As mentioned it has a special affinity for tomatoes and tomato-flavoured dishes, and it is an essential ingredient to make a truly wonderful pesto sauce. You can also add sweet basil to beans, cheeses, chicken, eggs, fish, marinades, marrows, mushrooms, pasta and pasta sauces and salads. It also makes a great herb vinegar and herb butter. Always add it just before serving to cooked dishes as its flavour diminishes with cooking. Pound it with a bit of olive oil or tear it with the fingers, rather than chopping it.
Sweet basil combines well with garlic, parsley, rosemary, oregano, thyme and sage.
How to use Sweet Basil as a Homemakers Herb You can set pots on windowsills and in open doorways to deter flies, or you can add a few leaves to the barbeque fire to deter moths. You can also grow it as an attractive pot plant for the patio. How to use Sweet Basil as a Natural Remedy Sweet basil is used extensively in aromatherapy for ailments such as stress, migraine, colds and hayfever. It has antispasmodic, appetizing, carminative, galactagogue and stomachic properties. As mentioned, it is quite effective for tension headaches, exhaustion and digestive upsets such as stomach cramps, constipation, diarrhea and enteritis.