So our little potted basil plant is still going strong out on our patio. Any suggestions on what to do with it before the cold comes? Will it continue to grow inside, or should we strip all the leaves for a final batch of pesto and say, "see you next summer?"

You can easily bring it inside. Just be sure to give it lots of light and keep cold drafts away. You will be able to move it back outside again next year. Enjoy!

To some extent it depends of the variety. Most basils are annuals that can be made to live for more than a year in the right conditions. Keep it warm - never under 55 F - in full sun, and most importantly don't let it flower. You may have to cut it back hard to accomplish this.

It is very easy to start basil plants indoors from cuttings - this may be the best use for your old plant - though the life span of the cuttings is often shorter.

I kept an African Blue basil alive for five years, but African Blue isn't a culinary variety. Do you know which kind you have?

Definitely don't know what kind we've got - just a packet of seeds we bought from a nursery.

I'll try to take it inside and see how it goes. Unfortunately, we don't get a lot light coming into our townhouse, so we may have to do a quick harvest if it starts struggling.

Thanks for the advice!

I always start over every year with a couple of new basil plants.

I hope to strip the plants this weekend and make a lot of pesto (will freeze a bunch).

I just stripped mine yesterday. I only had one plant survive this year. I made pesto with it, I now have 4 pints of fresh pesto in my fridge.

How long will it keep? I made some this summer, and although I think I've read it'll last only a relatively short time, we're still using it. Seems to be just fine. I've got 4 or 5 plants ready to be used for more, so am wondering if I should freeze some of the excess, or do something else....

I put an olive oil cap on it and frezze part and keep some in the fridge. The olive oil keeps it from turning dark. As for how long it keeps....unfrozen, I don't know.

Is there any validity to the admonition that if you intend to freeze pesto, you shouldn't add the cheese now, but only after you have subsequently defrosted it just before use? I have always done it that way (without cheese), but never experimented with adding cheese prior to freezing.

Oh, I have also found it convenient to freeze the cheesless pesto in icecube trays then pack the cubes in freezer bags.

This is Marcella Hazan's admonition. She also adds butter to her pesto. Why, I don't know. Does it make a difference? Beats me. Maybe you ought to do a little experiment and enlighten us all: divide the pesto in half; add cheese to one half and not to the other. Freeze it all. Thaw and use as you will and report back to a VERY interested audience.

I freeze my cheese-laden pesto under an olive oil cap in a glass jar, scooping out what I need (I soften in the microwave) and then re-establishing the cap. It can keep for years as long as you keep that nasty air off the pesto.

I forgot to add the oil cap to my pesto in the freezer yesterday. Can I add it now or am I too late?

Just add it now. The purpose of the olive oil covering is to keep air from oxidizing the basil while it is in the freezer for the long haul (plus, it probably helps keep the surface of the basil from dehydrating). The delay won't hurt.

Does this work with other herbs?

I often buy packaged fresh herbs from the grocery and quite often don't need all for the dish I'm preparing. I'm defrosting the freezer and, although they (sage, basil, thyme, rosemary) look okay, I'm pretty sure they have picked up a "freezer odor." So, is the best solution to (1) toss what I have (4-6 months old) and start afresh (B ) cap them in olive oil (and if so, do I need to separate the various herbs or can i put them in the same freezer container) and freeze, (iii) freeze them double wrapped, in freezer bags, or (z) dry* them and forget about the advantages of using fresh (albeit frozen) herbs?

[*You know it's coming: how do you dry fresh herbs?]

There was an episode of Good Eats where he concocted some sort of rig where he strapped the herbs to a box fan and let it run for a couple hours to dry them out. Something along these lines is probably what you want (something to keep them stationary while the fan does the drying work).

I just read something that recommended adding lemon juice to pesto to keep it from oxidizing....Anybody tried this and/or have recommendations for/against doing this instead of the olive oil cap?

Can't recall the show I was watching, but whoever it was, they added fresh spinach leaves to keep it from oxidizing. Said it was a great trick to keeping it bright green.

ETA--I think it was the Cook's Illustrated show on PBS