in one's own garden is an act of true devotion to the Glory that is the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
I also grow oregano, which it essential to the marinara sauce that gives the Invisible Pink Unicorn her translucent, rosy aura.

If you are doing a pesto sauce, it would be a mortal sin to use dried basil. But to flavor a marinara sauce, dried could be acceptable if you know where the basil came from.

At least, that is the way I see it, maybe because I live in a place where I have to make due with basil that I dried before the frost hit.

as a herb, dried will do fine.
But pesto must be fresh.

Hint - coat the knife blade (I use kitchen scissors to cut mine ) with olive oil to reduce the blackness of bruising the leaves. BUT- dried basil sprinkled over an omelet is a treat. Pesto lasts for quite a long time and has many uses - I use pine nuts or walnuts in mine.
Basil is a gift from the gods.

I put a thin layer of ev olive oil on top to prevent color turning.

we break off chunks and re-heat in the microwave. Add a small bit of water. Comes out just as green and nearly as good as the fresh stuff....fresh is always in the fridge during the summer, but pretty rare in the winter time. This year we have 2 basil plants which have been harvested for pesto twice...will clip again this weekend. A few years ago we had about 8 basil plants and we had frozen pesto for *YEARS*

Are we at sea?


or at home?