So, cheaper ingredients. Who’d a thought?

If they read the ingredient list, would have saved a trip to Italy! (Edit) OK, this comment semi-blew up. Seems like lots replying didn't get the joke lol.

What people don't realize is that "pesto" is just an Italian word for a pounded sauce made in a mortar and pestle (hint: pestle and pesto have the same root). Pesto Genovese is the kind that is known ubiquitously in English as "pesto", but swapping some other herb for basil or swapping a different kind of nut in doesn't make it not pesto any more than swapping goat milk for cow milk makes something not cheese. It just makes it a different kind of pesto.

Not the worst case of replacing the expensive ingredients with cheaper ones. I'd still buy that pesto.

Summary of video: “We use different ingredients.” “You’re so cheap!”

Her: We do it because of taste. Him: So what you’re saying is that you want to save money?

To be honest, the reason was obvious to me; just read the ingredient label of your cheap pesto and you'd know. However, seeing the actual menufacturing process and the reasoning behind the substitutions was informative. I buy cheap pesto at the grocery store. It's convenient and lasts a long time in the fridge. But sometimes I make it myself, using a few similar swaps of my own (the nuts and cheese). I don't think there's a wrong way to make pesto if it tastes good!

It seems likely that packaging a shelf stable version near where most of the perishable ingredients are grown also reduces costs.

Another classical case of: "Do I watch the video or do I go to the comments for the answer"

I make pesto but not with pine nuts. Toasted walnuts work just fine. Plus, I grow my own basil. Pesto can be frozen also, just add a little lemon juice. We freeze it in silicone ice trays. We enjoy it all winter.

I'll save you five minutes of your life: they use cheap ingredients.

I'm italian and i've tried all kinds of pesto, even my grandma grows his own basil to make it. Saclá is not one of my favorite but there are still some bottled pesto that are quite good, usually tho they are find in fridges and not in bottles or jars. Even if its not the traditional pesto, it is still good or they would not sell. (So many italian people did not even try traditional pesto or do not like it for it's strong taste)

Wow cashew is used cause it is cheaper!!! Never thought I would hear that.

When you study Economics you learn about Economy of Scale. The manufacturers are buying basil by the ton while you buy it by the ounce. They get a much better price. Also the grocers that are selling fresh basil have to consider that much of it will spoil before they can sell it so they have to sell it for a much higher price.

I wonder if the women being interviewed knew that the questions and conversations were aimed to focus on less expensive ingredients. She probably thought it was just an innocent tour on how to make pesto

New Title: Man unaware different recipes exist

The poor customer reps who get those kind of phone calls 😭

I worked for a high-end catering outfit for almost 20 years, and made a lot of pesto. We used a mix of 2/3 basil and 1/3 fresh spinach leaves, only EVOO (though probably not the best stuff), good cheese, but no nuts. The reason we eliminated the nuts was because pesto does not LOOK like it has nuts in it, and several times, we had people with nut allergies grab some toasted rounds of French Bread with Pesto on it. After one guy went to the hospital, we decided no more nuts. But we got rave reviews for our pesto.

i do the same at home. 50% pine, 50% other nuts and i also stretch out the oil a bit so it doesnt taste overwhelming

If we used too much extra virgin olive oil it would overwhelm the taste of sunflower oil

I love how she keeps trying to explain how the sub ingredients make the “taste” somehow better, whilst he meanwhile is like, “NOPE, it’s because it’s cheaper, right?” LMBO!

Nevermind the basil, in Asia, the pine nuts cost arms and legs.

When you’re buying ingredients in mass bulk like a business would directly from a distributor, you get the very base prices that are way cheaper than you’d get in a grocery store.

I love how he rephrased everything she said so as to imply that they do it to make it cheaper. Obviously she doesn't want to say that on camera lol

The only reason I clicked on this video was because I thought it was John Cena tasting pesto on the thumbnail

This poor worker having to argue that sunflower oil is added to balance out the flavor. And his low-key ragging at the end. Amazing

I worked in a place packaging pesto among other things. The boss told me we don't use any cheese because people are allergic to dairy and if we did add it they would buy it anyway and since they are idiots they would complain. If we used nuts same story. They would have a reaction after buying it even though it would say on the label and after they would sue. So no cheese or nuts. Cost cut. Next was mostly canola oil with a splash of olive. He challenged me to find a way to make it cheeper but better. We had Kale on stock so I cut back on the basil and added kale also adding back a nutty flavour. Something like 50/50 basil to kale. I saved him more money on just the pesto production than was my paycheck. When I saw him calculate the savings with excitement and not offer me a raise I knew what I was doing. I prefer to work with good food so after 5 years and no raise there I quit. He would call me back every couple years offering maybe a dollar raise. I was like nope. I'll earn more unemployed

I like this video. It showcases the traditional, expensive, artisanal, hand-picked way to make pesto but also appreciates the cheaper, mass-produced, widely available way as well.

Made some pesto last night! $10 for the good cheese, $4 for the basil plant, $4 for the pine nuts, and 50 cents for the garlic. Almost $20 worth of ingredients and it made just enough for 1 package of gnocchi. Huge difference in flavor though

Still tastes good. In this case i don't actually mind that they use some ingredients to stretch the otherwise very expensive product. Cashews and the less aged cheeses still are excelent products in their own right.

Read the label. They don’t use 100% extra virgin olive oil or pine nuts to save money.

Don't you mean "how is supermarket pesto so expensive when the ingredients are so cheap?"

Nothing wrong with a grana padano, its a quality cheese, pecorino is also fine But diluting it with cashews and sunflower oil would make my nonna cry, you can make weaker pesto without cashews! Honestly there has to be a better nut to weaken the flavour with

Présenter: So, you use cashews because they're cheaper? Company representative: The pine nuts are for flavour, cashew nuts, they're for the crunch. Presenter: But pine nuts, they're very expensive... Company representative: Well, the cashew nuts nuts also help... to control that...

In Saudi Arabia, basil is considered a weed. When all the university instructors realized that basil was growing wild all over the campus, it was pesto heaven. Mama mia

-Basil costs nothing, i grow it myself, it’s the easiest thing to grow. (Buy it from shops during winter time) -Switch to different types of nuts for the sake of experimenting and changing. -Garlic has literally no cost. -Olive oil for the amount you use does not get that expensive. -Parmigiano/Pecorino is literally the only “expensive” thing in a pesto. Why would it be expensive to make it yourself? I prep my pesto every weekend :)

All Italians make pesto at home and when they don't have the right ingredient, they use alternatives like almonds or walnuts, other basil, also a smashed little potato... at home sometimes alternative solutions are even appreciated, as long as it is pasta (I say thick spaghetti), virgin olive oil and cooked "al dente" which is vital.

Meanwhile in our country: Why is Pesto so expensive when the ingredients are affordable?

The ingredients they use are great alternatives to the traditional recipe.

Am I the only one who wonders why on earth for a short 6 minutes video a film crew has to fly to Italy (especially with that guessable result).

keep doing what ur doing!! i love these videos!! as more people discover this channel they will too. who doesnt love learning about the stuff we eat all the time in such a cool manner w travel and meeting w the actual producers. cool stuff

Basil isn't hard to grow, it's hard to _-store-_ distribute

The way they elegantly lay on the boards and pick the basil 💕

I learned to make pesto this past summer and I had no idea it would be so delicious. I used up the rest of the basil I was growing in my garden, but since it wasn’t quite enough, I put in a bunch of parsley which was still in abundance. Someone else has mentioned using baby spinach too, so I will try that if my basil plant is too sparse. I also used walnuts, which I prefer to pine nuts. I found the rest of it in my freezer last week and it was still excellent simply dressing some pasta.

Local pronounces it as “Basil” Interviewer “locals are picky with their BAZILL”

The way those guys were laying out on those boards 😂

In turkey, they would probably use pistachios, since the Turks put it in everything

I'm a Ligurian and I'm just here to say belin grow your own basil at home and spend 5 minutes making it in a blender if can't do the mortar. The Saclà version feels to me like a pickled Full English. Like, an unholy creation!

Genovese here, there's a variation few people know outside Liguria, not even all Ligurian do that, and some consider it heresy, it works only with fresh pesto, not the store bought stuff, add some butter in the pest before you add the pasta. The most traditional way to serve it is to boil some chopped potatoes and green beans with the pasta, it brings it to a whole new level.

How come basil is expensive in England? Basil is really easy to grow in my experience: you buy a little branch (fresh), take off most leaves (not all of them, leave a few), put the branch in some water (exchanging the water every day) and, in a few days, it will sprout roots, then you just plant it in a vase. That's it, you get a supply of basil from one branch. Ps.: 1)Untill it sprouts its own roots, the basil twig will live off of only water, which doesn't have much nutrients. So you take off most of the leaves so that branch won't have many parts to mantain and thus need fewer nutrients. That way it won't simply spoil on water. It still needs leaves for photosynthesis, so don't forget to leave a few good ones. 2)When you put the branch in water, try to put just a lit bit of the bottom in the water and the rest of it keep it above the water level. If too much of it is kept under water, it will produce too many roots and make it difficult to plant later - although it isn't much of a problem. 3)I live in a warm climate, even warmer than Italy, so I don't know if that would be a problem for the brittish. I figure that if you keep it in a vase indoors where's there's enough heat and sunlight it should be fine, but I'm hardly a botanist nor a farmer, what do I know? 4)Nowadays I plant basil in a very small vase. A bigger vase would yield a very big basil plant, and I don't need that much (it's just a condiment, not a food per se). 5)I just water the plant. No special treatment, no fertilizer... Maybe the dirt I got here is really good, I don't know. Again, not a botanist, not a farmer.

We make the bulk of our homemade pesto with cilantro. I harvest about two bushels each summer from the garden and spend a few days putting it up in various ways. Oh so good.

Lady: cashews are for crunch Host: so...cheaper.

bringing it to the masses... and thankfully so !..

I never got a pre- packaged pesto that was better than I can make myself. Sometimes I use walnuts instead of pine nuts to cut costs and it’s still very delicious, albeit untraditional.

Wow. You just reinvented the whell. Who would have thought that they put cheap, mass produced ingredients into a supermarket pesto? Thank you for opening up my eyes, I wouldn't have figured it out without you.

Parmesan, pine nuts, basil, good olive oil. So damn expensive

So the answer is: cheap basil (difference in quality perhaps), use cashew nuts, and sunflower oil (both cheaper). Also, grocery stores increase costs dramatically and tend to overcharge on fresh produce & herbs ( last remark is my personal opinion)

1:00 open differentials are pathetic. For those not verse in diffs: Open: Power is sent to the wheels with the least resistance (grip) but what it lacks in performance it makes up for in stability. Locked: Can't turn to save its life, but power is sent evenly to both wheels at all times. Limited Slip Differential: Power is sent to the wheel that has the most grip and is the best solution to the differential problem.

That lady at the pesto factory was just hiding behind that bush.

I have a new appreciation for rich taste and quality of (my husband’s) homemade pesto.

Basil became widespread in Italy around 300 B. C., though, not in the 1800's...

*1:56** draw me like one of your pesto girls.*

Amazing how this dude is kinda criticising the mass production but in a very polite and non judgemental way

1 butternut squash or equivalent amount of pumpkin cut into small cubes. Mix in a baking dish with bread crumbs, parmesan, salt, pepper, and just enough olive oil to make everything stick. Toss. In another baking dish, do the same, but instead of squash or pumpkin, use around a pound (half kilo) of sliced mushrooms. Roast in convection oven at 425 degrees F until browned. Toss with pasta (whole box) and pesto in a pot. Use pasta water to dissolve/dislodge the fond at the bottom of the roasting pans and add to pot.

Simple answer: They use less expensive ingredients

"us brits love pesto!" wow! what a unique distinctly british quality

It's mostly just the scale I am guessing. When you can buy tons of ingredients and make tons of product all at once it really gets the costs down. Cashews aren't all that cheap either, but as you may have seen the basil wasn't prepared very well, the stems were still present and you have probably noticed the strings of stem In your store bought jars of pesto.

Thanks for the video. Learned a lot

I remember the first time as a chef I ordered a bag of pine nuts, £27 😮 Samphire caught me out as well.

I was thinking the same thing last time I bought pesto.

Basil is easy to grow, I use the square foot garden. I have 4 x 4 ft beds raised 2 feet high. The compost is rabbit chicken and goat poo. The earthworms help break it down. And we have long freezing winters. Unfortunately, the goats won't eat it, (it grows well enough I considered it as a feed).

I was never a great fan of pesto until a purchased a jar of artisanal pesto from Genoa. It was absolutely amazing. Fortunately my local Italian deli stocks a very similar pesto which is so much better than those you can get in the supermarket. But yes, it comes with a bigger price tag.

In California, you buy giant bags of Basil at farmer's markets for nothing. My girlfriend was in italy, and brought a giant wedge Romano cheese in the airport, and carried it home on her lap. I've never seen Pine nuts cheap. If all of us could buy directly from famers, and paid twice the price industry buys at, food would be near free, and the farmers would double their income.

The real story is what happened to the host's intended clothes for the meeting. not to say the wrinkled T-shirt and cagro shirts were not looking FRESH AF

I love how he coaxed the truth out of her as she was feeding in the line of "improves the taste" he was like "it keeps cost down" now this is a great journalist.

I died when he said that was hard work but he was laying down

It would have been nice to have a comparison between the expensive original recipe pesto and the cheaper ingredients version - in a blind test with street people around the world.

Actually the original recipe calls for a mix of Pecorino and Parmigiano

Yes, traditionally you use pine nuts, but in a pinch you can use lightly toasted walnuts. Making basil at home is *chef kiss*

So interesting, thank you guys for this

I never realized store bought pesto was cheap? I've always made it myself because it was pricey in stores. Hmmmm.....

Because keeping fresh herbs on shelf is expensive. So can it or preserve in oil.

I don't even get this stuff and yet I watched it. Will have to buy 1 from the supermarket tomorrow!

I tried making my own once. Cost me a fortune but boy was it worth it! Pine nuts - £6 for 150g Oil EVO - £8/litre Basil £3 for two small trees Parmigiano £3 for 150g Garlic and sea salt flakes

Why did this video feel like a 15 minutes one?

And of course use pestle and mortar when making pesto at home, the outcome is really different! 😊 the blender is unsuitable for this job and half of the flavor is lost.

Great video, thanks for this!

Nothing like spending half hour to an hour pounding away making pesto. The difference is massive, and more satisfying.

My family has been making our own pesto for years, with all the best ingredients. Protip: Best made with purple basil. We're not even Italian, just regular Canadian folks.

What you thought was basil in it is just macerated yard grass clippings.

Man, 4am KZfaq recommendations are wild

I use green onions, instead of basil and raw almonds, instead of pinenuts, lots of garlic. I use EVOO. I wait until the dish is ready to put cheese on it. I use Asiago or old cheddar. I like it "melty". I also find that putting the cheese in the sauce makes it too salty...IMHO. (One bunch green onions, One cup EVOO, One cup almonds, I use 7 or more cloves of garlic. IN BLENDER/FOOD PROCESSOR: Start with olive oil and garlic. Emulsify. Cut green onions in one inch pieces...(get rid of the hairy stuff, first). Add. Emulsify. Add nuts...not too quickly. I like it to be a thick paste. Cook pasta. (I like Rigatoni Rigate.)Drain. Put in bowl. Stir in "pesto". Add chopped plum tomatoes and chopped green onions. Grate cheese over your pasta and give it a toss to get the cheese melting. Easy as hell. Delicious.

Once you've made your own pesto you find all jarred pesto tastes horrid.

“I need to book a rental car for just one person. A 25ft 4 row van should do”

Wonderful little documentary. Thanks algorithm!

I love Pesto. As I'm only used to the cheap one, my taste buds approve.

Cheaper ingredients, cheaper price.

Pretty obvious: they buy the ingredients in bulk, and you don’t.

I first rated pesto making my own and since then I’ve bought jars for speed. Not one, out of all the different jars I’ve bought-including this one ☝🏻 going by the jar and lid, size and shape, even come close to what I made. I’m a rubbish cook, but even my pesto was awesome. I make it regularly now, I buy the basil fresh when ever it’s on offer, and make about 1kilo at a time. I keep it in the fridge and use it maybe twice a week and it hasn’t once went off yet. Tip. You sometimes get small sachets of Parmesan shavings with salads. I don’t really like it, but I keep it in the fridge , and it used to just get thrown out, but now I use them in my pesto, with saves me buying a big lump of it. Cutting costs further.

I love pesto. I only had it recently for the first time and it just adds this rustic European flavour to the dish.