Pesto made from weeds wins entrepreneurial prize

Making Faroese pesto with weeds replacing basil leaves as the main ingredient is an excellent entrepreneurial initiative.

That was the verdict of the judges at the annual student entrepreneurial awards, who picked alternative pesto makers Rávan, a team of five students at Tórshavn’s Glasir college, as this year’s winners.

“We noticed in a Facebook group for gardening enthusiasts that many of the posts centred around how to get rid of weeds,” explains Rávan team member Sólva Magnadóttir.

Healthy and tasty

“This was a shame, we thought, because most weeds are healthy – and some are even quite tasty.”

The girls then proceeded to experiment with various recipes involving weeds, eventually settling on making an alternative pesto.

Rather than using basil leaves as the main ingredient, they opted for ground elder – a notoriously pesky weed which forms leaves that tend to grow over nearby plants.

“We also used seaweed instead of salt, along with some of the more conventional pesto ingredients such as parmesan, garlic, pine nuts and olive oil.”

Winning the Faroese competition qualifies Rávan to take part in the student entrepreneurial awards in Denmark and Greenland for which the girls are now preparing a video pitch of their new product.

Read the Faroese version of this article here

Translated by prosa.fo

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