With all due respect to chef Paolo Laboa, who once held the title of world pesto champion in Genoa, Italy, I must take issue with the pesto recipe he provided to the Aug. 8 Portland Press Herald. He uses a half-clove of garlic in a recipe calling for 6 cups of basil. Why bother? Who could taste such a tiny amount?

I’ve been making pesto for over 40 years and still remember the first time I tasted it, in a three-decker in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A friend who had lived in Italy invited me for dinner.

There was the gleaming green mound on a pile of pasta. Heaven! I couldn’t eat or make enough. My freezer was stocked with single servings in baby food jars.

I continue to enjoy it year round, and I make and freeze large quantities when the basil is growing in our garden. It’s fresh and tastes of summer, even during those endless, bleak February days. Buon appetito!

Barbara Doughty

Portland