Most of them are available at Asian grocery stores. Rinse them under cold water after opening the can and store leftover shoots in the refrigerator in water that is changed daily. Keeps about 2 weeks. There are many varieties of basil. The most common are sweet and hot basil.
Hot basil is stronger in flavor and very popular for stir frying with meat.
Sweet basil is used in curry dishes and is easy to find fresh all year-round in many supermarkets. The hottest are the very small chilies, and the larger ones are usually milder. Mature chilies are always red. Dried chili and ground dried chili are also used in some recipes. All chilies, fresh or dried, need to be handled with care.