Here’s why you should be careful about the pesto you buy in the supermarket!

For pasta, our sandwiches or to accompany our meats, we sometimes lack the time and ingredients to make homemade condiments. Fortunately, in our closets, there are usually a few pots lying around and which improve the flavor of our dish in just a few spoonfuls. The problem ? It is important to pay attention to the product that one decides to buy. In effect, their composition sometimes leaves much to be desired. A nutritionist has just sounded the alarm about pesto.

Known as @drbonnebouffe on Instagram, a dietician decided to take an interest in the composition of supermarket pestos. Verdict? Some brands could do much better. But how do you tell a good pesto from a bad one? The main thing obviously lies in the composition of the products.

A good pesto generally consists of of only 5 main ingredients : basil, parmesan, olive oil, garlic and pine nuts. Add a little more salt for seasoning and that’s it. Yet, despite the original recipe, many pesto alla genovese sauces do not contain the basic ingredients and thus we find “cashew nuts instead of pine nuts or sunflower oil instead of olive oil”explains the specialist.

But that’s not quite another point of composition that’s problematic, especially the product supplement as “added sugar, flavorings and thickeners, and other unwanted ingredients” that distort the original recipe.

That is why, it is essential to carefully check the composition of your pesto before letting yourself be tempted. Prioritize so “a pesto sauce with a short and simple list of ingredients like that of Naturalia” explains the dietitian.

And if not, the expert recommends doing it at home. For this, she reveals her recipe.

To make a small bowl of sauce, you will need:

• 100g basil leaves
• 2 cloves garlic
• 40g of pine nuts
• 1 tablespoon of salt
• 100g of parmesan
• 20g of pecorino
• 100ml d’huile d’olive

In terms of preparation, nothing could be simpler:

1. Start by washing and drying the basil leaves before coarsely chopping them.
2. Peel and degerm the garlic cloves. Then chop them.
3. Crush the pine nuts using a knife.
4. Then, in a mortar, put the basil, garlic and salt. Crush everything with a pestle.
5. Add the pine nuts, parmesan and freshly grated pecorino.
6. Crush again and gradually pour in the oil while mixing with a pestle.

It’s ready ! And to use your sauce in the kitchen, here are 10 cool pesto recipes.