Basil is a herb that goes very well with tomatoes, either in a salad or in tomato sauces with pasta or pizza sauce. When adding basil to a pasta sauce, it’s best to add the basil at the very end, just before serving. The basil does not have to be cooked.

Basil plants can be bought in most supermarkets and they do well in a sunny spot on your kitchens window sill. When growing basil in your kitchen and the plant starts to flower, you should shake the stem a little each day to help with pollination. Each flower bud produces 4 seeds, that can clearly be seen when the flowers drop. They are green at first, but will gradually darken until they are black. Cut off the stem when the seeds have turned black and leave to dry. A single stem can produce over a hundred seeds, so you will never have to buy another plant again.

Another way to propagate a basil plant is by cuttings. When the main stem grows side branches, let them grow until they have 3 or 4 pairs of leaves. Cut the side branch close to the main stem and put it in clean water. Change the water every couple of days until roots start to grow. You can now plant the cutting into soil. I like this method better than growing from seeds, because it is a lot faster.

You can use black pepper in almost any kind of dish, have you ever tried strawberries with pepper? When using pepper in hot dishes, you should add it at the end of the cooking process, because its aroma weakens when heated.

Black pepper is best purchased as whole peppercorns and freshly ground in a peppermill when needed. The whole peppercorns will keep their flavor for a very long time, but when ground it will quickly lessen. Whole peppercorns should be stored in an airtight container away from direct sunlight.