^^ 2) its fine. You can harvest either the bottom or top at anytime but not both together if you want Basil to regenerate. Since I already resurrected an old thread, I might as well add my two cents to the flowering discussion. Generally, when flowering occurs, the leaves most immediate to the flower begin to lose their nutritional uptake. In many flowering plants (i.e. determinate tomatoes), this is visible as Browning of surrounding leaves. In Basil I guess its loss of flavor. Plants have basal metabolic rates proportional to their size, meaning that they can only conduct an X amount of metabolism at any one time. Flowering stresses the metabolism beyond normal basal metabolism, and because its a reproduction attempt (survival of the species through seed production), the priority is given to flowering (reproduction) over maintaining leaf physiology. Cutting the flower buds diminishes the flowering temporarily and gives resources back to the leaf as the plant attempts once again to develop flowers. In controlled environments, you can sustain vegetative growth indefinitely and inhibit flowering by setting a specific temperature and light hours. That's climate control, indoors under artificial lights.

Truth is - I don't know because I've never tried it! But I prefer to freeze sweet basil because IMHO it tends to lose flavour when dried. I don't see that the lemon basil would be much different.

No, since they tell you to shell and then cook it would be 1/2 lb. uncooked as if just shelled. You are talking about an awfully lot of "tweaking" here. While some changes as discussed in your first post is safe, when you start rewriting so much then you are just creating your own recipe. That is when safety goes out the window. Fresh herbs normally can't be substituted for dried herbs - they change the pH. So with the exception of the bean substitution, all the adjustments you mention now are things that would be done AFTER the jar is opened, not prior to processing. So one has to ask, if you don't even like it then why are you making it? ;) Just can the 3 types of beans plain and then make the salad the way you want it at serving time. Dave

Yes, it's my recipe, Lexlani. It looks like you have an old copy. I've since added after 'To can:'...DO NOT ADD CREAM WHEN CANNING. There was a little confusion when I first posted it...I forget not everyone knows not to can dairy. You still have a lot of low acid vegies (the carrots, onion and all that garlic)and it needs to be processed in a pressure canner, just not as long as it would when using chicken broth. ksrogers may be thinking of the flavor of the final product (?). Many times added herbs will turn bitter when processed, but I've never noticed it with this recipe (I usually wind up using dried basil).