We grow lots of basil in our community garden. Most of it is Sweet Basil, aka Royal Basil, or Ocimum basilicum because of the rich tasty leaves that make the perfect pesto. We plant that all spring long but in the full heat of summer it goes to seed very quickly. Whenever we run out of Sweet Basil, we go to its tall woody cousin that grows for ever and needs to be pruned hard, at least once a year. Its taste is not as fresh and clear but it’s definitely basil and it makes a pretty good pesto, especially if you are not being a purist about parmesan cheese, pine nuts, and olive oil.
I used to remove the flowers and seeds in an attempt to keep it producing leaves, but since I discovered Tukmaria, aka Sabja, I let it go to seed and harvest them as they dry. That way I end up with lots of basil seed that I use to make a nutritious jelly to go with my fruit salad. Basil seeds (Tukmaria) work just like Chia. They do not have as much protein and only about half the calories overall, but they have nearly three times as much calcium and lots of iron. My tulsi plant is not big enough to eat the leaves but it flowers like crazy all summer long, so I keep the seeds from that too.
I mix up the seeds with dried fruit in a plastic tub, filling it to about one quarter full, pour boiling water over it and then stir it and let it sit for ten minutes. I end up with a sweet, nutritious jelly that is perfect with fruit salad, and keeps me going for an extra hour or so that pure fruit on its own. If you eat it on its own, the seeds are crunchy in the middle of the jelly and the taste of basil is still strong.