Pesto: green, red and nutty seasoning pastes in a jar

Pesto is an uncooked seasoning paste made from herbs or vegetables, nuts or seeds, and oil, often supplemented with hard cheese and garlic. The name comes from the Italian "pestare," to crush, because originally everything was ground in a mortar. Here, you will find pesto made from basil and wild garlic, wild herbs, sun-dried tomatoes, walnuts, mushrooms, and truffles.

From Pesto Genovese to wild garlic pesto

The prototype of all green pestos comes from Genoa. A Pesto Genovese following the recipe of the Ligurian Pesto Consortium requires seven ingredients: Basilico Genovese, a small-leaf basil with a protected designation of origin, plus extra virgin olive oil, Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padano, Pecorino, pine nuts, garlic, and salt. Jars containing cashews, sunflower seeds, or other oils are unique recipes and are therefore called basil pesto or pesto "alla genovese."

A Pesto Rosso relies on sun-dried tomatoes instead of basil. They provide sweetness, acidity, and a concentrated, slightly smoky note; almonds, cashews, or sunflower seeds make it creamy. In German-speaking countries, wild garlic pesto has become a springtime classic: the wild leaves smell of garlic and result in a bold, savory pesto.

Wild herbs, nuts, mushrooms, and truffles

Small artisanal producers go even further, stirring up pesto from goutweed and cress, stinging nettle and arugula, or spruce tips. Nut pestos focus on walnuts and taste mild and well-rounded. Mushroom and truffle pestos made from button mushrooms, porcini, and summer truffles are earthy and intense. This category also includes two close relatives that you can use just like pesto: a porcini mushroom pâté with truffles and a white truffle cream with Caciocavallo.

Our pesto artisans

Most of the jars come from sell g'machts in Weiler in the Allgäu region. There, every pesto is cold-stirred by hand using sunflower seeds and olive oil; all varieties are vegan. Our top seller is the organic spruce tip pesto with Asian salad greens, apricot, and a hint of the forest. The organic basil and lemon balm pesto is mild and contains no garlic, while the organic wild garlic pesto made from wild-harvested ingredients is spicy and pungent.

Gruber's Fruchtzauberei from Reigersberg near Ilz in Styria makes their pestos by hand. The walnut pesto with hard cheese is very popular—nutty and creamy—and they also offer a basil pesto and a red tomato pesto, both made with cashew nuts.

The pastes from Vitelium originate from Molise, Italy, all made with their own olive oil: the vegan truffle pesto made from button mushrooms and 5% summer truffles, the porcini pâté with truffles, and the white truffle cream, each available in a 50g jar for sampling and a 90g jar to stock up.

Wajos from Dohr on the Moselle comes close to the classic: their basil pesto with pine nuts consists of 46% basil, with Pecorino and cashews. They also offer a tomato pesto with almonds, a bright lemon pesto with walnut and sage, and a spicy pesto made from green chilies.

The Ölmühle Solling mill from Boffzen stirs their organic pestos according to the recipes of founder Werner Baensch, such as the walnut pesto with cold-pressed walnut oil from their own production, in addition to cherry tomato and cashew-pumpkin seed pesto. TAIGA Naturkost from the Palatinate combines wild garlic with Siberian cedar nuts in their Siberian forest pesto. And Königskind from Wiehl in the Bergisches Land region stirs up a creamy porcini pesto with almonds and Parmigiano.

How to use pesto with pasta, bread, and potatoes

For pasta, calculate about two tablespoons of pesto per person. Stir it into a bowl with a splash of hot pasta water, add the drained noodles, and mix well. Pesto should remain cold: when heated, the herbs lose their color and freshness. Ribbon noodles with walnut pesto, spaghetti with wild garlic, gnocchi with basil—that's how you get dinner on the table in ten minutes.

Beyond pasta, you can spread pesto on buttered bread or toasted ciabatta, stir it into boiled potatoes, scrambled eggs, or mashed potatoes, use it as a marinade for salmon and grilled vegetables, or mix it with quark to make a dip. A teaspoon of white truffle cream turns a simple risotto into a feast, while a spoonful of porcini pâté refines a gravy for game.

Buying and storing pesto correctly

• Vegan: All varieties from sell g'machts, both pestos from TAIGA, and the truffle pesto, porcini pâté, and peperoncino pesto from Wajos are vegan.
• Garlic-free: Basil-lemon balm, stinging nettle-arugula, and tomato-basil from sell g'machts.
• With cheese: The walnut and basil pestos from Gruber, the pestos from Solling and Königskind, and most from Wajos contain Parmigiano, Pecorino, or hard cheese and therefore dairy.
• Jar size: The 50g jars from Vitelium are suitable for sampling, the 90g jars for stocking up; the other pestos come in jars ranging from 110 to 180g.
• Storage: Keep unopened jars in a cool, dark place. Once opened, pesto must be kept in the refrigerator; smooth the surface, cover it with a little olive oil, and always use a clean spoon. Consume within the timeframe indicated on the label.

Goes well with pesto

Pesto is part of our Cooking & Enjoying category. You can find the corresponding noodles under Pasta, including South Tyrolean egg ribbon noodles with porcini or lemon. If you prefer to reach for tomato sauce, check out Pasta Sauces & Sugo.

Order pesto online

Whether it's wild garlic from the Allgäu, walnuts from Styria, or truffles from Molise: order your pesto online at Leni & Hans, and the jars will be in your kitchen in 1–3 days.