There are thousands of basil trees on Joaquim Araújo's plot in Pedrouços, Maia. Perfectly aligned, they are planted with the aid of a ruler and square. Every year, more than 40,000 manjericos are shipped from here all over the country and also abroad, bringing a flavour of Santos Populares to emigrant communities, especially to countries like France and Switzerland.

More than three decades have passed since Joaquim started producing basil on a large scale. Today, he is one of the largest producers of this aromatic and, they say, aphrodisiac plant. ‘The customers won't let me go,’ he laughs. ‘Because I have quality,’ he says.

It all started when a neighbour offered him 50 to 80 plants. ‘I fell in love with this crop,’ he confesses, recalling that, ‘at the time, [production] was dying down a bit’. This solicitor and construction entrepreneur admits that the basil business is profitable, but he emphasises that he keeps it for pleasure, ‘and to help maintain our traditions’. ‘The basil is very much ours, it's very Portuguese,’ he emphasises. ‘Tourists are intrigued by this plant. They're amazed! Even the leek. For them, it's strange that we celebrate with basil, and I think it's very much ours.’

In order for the basil trees to ‘look beautiful’ in June, their production begins in February, when they are sown in the alfobre, and at different times so that they reach different sizes by the time of the Santos Populares. ‘The marjoram trees grow all together, thousands of them,’ and at this stage the main task is to rid them of weeds. Once they are about 10 centimetres tall, ‘with four or five real leaves’, they are transplanted into the ground, leaving about 30 centimetres between each plant. ‘And, each one on its own, the basil develops.’

When it's time to take the plants out of the ground, this entrepreneur has up to 20 people ‘working from sun up to sun down, non-stop’. From mid-May onwards, the grower lets each plant grow to a specific size, with the average size for sale corresponding to a 14 centimetre diameter pot (on sale, you'll find marjoram in pots between seven and 22 centimetres in diameter).

Speaking of pots, with this producer ‘there's no plastic here’. ‘It's important to say: we only work with clay pots; this really is a traditional basil!’ he emphasises. ‘We produce a lot, but we don't shy away from the typical basil in the clay pot.’ - The pots are ordered from a factory in Vergada, ‘which has been producing for this year's campaign since last year's ended’.

The São João season ends with basil

Joaquim doesn't just produce basil. Together with his wife, he is also involved in creating the plaques that will adorn each plant he sells. ‘The basil is very much linked to passions and the exchange of affection, and the quatrain completes the gesture,’ he emphasises.

‘We like to use a bit of banter in the mix and go a little bit towards what this plant conveys, in other words, the effect it has on people,’ he says, adding that the quatrains are created ‘according to loving banter and the exchange of affection, and through these quatrains - some more spicy than others - we like to cheer people up.’ Joaquim particularly enjoys seeing people ‘entertained reading the quatrains and laughing at them because they find them funny’.

According to the producer, when people buy the basil they like to choose it according to the season it's for so that it ‘fits in better with the offer they want to make’, he says, assuring that ‘people always recognise someone in the quatrains; they feel that there are quatrains that are more aimed at their mother, their father, their friend, their husband...’

‘Basil wants affection’

Basil can live beyond the popular saints celebrations: ‘Above all, you need to give the plant a lot of care.’ This is Joaquim's secret. But what does this care consist of? As they are outdoor plants, the basil must be ‘well located, on a balcony, to be outdoors, as long as it doesn't lack water’. It can also be kept indoors, but not for too long, ‘because it needs sun and to keep its branches dry’. ‘If we put the plant indoors, the concentration of water is too much, the branch doesn't dry out, it starts to “melt” in the middle and dies,’ she explains, adding that ‘on sunny days’ it should be removed from the balcony. And he gives us a tip: if we change the pot, the basil will continue to grow.

The grower also assures us that the basil can last until Christmas. ‘There are people who can put up with this plant for months, not least because it “pulls” a little white flower and about four seeds will be born from it which, once they have been properly avenged, we can take the opportunity to sow, thus ending the plant's cycle.’