In cooking, it is used as flavoring in various grilled dishes, salads, boiled foods, stews, soups, pasta, while it also pairs well with sauces that have tomato as their main ingredient.

It is native to India, but Theophrastus and Dioscorides have also referred to it. The name “basil” (which in Greek means “king”) is associated with a legend according to which the plant grew where the emperor Constantine and his mother, Saint Helena, found the True Cross.

It is used in the folk medicine as herb since it is believed that it is a good diuretic, soothes the stomach- and the headache, while in the ancient times people were using it as compresses in order to cure insect, scorpion and snake bites.