# Can pesto be canned?



## prairiecomforts (May 28, 2006)

My basil is doing awesome this year. I have already made several fresh batches of pesto, frozen some and still have a ton left to make. I am wondering if pesto can be canned. And if so - does anyone have the instructions on how to do it? Any help or suggestions are appreciated!


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## olivehill (Aug 17, 2009)

There are no approved recipes for canning pesto because oil makes up so much of the recipe.


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## bluewater (May 31, 2013)

I wonder the same thing. Saw one reference to canning it without the oil and adding that later upon use. But it was obscure and I wouldn't trust it. Curious, though, how does one explain why my local store offers three brands of jarred pesto if it's not supposed to be canned?!


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## Macybaby (Jun 16, 2006)

Commerical companies have equipment we don't have and can control the process to insure safety. They have to get their methods tested and approved for use.

If we had $100,000 worth of canning/processing/testing equipment, we could do a lot more at home, but with only $500 worth of equipment, we're sort of limited. 

In most cases, it's that test results using home canning methods show too much variation, so they are not "approved", Wouldn't it be neat if there was something that would change colors when it got to 242F ? Then we could can and if all the color is gone, we'd know our method was working.


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## mpwithem (Oct 25, 2012)

Nothing wrong with frozen pesto!


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

We dry the basil and make pesto with it later. It's not quite the same, but it's still good.


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## Kristinemomof3 (Sep 17, 2012)

mpwithem said:


> Nothing wrong with frozen pesto!


 This is what I do.


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## Marilyn (Aug 2, 2006)

I freeze it in little half-pt jars. It's wonderful, but then I have a feeling that prairiecomforts' basil is doing a lot better than mine.


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