm with you, although it is effectively impossible to avoid products that aren't at least partially sourced in China, unless you want to live a very agrarian lifestyle.
@@nateman10 Yes mate, the Chinese economy was run on slaves, that is how they will soon become the largest economy... Just how brainwashed can you be lol
@@Mrs.TJTaylor Yes mate, the Chinese economy was run on slaves, that is how they will soon become the largest economy... Just how brainwashed can you be lol
@@mattschemmer3091 Ironically, Vietnamese made stuff is higher quality even if they are cheaper.
If they read the ingredient list, would have saved a trip to Italy!
(Edit) OK, this comment semi-blew up. Seems like lots replying didn't get the joke lol.
True, but I think the trip was payed for by the pesto company...
@@blanktfolkeparti9903 probably producers and I was joking!
@TsLeng Joke or not, it's still true. And I still suspect that the pesto company payed for this, since the framing was very positive. It's basically a sophistiacted commercial. And I am not joking...
Why read the label when you go to Italy.
The water you saved after squeezing out the basil can be used for adjusting the consistency of the pesto if you find it to be a little thick. Make sure you heavily incorporate it into the emulsion after adding.
What people don't realize is that "pesto" is just an Italian word for a pounded sauce made in a mortar and pestle (hint: pestle and pesto have the same root). Pesto Genovese is the kind that is known ubiquitously in English as "pesto", but swapping some other herb for basil or swapping a different kind of nut in doesn't make it not pesto any more than swapping goat milk for cow milk makes something not cheese. It just makes it a different kind of pesto.
I often mix in a good chunk of parsley for 100% basil, myself. good to hear I'm not "DOING IT rONG!!"
Right! I make cilantro pesto or sun-dried tomato pesto with whatever nuts I have on hand, like almond or pistachio, and it turns out delicious.
@@OrangeFluffyCat Absolutely! I also have done it with cilantro and almonds, parsley and walnuts, whatever you've got. I do think you do get a superior flavour from a mortar and pestle as you do from a blender, though, making it a "true" pesto in that sense. But of course nothing is stopping you from using a blender in your own home. You can check out Kenji's video about pesto if you want an explanation of why m&p does tend to make a better-tasting pesto than a blender or food processor.
@@OrangeFluffyCat in fact i prefer cilantro pesto.
Thanks, I was going to write the same thing🙏
Not the worst case of replacing the expensive ingredients with cheaper ones. I'd still buy that pesto.
I do. It's excellent for the price.
I'm a chef, it's a good product on a budget. The real deal is expensive and only lasts a couple of days.
I believe its the best. I never enjoyed Pesto until I tried the Sacla brand. Use it all the time now.
@@falcon81701 here in italy it's considered subpar. Extremely salty, doesn't taste like pesto.
It's funny cause pecorino and grana are cheaper options in Italy but actually cost more here in the uk
To be honest, the reason was obvious to me; just read the ingredient label of your cheap pesto and you'd know. However, seeing the actual menufacturing process and the reasoning behind the substitutions was informative. I buy cheap pesto at the grocery store. It's convenient and lasts a long time in the fridge. But sometimes I make it myself, using a few similar swaps of my own (the nuts and cheese). I don't think there's a wrong way to make pesto if it tastes good!
Exactly - this is really the point of the video. He could have just done the research and answered it in 60 seconds if he wanted. But we get to see and hear from people involved in different processes!
If something tastes good, you can't say you made it wrong.
@@Rainersherwood I wouldn;t call that pesto, but I agree in principle. Any jar of stuff is never going to be as good as the real thing, but if you want to make your own pesto go ahead with your own budget, but my advice would be to not skimp on one item. Gran Padano is as good as Reggiano in a sauce, so go for that. Supermarket basil is all you're ever going to find unless you grow your own. The pine nuts you find will probably be Chinese. So with all that use a good olive oil, and hope as the lady says that it will overwhelm the flavour of the sauce.
@@AlanHope2013 well they said that pesto was made by any green before basil, so there is nothing wrong in substituting basil with cilantro.
100% agree!
Her: We do it because of taste.
Him: So what you’re saying is that you want to save money?
Summary of video:
“We use different ingredients.”
“You’re so cheap!”
Didn’t have the energy to look the vid. Could you make a super-short summary?
that and economies of scale
@@pelimies1818 its a 5 minute video bro
just rich people pointing the finger "Ha look what those poor idiots eat, just get more money and make everthing youself"
@@keg73 It’s sarcasm, bro.
It seems likely that packaging a shelf stable version near where most of the perishable ingredients are grown also reduces costs.
Pesto is like 10$ u.s. a jar and the jars are tiny in Las Vegas.... ughhhh and it’s the cheap stuff
@@axellizear2309 Must be because it Vegas as everywhere I've been it's always $3 maybe $4 a jar.
@@axellizear2309 Just looked up the price for the Whole Foods brand on Amazon and it's $3.99 for 6.5 oz
Another classical case of: "Do I watch the video or do I go to the comments for the answer"
You caught me. They lost me a the trip to Italy. I didn’t come here for PBS special. Bit much.
I make pesto but not with pine nuts. Toasted walnuts work just fine. Plus, I grow my own basil. Pesto can be frozen also, just add a little lemon juice. We freeze it in silicone ice trays. We enjoy it all winter.
Thanks for the tip!
I use cashew nuts and also grow my own basil. Well plenty of basil around
I also make it with walnuts, because I like the taste better. I also split the oil between olive and sunflower. Sunflower oil is very healthy when not heated to high temperatures, so it’s a good way to tame a strong olive oil.
same here, I grow my basil and make pesto at home, i normally make some with basil and some with nasturtium leaves, the nasturtium version have a more peppery flavor and it works very well for pesto, you should try.
@David Szakacs The lemon juice is not necessary to preserve your pesto: just put your pesto in the usal container and push it well so all the excess air goes out, flatten it out and add a little bit of olive oil in order to cover the top and it prevents it from oxidating. I normaly use really small and narrow plastic cups with a lid so a tea spoon of oil's enough and you can pile them one over the other so it doesn't take much space in freezer. As a matter a fact, you can even preserve like this fresh made pesto in the refrigerator for a couple of days. At least, that's how italians do.
Wow cashew is used cause it is cheaper!!! Never thought I would hear that.
One of the reasons that cashew nut is so expensive is that it needs to be removed from the cashew apple by hand. Machines can be used to remove the nut, however they usually break the cashew nut into smaller pieces which are not an A+ product, therefore sell for a lower price.
@@willeveryday and the pesto factory can buy the smaller pieces cheaper...
Pine nuts are expensive because pine trees have to be older than 25 years old to produce seeds.
Well, cheaper than pine nuts. Not the cheapest nut, but it's mild flavour and richness make it a good substitute. Like using sunflower oil blended with olive oil, cashews won't overwhelm other flavours, like walnuts for example. And, as someone mentioned, they're sold in grades. Whole nuts, half nuts, or pieces. Raw, blanched, or roasted. Whole, raw cashews are at the top. Cheaper cashews are available.
Costco has a great deal on Chinese pine nuts. It's gone up recently, but at $22 / lb it is still a bargain. The Italian nuts are more expensive because they "taste better." I'm not convinced.
When you study Economics you learn about Economy of Scale. The manufacturers are buying basil by the ton while you buy it by the ounce. They get a much better price. Also the grocers that are selling fresh basil have to consider that much of it will spoil before they can sell it so they have to sell it for a much higher price.
great points. I suppose, growing basil would offset a lot of the cost, as well as buying a few pounds of pine nuts at a time.
I learned the number one rule of economics, the more you buy the cheaper it is!
@@bluekitty3731 not really. Because there are also diseconomies of scale. Meaning producing more becomes disproportionately more expensive. Basicaly relative costs depends on the product.
Imagine paying to learn bulk buying is cheaper lol economics is a clown degree 🤡🤡🤡
@@stickpivot1000 hey, mocking higher education is the real clowning.
I'm italian and i've tried all kinds of pesto, even my grandma grows his own basil to make it. Saclá is not one of my favorite but there are still some bottled pesto that are quite good, usually tho they are find in fridges and not in bottles or jars.
Even if its not the traditional pesto, it is still good or they would not sell.
(So many italian people did not even try traditional pesto or do not like it for it's strong taste)
Totally agree, not sure, but the Barilla for me is one of the best, maybe for childhood memories
Io mangio solo quelli da frigo (quello di Esselunga è il migliore) quello fatto in casa non mi piace proprio 👍
I'm not even italian and I love traditional pesto
They'd be charging 5-10x as much for it. If they were to make it the traditional way using organic ingredients.
@@Mitjitsu id honestly be fine with that lol
I'll save you five minutes of your life: they use cheap ingredients.
thanks buddy
Bit reductive mate, I bet you didn’t know those ingredients were cashew nuts and sunflower oil. Well I enjoyed the video at least.
Or... get this... I wouldn't be on TH-cam if I didn't want to watch videos.
They use less expensive ingredients to produce less expensive products? Amazing .
You are too late, already wasted it
New Title: Man unaware different recipes exist
Thumbnail still applies, only with question marks in place of dollar signs.
I worked for a high-end catering outfit for almost 20 years, and made a lot of pesto.
We used a mix of 2/3 basil and 1/3 fresh spinach leaves, only EVOO (though probably not the best stuff), good cheese, but no nuts. The reason we eliminated the nuts was because pesto does not LOOK like it has nuts in it, and several times, we had people with nut allergies grab some toasted rounds of French Bread with Pesto on it. After one guy went to the hospital, we decided no more nuts. But we got rave reviews for our pesto.
Aren't you obligated by law to specify X ailment contains nuts in restaurants? I remember at least, it being commonly done oversea, even if in italy it's not done all that often.
In European countries its a law to Mark every food with nuts and other allergies dont know about the US tho
@@iota-09 yea but it doesn’t mean people read it. And say someone ordered appetizers and the person with the allergy wasn’t looking at the apps menu beforehand.
@@Dolo888 that is really irresponsible of them, especially of the guy who ended up in the hospital!
@@Dolo888 yes it can feel bad to have someone have to go to the hospital because they went into anaphylactic shock or just had a bad reaction to eating where you work but if you have the proper signage it's not really your problem at the point
I love how she keeps trying to explain how the sub ingredients make the “taste” somehow better, whilst he meanwhile is like, “NOPE, it’s because it’s cheaper, right?” LMBO!
Tbf it tastes better than nothing, and nothing is what most people would have if they only had access to traditional pesto.
The right cheap ingredients in the hands of a good chef can be amazing. Great ingredients can be ruined by bad technique.
I think a factory with a team of food scientists and chemists who can control every single variable of the process, combined with bulk buying and years of recipe experimentation will take you further than a lot of the homemade pesto.
The poor customer reps who get those kind of phone calls 😭
What else are they going to do?
I did a very brief stint working for a similar company, we took calls from a million different places but one of them was the customer service number for the Soreen loaf (sold in the UK, not sure what it would be called anywhere else), we rarely got phone calls but when we did it was mainly from older customers asking about a recipe change or some rando complaining who would just get sent some vouchers.
Or the ones where they have to tell them they don't know something
@@ruth4492 I've only called up one of those lines once. As what i purchased tasted burnt. Other people that tried it thought the same. So I gave the batch numbers etc. They were very quick to offer a voucher worth about double the cost of the item. I think they knew they had messed up that batch already. Funnily the colour and texture were not affected somehow.
I worked in a place packaging pesto among other things. The boss told me we don't use any cheese because people are allergic to dairy and if we did add it they would buy it anyway and since they are idiots they would complain. If we used nuts same story. They would have a reaction after buying it even though it would say on the label and after they would sue. So no cheese or nuts. Cost cut. Next was mostly canola oil with a splash of olive. He challenged me to find a way to make it cheeper but better. We had Kale on stock so I cut back on the basil and added kale also adding back a nutty flavour. Something like 50/50 basil to kale. I saved him more money on just the pesto production than was my paycheck. When I saw him calculate the savings with excitement and not offer me a raise I knew what I was doing. I prefer to work with good food so after 5 years and no raise there I quit. He would call me back every couple years offering maybe a dollar raise. I was like nope. I'll earn more unemployed
His stinginess costed him your R&D. Too bad for him.
Nevermind the basil, in Asia, the pine nuts cost arms and legs.
Pretty much anywhere in the world. Those pine nuts are hella expensive.
You can use walnuts or no nuts at all, some one posted what they use in the restaurant they work at, and I will be trying that, mostly canola oil, splash of olive oil, and basil. She also said 50/50 kale and basil will give a nutty flavor.
@@sheilawilson6809 yes that's more of a viable option when you have a thin money bag. Personally I rarely use parmesian as there isn't so much in my house. Same goes for basil I use any kind of flavory leaf to replace it : last time I did pesto it wa with carrot leaves. For the nuts as you said you can replace pine nuts with almonds. I think all things considered pesto is quite flexible in terms of ingredients so long as you stay with the general formula (leaf + oil + nut + salt or salty cheese)
Also in Switzerland. It's not on the shelves with the other nuts but behind the counter of customer service (at my local supermarket at least)...
I remember when pine nuts weren't so expensive but deforestation has made them much rarer
When you’re buying ingredients in mass bulk like a business would directly from a distributor, you get the very base prices that are way cheaper than you’d get in a grocery store.
I don't think most people are willing to produce one kilo or five of pesto to buy in bulk...
while that’s true it’s not really a factor here. jarred pesto really tastes nothing like the real thing
@@Humungojerry the "real thing" is subjective, but sure. It's not just ingredients, but method and time that result in a different flavour; it's just not possible to buy a jar of pesto at that price and have it be that fresh and made with the best ingredients.
Buuuuuut... jarred pesto is the "real thing" of sauces-called-pesto-that-are-packed-in jars, so your point is moot.
@@ericainspace your point is unnecessarly nitpicking.
Also local delis in Liguria sell artisanal pesto at a couple bucks a jar.
Pesto has no traditional ingredients.
i do the same at home. 50% pine, 50% other nuts and i also stretch out the oil a bit so it doesnt taste overwhelming
Olive oil is one of the most counterfeited foods in the world, so most people are using multiple oils whether they realize it or not.
I wonder if the women being interviewed knew that the questions and conversations were aimed to focus on less expensive ingredients. She probably thought it was just an innocent tour on how to make pesto
that's also what I thought, either that or she's super diplomatic and savvy, but I feel like she doesn't sound very defensive...
I don't think it's really a secret that they use cheaper alternative in order to lower costs. They weren't saying the product was subpar, so there was no reason for her to be defensive. She even said that the more expensive, locally grown ingredients were for a different 'artisanal' product.
I don't think so, she seemed to understand questions well and I'm the end she did say that producing it that way makes it cheaper.
From the way she was talking I think she wanted to show while on a budget they are still using decent and natural ingredients, this is actually good PR for them, at least in italy suspicion would be they use almost rotting basel, palma oil and chemicals to stabilize the flavour.
Yeah from what I can gather food is very central in Italian culture, and doing it properly is also very central so even the boss of the company will know what he’s doing and be happy with the way it’s presented.
This poor worker having to argue that sunflower oil is added to balance out the flavor. And his low-key ragging at the end. Amazing
It is true . I make my own pesto without any compromise on the cost but you should not use only extra virgin olive oil as it is too strong and will hide the taste of the other ingredients . Use a good olive oil but not the extra virgin one , keep it to brush some baguette brushed with garlic .
@Riviera Barocca All the extra virgin olive oil have the same criteria (unrefined , cold pressed less than 48 hrs after being picked , less than 1% of oleic acid ) so they are much stronger in taste than the other types of olive oil . Look at it as a fruit , the extra olive oil will be the freshly squeezed juice and the other made from concentrate .
@Riviera Barocca It is just different grades . On the lowest grade you are also allowed to mix the olive oil with other olive oil but you can only sell it as olive oil , not extra virgin or virgin olive oil . This is for example the one used for preserved vegetables (ie sun dried tomatoes , eggplants , peppers etc....) as it is not strong it did not cover the taste of the vegetable.
@Riviera Barocca You can use some but mixed with a normal one . From there it is everybody ‘s own taste ! 😀
@Jake Brennan Oh yes for sure ! Same for the wine
If we used too much extra virgin olive oil it would overwhelm the taste of sunflower oil
Lol exactly. If they use good extra virgin olive oil well balanced like they do in high end restaurants in Genova, it tastes good
Lol! I did what you see there!
Pure extra virgin olive oil doesnt taste good...
@@PLF... it's an acquired taste. I love bitter olive oil. Also, the bitterness comes from the phenol compounds, i.e. the antioxidants which make olive oil healthy.
@@PLF... Fresh cold pressed extra virgin oil is so good, it smells and tastes like green olives, which is a very interesting flavor. It is expensive and hard to find a brand that makes good ones, but it last long enough to be worth the cost.
The ingredients they use are great alternatives to the traditional recipe.
The only reason I clicked on this video was because I thought it was John Cena tasting pesto on the thumbnail
Wait...you couldn't see John Cena?
😂😂😂😂
I love how he rephrased everything she said so as to imply that they do it to make it cheaper. Obviously she doesn't want to say that on camera lol
We prefer the moldy basil. Because that's how .....
@@breakingpoints4019 😂
I mean cheaper isn't always worse.
@@CroatianMinecrafter I would say the broken pieces of pine nuts ,is inferior to whole.
@@CroatianMinecrafter No, that's true :) I just found it funny! Would have no problem using Sacla, it's totally fine.
Read the label. They don’t use 100% extra virgin olive oil or pine nuts to save money.
what?
I’m guessing the comment meant was: to save money, they don’t use extra virgin olive oil or pine nuts
I only know those are pesto ingredients from reading the label
This was very eye opening. Did not know or expect this. Good info.
Cheaper cheese too.
Still tastes good. In this case i don't actually mind that they use some ingredients to stretch the otherwise very expensive product. Cashews and the less aged cheeses still are excelent products in their own right.
Honestly, while it tastes good, it's very different from the original. It is essentially a cheese sauce, while real pesto is basically an emultion with basil and olive oil, the other ingredients being used in very small amounts.
@@federicoclaps5099 There is no question that the best results in terms of authenticity you get with fresh ingredients and the original recipy.
I still stand by my point though. The product they sell is tasty and affordable. I think in terms of protected regional products a case could maybe made that it should not be called Pesto. That might be tricky though looking at the translation of Pesto which describes a sauce with crushed ingrediences which seems a rather general term.
Also full throttle is a great game. Try thimbleweed park :)
@@CS-sj9kr Cheers :) i put it on the wishlist. Full Throttle just has this rough humor i quite enjoy and Ben is a character to behold. Well i was a bit younger when it came out and played it first time, but when the remastered edition came out on steam i couldn't resist and it still holds the test of time.
@@kinngrimm It’s quick and tasty. A jar of pesto has it’s place, even in Italian kitchens.
Présenter: So, you use cashews because they're cheaper?
Company representative: The pine nuts are for flavour, cashew nuts, they're for the crunch.
Presenter: But pine nuts, they're very expensive...
Company representative: Well, the cashew nuts nuts also help... to control that...
But cashew nuts are expensive too ! Or at least in finland :D
@@joonasalminen9718 I was gonna say that, I'm pretty sure all nuts are expensive
@@benmcnutt223 yeah but pine nuts are like the filet of nuts. They’re harder to produce. Where I live they’re around $24 a pound. They’re usually about double the price of your average nuts.
@@matthewmanley2238 I have seen pine nuts for sale for $100 AUD per kg
@@matthewmanley2238 I saw at grocery market in Russia for about $18 per kg and it's pretty expensive for us.
Made some pesto last night! $10 for the good cheese, $4 for the basil plant, $4 for the pine nuts, and 50 cents for the garlic. Almost $20 worth of ingredients and it made just enough for 1 package of gnocchi. Huge difference in flavor though
Per forza costa cosi’ tanto se lo raccolgono in quella maniera li capisco benissimo , comunque con due cucchiai di pesto originale ci condisci tre piatti di linguine!! O trofie ancora meglio
Nothing wrong with a grana padano, its a quality cheese, pecorino is also fine
But diluting it with cashews and sunflower oil would make my nonna cry, you can make weaker pesto without cashews! Honestly there has to be a better nut to weaken the flavour with
I like to make make pesto with the kernel of the sunflower seed, I toast them in a pan that I have wiped with a thin layer of oil on. I can't say for sure how close the taste is to pine nuts but it is still delicious and brings down the cost of the ingredients significantly. Another bonus is that you can serve it to people with nut allergies.
Then let your nan cry while we enjoy our pesto
You’re Grandmother is a cry baby. Tell her to get a grip. Ooof crying over how someone else makes a pesto, mind your business lady.
@@DLORD3000 I don't know of having a nut alergy, I love mixed nuts, but...every time I eat something with sunflower seeds in it...I get a mild reaction. go me, eh? otherwise, yeah, pine nuts are nice, but spendy, for sure.
figure it out, then sell the means to them, make bank and leave us with a superior pesto in the process.
All Italians make pesto at home and when they don't have the right ingredient, they use alternatives like almonds or walnuts, other basil, also a smashed little potato... at home sometimes alternative solutions are even appreciated, as long as it is pasta (I say thick spaghetti), virgin olive oil and cooked "al dente" which is vital.
"All Italians make pesto at home"..... Ahahahaha, nice joke. Where exactly are you from?
@@didijoon I'm a levantine... Italian, Greek, Armenian, born in Egypt, grew in Sudan and lived 27 years everywhere... now I live in Rome... I need more space to describe this.
None in Italy make pesto at home, man. None, not even my grandma.
@@eugeniadandrea Sorry for you, I'm 67 years old and I have a different perception - the Italian community abroad seems to be so proud of the so called Mediterranean cuisine - don't get me wrong, I wouldn't be surprised if they lied. However, it doesn't mean that this basil paste is always home made but that it is easy to do and find.
I'm genovese, ligurian. And I actually do pesto at home.
I like this video. It showcases the traditional, expensive, artisanal, hand-picked way to make pesto but also appreciates the cheaper, mass-produced, widely available way as well.
Meanwhile in our country: Why is Pesto so expensive when the ingredients are affordable?
What country would that be?
In Germany we pay 3€ for 200g of pesto btw. You can get it a little cheaper but then it just tastes really awful.
Affordable ingredients? Where do you live, in a pine tree forest filled with basil, surrounded by olive trees with parmesan cheese rocks?
@@fingerstyledojo thats literally what i thought. The Barilla Pesto Genovese is the Go-to but it's like 3-3,50€, while this Lad is going on about how ist only Like £2 in the UK
@@MrDeutschGerman
As a Italian i actually hate the Barilla one.
When I want it and want it cheap I buy the star/tiguglio one. Is A LITTLE more expensive (like 1,2€vs1,7€ when on discount ) but is way better
Where I'm from: 🇵🇭
Basil - $6/kg
Parmesan - $2/100g
Pine nuts - $4/kg
Pesto - $4/50ml (and it's the cheapest one)
Basil isn't hard to grow, it's hard to _-store-_ distribute
Exactly, it's best to eat fresh prepared foods.
My 7ish attempts at growing basil would disagree
@@llamafromspace My backyard disagrees with what you said. Those unattended basils grow like invasive weed, "overtaking" the rest.
@@bobbiusshadow6985 It's going to depend a lot on local climate. Also, many people aren't lucky enough to have outside spaces to grown plants, and anything grown indoors needs different levels of attention
@@RyanDB I know, I also grow indoor hydroponically (or in any other substrates) all kinds of stuffs. ; )
Don't you mean "how is supermarket pesto so expensive when the ingredients are so cheap?"
Lady: cashews are for crunch
Host: so...cheaper.
In Saudi Arabia, basil is considered a weed. When all the university instructors realized that basil was growing wild all over the campus, it was pesto heaven. Mama mia
**mamma mia
we in the biz usually say MashaAllah to that
You can make pesto out of blanched nettles, but the flavour isn’t as strong.
@@carlosdrfx Mmmm, sounds like a good way to get some calcium. Nettles are a good source of calcium.
The way those guys were laying out on those boards 😂
I got anxious when two of them got onto one and it started shaking lol
-Basil costs nothing, i grow it myself, it’s the easiest thing to grow. (Buy it from shops during winter time)
-Switch to different types of nuts for the sake of experimenting and changing.
-Garlic has literally no cost.
-Olive oil for the amount you use does not get that expensive.
-Parmigiano/Pecorino is literally the only “expensive” thing in a pesto.
Why would it be expensive to make it yourself? I prep my pesto every weekend :)
Well not every country/region has similar prices. Cities for example are more expensive. More developed regions are also more expensive compared to less developed ones
Apart from that not everyone has the luxury of being able to grow plants from where they live so buying is their only option
OK we get it. Your pesto is the besto
@@obiwankenobi9439 he thinks he has the high ground
@@lerevivaliste You mean those poor folks who don't get....sunlight? Basil will grow easily in the same temperature range people generally keep their homes. Even if you cannot keep your home at the ideal temperature range, indoor greenhouses can be made for next to nothing using easy to obtain materials. Growing basil (and many other things) is not a luxury. It does require effort though. It's the effort that keeps people back. And excuses.
Local pronounces it as “Basil”
Interviewer “locals are picky with their BAZILL”
This just in! People from different places pronounce sounds differently
I say BENZAWYLE
It's actually pronounced as Martin
Basil isn't from Italy, no reason to follow their pronunciation...
@@bobbymcfee2974 holy cow I didn’t know that! :0
We make the bulk of our homemade pesto with cilantro. I harvest about two bushels each summer from the garden and spend a few days putting it up in various ways. Oh so good.
Any tips in planting basil? I'm from southeast asia sometimes my basil burns during the day.
@@kaelthunderhoof5619 you can always grow it indoors if you only use a bit at a time.
@@TheOriginalRick well i tried growing some indoors but it constantly loses its leaves in the bottom it looked like a coconut tree.
@@kaelthunderhoof5619 Probably not enough light. I don't have any space for natural sunlight, so every time I try to grow things, they become top-heavy, because evolution has told the plants that if it's dark, maybe there's a bush in the way or something, so they need to grow taller to find the sunlight.
Mmm sounds like Puerto Rican recaíto
Parmesan, pine nuts, basil, good olive oil. So damn expensive
Basil is pretty cheap in italy, and parmesan it's manageable, pine nuts are used sparingly, while oil is just simply so used in italy that even with the price we don't complain...
It's interesting to see how oversea every single one of these ingredients is considered extremely pricey.
@@iota-09 I live in the Netherlands and the ingredients to make authentic pesto here is expensive as well.
@@iota-09 I'm in America in New York and even as expensive as New York is, I can still afford to make pesto! Especially if you grow your own basil right outside the windowsill
@@tuanngoc98 what isn’t expensive in Netherlands?
@@RobinLundqvist true haha
Genovese here, there's a variation few people know outside Liguria, not even all Ligurian do that, and some consider it heresy, it works only with fresh pesto, not the store bought stuff, add some butter in the pest before you add the pasta.
The most traditional way to serve it is to boil some chopped potatoes and green beans with the pasta, it brings it to a whole new level.
I'm a Ligurian and I'm just here to say belin grow your own basil at home and spend 5 minutes making it in a blender if can't do the mortar. The Saclà version feels to me like a pickled Full English. Like, an unholy creation!
Mortar is much better. I find that a blender makes the basil taste bitter, & i prefer the consistency of the old method.
Exactly! I have never found a bottled pesto with proper taste!
@@zivkovicable I use the mortar most of the times but listen: all you have to do with the blender is to apply short bursts, not continuous whirring.
In turkey, they would probably use pistachios, since the Turks put it in everything
This is actually a funny comment and so true, but they also would put honey in instead of oil
Pistachio pesto sounds delicious tbh...
keep doing what ur doing!! i love these videos!! as more people discover this channel they will too. who doesnt love learning about the stuff we eat all the time in such a cool manner w travel and meeting w the actual producers. cool stuff
Except too much of what they said was wrong. So yah, let's keep the world ignorant....but entertained.
@@xavariusquest4603 what was wrong?
These vids are just promo for their national tv documentary😅
Am I the only one who wonders why on earth for a short 6 minutes video a film crew has to fly to Italy (especially with that guessable result).
It's probably a part of a much longer video filmed for television.
The way they elegantly lay on the boards and pick the basil 💕
How come basil is expensive in England? Basil is really easy to grow in my experience: you buy a little branch (fresh), take off most leaves (not all of them, leave a few), put the branch in some water (exchanging the water every day) and, in a few days, it will sprout roots, then you just plant it in a vase. That's it, you get a supply of basil from one branch.
Ps.:
1)Untill it sprouts its own roots, the basil twig will live off of only water, which doesn't have much nutrients. So you take off most of the leaves so that branch won't have many parts to mantain and thus need fewer nutrients. That way it won't simply spoil on water. It still needs leaves for photosynthesis, so don't forget to leave a few good ones.
2)When you put the branch in water, try to put just a lit bit of the bottom in the water and the rest of it keep it above the water level. If too much of it is kept under water, it will produce too many roots and make it difficult to plant later - although it isn't much of a problem.
3)I live in a warm climate, even warmer than Italy, so I don't know if that would be a problem for the brittish. I figure that if you keep it in a vase indoors where's there's enough heat and sunlight it should be fine, but I'm hardly a botanist nor a farmer, what do I know?
4)Nowadays I plant basil in a very small vase. A bigger vase would yield a very big basil plant, and I don't need that much (it's just a condiment, not a food per se).
5)I just water the plant. No special treatment, no fertilizer... Maybe the dirt I got here is really good, I don't know. Again, not a botanist, not a farmer.
You can grow it in English gardens, but not always with great success. All my plants failed last summer even in a greenhouse because we had a cool, cloudy summer which is no good for basil. You're right, there's the option to grow inside but again, unless you've got grow lights there just might not be enough sun on a windowsill, plus it takes a lot of basil to make any decent amount of pesto, more than I could grow inside my one South facing window. It's just not the right climate, at least here in the North, but we keep trying, some years are better than others and I've frozen bags of it at times.
We can buy it fresh in most supermarkets and its not that expensive if you just need a little for garnish. It is expensive to make your own pesto but the taste is far superior to supermarket jars which, of course, is the same for many foods.
@glyn hodges Thanks for the recommendation, that looks like a really good method for growing indoors. I wish I had the space!
1:00 open differentials are pathetic.
For those not verse in diffs:
Open: Power is sent to the wheels with the least resistance (grip) but what it lacks in performance it makes up for in stability.
Locked: Can't turn to save its life, but power is sent evenly to both wheels at all times.
Limited Slip Differential: Power is sent to the wheel that has the most grip and is the best solution to the differential problem.
"us brits love pesto!" wow! what a unique distinctly british quality
Indeed. I can't think of another country which doesn't love pesto. Perhaps the unique British quality is that we even stopped to consider other countries at all. Sigh.
It was on British TV so of course they mentioned that. They also mention that it can be enjoyed and loved around the world.
If it were a french programme, it would be weird to specifically mention British love it, but not weird to mention French people love pesto. Same logic here, it’s a technique to relate to the audience and draw them in. Nothing more.
You need to stop reading into things too much
Middle class leftys pretend they love it
@@neilmurray1771 seriously? pesto is a pretty classless meal here in scandi lol. its one of the few meals in a jar thats any good
@@simonh9987 scandi?
Wow. You just reinvented the whell. Who would have thought that they put cheap, mass produced ingredients into a supermarket pesto? Thank you for opening up my eyes, I wouldn't have figured it out without you.
That lady at the pesto factory was just hiding behind that bush.
Actually the original recipe calls for a mix of Pecorino and Parmigiano
Thanks, Siri.
I can't speak for Italy obviously but Pecorino used to be a lot more popular in the US than parmesan.
@@derrickbonsell Italian Americans are disproportionately from South Italy where Pecorino is the staple cheese.
I never realized store bought pesto was cheap? I've always made it myself because it was pricey in stores. Hmmmm.....
Simple answer: They use less expensive ingredients
Yes, and they buy in bulk and have a mechanized process. The reporter only wanted to focus on cheaper ingredients
Also manufacture closer to the source reduces logistical costs and losses from perishable ingredients
They use cheap ingredients! It’s the chinese way!
thanks.
Basil became widespread in Italy around 300 B. C., though, not in the 1800's...
I was thinking the same thing last time I bought pesto.
I never got a pre- packaged pesto that was better than I can make myself. Sometimes I use walnuts instead of pine nuts to cut costs and it’s still very delicious, albeit untraditional.
Strangely enough, walnuts *are* the traditional choice.
I learned to make pesto this past summer and I had no idea it would be so delicious. I used up the rest of the basil I was growing in my garden, but since it wasn’t quite enough, I put in a bunch of parsley which was still in abundance. Someone else has mentioned using baby spinach too, so I will try that if my basil plant is too sparse. I also used walnuts, which I prefer to pine nuts. I found the rest of it in my freezer last week and it was still excellent simply dressing some pasta.
Because keeping fresh herbs on shelf is expensive. So can it or preserve in oil.
Whoosh!......the sound of the point of this going way over your head. 🤦♀️
I remember the first time as a chef I ordered a bag of pine nuts, £27 😮
Samphire caught me out as well.
Once you've made your own pesto you find all jarred pesto tastes horrid.
Only the best ingredients, no substitutes or preservatives and of course ❤ . Nothing beats that!
Yep. Has a weird sort of bitter/astringent aftertaste, no aroma and leaves a film on your tongue. If you’re using it to mix with something else to make a dip or something it’s fine but to use it as the main ingredient is not much better than eating freezer meals.
I just add a splash of lemon, like a teaspoon. It remove bitterness.
It's mostly just the scale I am guessing. When you can buy tons of ingredients and make tons of product all at once it really gets the costs down. Cashews aren't all that cheap either, but as you may have seen the basil wasn't prepared very well, the stems were still present and you have probably noticed the strings of stem In your store bought jars of pesto.
I have a new appreciation for rich taste and quality of (my husband’s) homemade pesto.
The real story is what happened to the host's intended clothes for the meeting. not to say the wrinkled T-shirt and cagro shirts were not looking FRESH AF
*1:56** draw me like one of your pesto girls.*
I don't even get this stuff and yet I watched it. Will have to buy 1 from the supermarket tomorrow!
Who would have thought the key to cheap products is cheap ingredients? My mind is sure blown.
Why did this video feel like a 15 minutes one?
And you watched the cut version!
So the answer is: cheap basil (difference in quality perhaps), use cashew nuts, and sunflower oil (both cheaper).
Also, grocery stores increase costs dramatically and tend to overcharge on fresh produce & herbs ( last remark is my personal opinion)
I don't think they're overcharging all that much on fresh herbs and stuff, it's just kind of difficult to transport. Can't really just have it stacked on a palette like boxes of milk or something
quality, potentially, but it's more likely that the mechanisation of the process, eliminating the need for humans except to control the machines, is going to lower the cost. also, if you buy basil in grocery stores, you're not going to pick a bunch that has even a little wilting. the wilting barely matters at all for the taste though, so this place can use all of it.
@@Dongonzales123 good point. Transportation & shelf life
Basil is easy to grow, I use the square foot garden. I have 4 x 4 ft beds raised 2 feet high. The compost is rabbit chicken and goat poo. The earthworms help break it down. And we have long freezing winters. Unfortunately, the goats won't eat it, (it grows well enough I considered it as a feed).
1 butternut squash or equivalent amount of pumpkin cut into small cubes. Mix in a baking dish with bread crumbs, parmesan, salt, pepper, and just enough olive oil to make everything stick. Toss.
In another baking dish, do the same, but instead of squash or pumpkin, use around a pound (half kilo) of sliced mushrooms.
Roast in convection oven at 425 degrees F until browned.
Toss with pasta (whole box) and pesto in a pot. Use pasta water to dissolve/dislodge the fond at the bottom of the roasting pans and add to pot.
It would have been nice to have a comparison between the expensive original recipe pesto and the cheaper ingredients version - in a blind test with street people around the world.
What you thought was basil in it is just macerated yard grass clippings.
Trofie al pesto e porridge… gli americani ci riuscirebbero … 🎃🎃
I love how he coaxed the truth out of her as she was feeding in the line of "improves the taste" he was like "it keeps cost down" now this is a great journalist.
The secret to selling a cheaper prodyct is cheaper ingrediants. Wouldve never thought
In California, you buy giant bags of Basil at farmer's markets for nothing. My girlfriend was in italy, and brought a giant wedge Romano cheese in the airport, and carried it home on her lap. I've never seen Pine nuts cheap. If all of us could buy directly from famers, and paid twice the price industry buys at, food would be near free, and the farmers would double their income.
One point is that if we all braught from the farmer they would spend more time dealing with individuals rather than one or 2 big companies so they would have to take that cost and probably have to hire staff but I agree it would be cheaper.
Your girlfriend paid for the transport fee with her plane ticket . . .
Managing logistics is the challenge .
No, this is a thorough misunderstanding of food production, supply chains and costs. Food has never been this cheap for the consumer. We may be plundering the earth and mortgaging our future for it, but food is cheap.
@Daan Made in Holland
Not nearly as much as it would cost without plundering the earth, Daan. Without irreplaceable fertilizer, without huge amounts of energy and unsustainably large amounts of water, yields would crater.
bringing it to the masses... and thankfully so !..
I died when he said that was hard work but he was laying down
I love Pesto. As I'm only used to the cheap one, my taste buds approve.
And of course use pestle and mortar when making pesto at home, the outcome is really different! 😊 the blender is unsuitable for this job and half of the flavor is lost.
Where does that half of the flavor go?
The flavour gods just summon the flavour out of the blender? What?
Grinding with salt pulverises all the cell walls in the garlic and basil, blending (cutting) doesn’t.
@@TenOrbital Isn't that just a matter of blending more? I mean, it wouldn't liquefy unless blending also pulverized the cell walls. Also, I'm not convinced that you need to pulverize the cell walls to have a flavorful dish. I could roughly chop garlic and basil, gently mix it with some olive oil, salt, and cheese, and it would still be extremely flavorful, especially since chewing is essentially pulverizing the food in your mouth. I'm pretty sure it's just a difference of texture, but I could be wrong.
@@lucasfabisiak9586 - Lucas I’m sure the difference is marginal, I do it both ways. But the purists insist on mortar and pestle. Last time I made it I used a hand blender.
Man: *There are little spaces*
Also man: *rides scooter*
Food Unwrapped: Let's take use van
Man: Am I a joke to you?
Man, 4am TH-cam recommendations are wild
If cashews are a lower cost substitution you are talking about a high quality product. Also, basil grows like a weed in nice weather. I bought a few small basil plants last summer and they grew faster than I could cook with them (and pesto takes a LOT of basil). The pine nuts are the tricky part cost wise. I may try subbing in other high quality nuts next summer!
Idk man this "traditional" method looks insanely bad to your spine and posture
Still better than a desk job
@@andrij1848 if your desk job involves lying down in that position for hours doing labour then sure
@@DSDSDS1235 one thing I noticed during a lockdown is that the typing gets quite a bit slower when you work lying down 😂
@@andrij1848 this is worse. All your joints on the hardwood too. I know the guy had 1 pillow for himself but that’s not enough. Your body would be pretty badly affected if you did this 8 hours a day for a long time.
While I love parmesan, I prefer pecorino. It's has, in my mind, a nicer, nuttier taste. So I'm not mad. I also use pecorino cheese in homemade pesto, as I always have it, unlike parmesan.
I just realized I've never tried pesto. Had no idea what it was made of! Guess I'm going to the supermarket now.
Meanwhile here i am, an italian, getting outside and taking all the ingredients from the garden for making pesto
"How is pesto too cheap if the ingredients are so expensive???"
Answer: they aren't.
“I need to book a rental car for just one person. A 25ft 4 row van should do”
LOL
I mean, there is a camera crew too
Uh what about the camera crew and sound mixer ?
Yes, traditionally you use pine nuts, but in a pinch you can use lightly toasted walnuts. Making basil at home is *chef kiss*
I tried making my own once. Cost me a fortune but boy was it worth it!
Pine nuts - £6 for 150g
Oil EVO - £8/litre
Basil £3 for two small trees
Parmigiano £3 for 150g
Garlic and sea salt flakes
Cheaper ingredients, cheaper price.
My family has been making our own pesto for years, with all the best ingredients. Protip: Best made with purple basil. We're not even Italian, just regular Canadian folks.
just so people know, they will get an anise-y flavour with thai/purple basil. it's different, not better or worse.
Amazing how this dude is kinda criticising the mass production but in a very polite and non judgemental way
I was never a great fan of pesto until a purchased a jar of artisanal pesto from Genoa. It was absolutely amazing. Fortunately my local Italian deli stocks a very similar pesto which is so much better than those you can get in the supermarket. But yes, it comes with a bigger price tag.