Wajos Basil Pesto with Pine Nuts. 46 percent basil, olive oil, cashews, and Pecorino – the green pesto that tastes like basil instead of oil.
Wajos Basil Pesto with Pine Nuts is a green pesto made from 46 percent basil, olive oil, cashew nuts, 2.5 percent pine nuts, grated cheese and Pecorino, garlic, and salt, 180 g from Wajos in Dohr on the Moselle. Not a pasta sauce for heating, not a pesto with sunflower oil as the main ingredient, and not a vegan version, but a pesto that is nearly half basil – green, savory, with cheese and nuts.
Basil Pesto with Pine Nuts from Wajos is the shortcut to a dinner that looks like more than ten minutes of work. Boil pasta water, open the jar, stir two spoonfuls of pesto with a little pasta water in a bowl, add noodles, top with Parmesan. Many jars can do that – the difference lies in what lingers on your tongue afterward. Here, it is basil: 46 percent, almost half the jar, which is why the pesto is dark green instead of olive-colored and tastes like herbs instead of oil. For us, it is one of the two best-selling Wajos pestos and the jar that is never missing from our pantry.
Basil up front, cheese and cashew behind it, garlic only soft
When opened, the pesto smells of fresh basil, green and peppery, with a hint of garlic. On the tongue, the herb comes first, then the olive oil, then the nut – creamy, slightly sweet, from cashew nuts – and finally the cheese: grated cheese and Pecorino, salty and savory, plus milk powder, which binds the mass. Garlic is present, but subtle; it remains in the background. The consistency is coarse and chunky rather than a smooth purée.
Honestly, it must be said: the nut in the pesto is primarily cashew; pine nuts make up 2.5 percent – they are in the name, but the cashews provide the creaminess. Lactic acid as an antioxidant preserves the color; the pesto contains no added flavorings. With 43 grams of fat per 100 grams, it is what a pesto should be: oil, nuts, and cheese, for seasoning rather than spooning. It contains milk and cashew nuts as allergens.
For those who want a pesto with pine nuts as the only nut, this jar is not suitable. Those who need it cheese-free will find the dairy-free version in the Pesto Peperoncino & Aglio Olio – spicy, made from green chilies and olive oil.
Over pasta, under tomato and mozzarella, on bread, and in potato salad
Pasta is the beginning. Two tablespoons of pesto per person in a bowl, add three tablespoons of pasta water, stir, then fold in the hot noodles – this is how the pesto spreads, and the pan stays cold. Linguine, spaghetti, or heart-shaped noodles, Parmesan on top, done. With halved cherry tomatoes and mozzarella, it becomes a summer dish; with sautéed zucchini and pine nuts, a dinner for guests.
Cold, it is just as at home: under tomato and mozzarella instead of basil leaves, on toasted bread with cream cheese, in a wrap with chicken and arugula, or as a spoonful in tomato soup right before serving. In potato salad with oil and vinegar, it replaces herbs and mustard at the same time; stirred with yogurt or crème fraîche, it becomes a dip for veggie sticks and grilled cheese.
Warm, it can do more than many think: a spoonful in mashed potatoes, on oven-roasted vegetables like zucchini and bell peppers, over seared salmon or chicken breast in the last seconds in the pan. As a filling in puff pastry swirls or on pizza after baking. And in a minestrone, a spoonful at the end stirs up the whole soup.
The pesto is not suitable for frying or prolonged heating – the cheese curdles, and the basil becomes brown and bitter. Always add it at the very end, never in a hot pan. Once opened, the jar belongs in the refrigerator; covered with a thin layer of olive oil, it lasts longer.
Our tip: Heart-shaped noodles with this pesto, cherry tomatoes, and Parmesan – the dinner that gets our children to eat greens willingly.
A pesto that comes to us via Wajos on the Moselle
The pesto is part of the Wajos assortment in Dohr near Cochem on the Moselle. The family business has over 80 employees and around 900 items. Behind the name are the initials of Walter Josef Oster, the founder from a winemaking family in Ediger-Eller that has been making wine on the Moselle for 15 generations. From his liqueur manufacture in the 1980s, his son Peter Oster and Ulf Schwichtenberg built the Wajos brand – the first store opened in Trier in 2008, and today they exist all over Germany.
The Italian line – pesto, sugo, breadsticks, noodles – complements what Wajos produces itself in Dohr: cremas, oils, spice blends, liqueurs. A Piedmont-style basil pesto fits into this range because it brings the oils and cremas on the plate together. An in-house laboratory tests the company's products, and Wajos calls the principle behind it "controlled smaller work" – for a pesto, this means: few ingredients, a lot of the most important one.
The pesto for the pantry and for unplanned evenings
This jar is for everyone who wants a pesto in the cupboard that saves dinner on a Tuesday, even when the fridge is empty. And which still tastes like basil when guests are sitting at the table. 180 grams are enough for three to four portions of pasta; unopened, the jar lasts a long time in the pantry. If you prefer red over green, try the Tomato Pesto with Almonds; as a gift, both fit together with a package of noodles in one parcel. All pestos and sugos are on our Wajos page.
The pesto is not suitable for vegans or those with milk or nut allergies, nor for those expecting a smooth, mild pesto – this one is coarse, green, and distinctly cheesy.
Nearly half basil, plus olive oil, cashew, and Pecorino – the green pesto from the Wajos shelf that turns noodles into a meal in ten minutes.
