Basil – Dark Purple Opal

Baker Creek: Deep color makes this one extra flavorful, rich, and sweet. The fragrant deep-violet foliage will accent your floral designs with drama and perfume. Many gardeners choose to dapple the landscape with dark purple foliage, as it accents brightly colored flowers and vegetables beautifully. This variety was bred at the University of Connecticut in the 1950s, when Professor Joseph M. Lent and his colleague John Scarchuck set out to improve the existing purple basil variety, which had inconsistent color issues. A purple-splotched variety from Turkey was selected from countless samples from across the globe. The result was this deeply purple, vigorous variety, which they named Dark Opal. This exemplary basil took home a bronze medal in the 1962 All-America’s Selection award.