Pesto is a basil sauce that originated in the city of Genova in theLiguria region of northwest Italy.Italian purist insist that pesto can only be made using locally- grown Genoese basil, a small leafed variety with a delicate taste.The name is the contracted past participle of the Genoese word pestâ (Italian: pestare), which means to pound, to crush, in reference to the original method of preparation, with marble mortar and wooden pestle.
The ingredients in a traditionally made pesto are ground with a
circular motion of the pestle in the mortar. This same Latin root
through Old French also gave rise to the English word pestle.
