Vendor Spotlight: Pesto Joe
Not long after her father’s passing in 2021, Carina Castagna opened the freezer for dinner and found one of her father’s pesto sauces. Seeing it gave her the idea to honor his memory by recreating his beloved sauce.
“For as long as I can remember my dad has been making pesto sauces. Growing up my family always had dozens of basil plants in the backyard… and I specifically remember my dad being particular about the basil he picked for each batch. He wanted to ensure the correct type of basil was used, and that each leaf was at its peak.”
Carina was awarded seed funding for Pesto Joe thanks to a startup program offered by Seton Hall in the summer of 2022. By December of the same year, the business was officially off the ground and running.
“Knowing how fragile life is and how short our time is with our loved ones, I wanted Pesto Joe to be a means in which families can gather together and spend quality time with one another,” Carina said.
As a young girl, Carina recalls being her father’s “official taste tester.” The specific gurgling noise the blender would make when the sauce was made perfectly is the same gurgling sounds she looks for to ensure she’s put the ingredients in the right order and amount when making batches of pesto today. As a child, that sound was her cue to run to the kitchen and give her “professional” opinion on the flavor. Joe’s pesto was a labor of love—he spent time inspecting the dozens of basil plants in their home garden to find the “perfect leaf.” Family and friends would continually ask for more pesto, and essentially begged him for the recipe.
However, in true Italian fashion, there wasn’t a “true” recipe to be given. Instead, Carina said her father essentially cooked using a “dash” of this, a “pinch” of that, or a “handful” of leaves.
“To an untrained eye it might have looked as if he was making it up as he went, but he was very purposeful and systematic and somehow always had the pesto perfectly made.”
Her father varied every batch of pesto, often based on what he was cooking with it, or who he was sharing the batch with. He adored garlic, and would eat it raw. However, Carina realized that not everyone wanted as much garlic as her father. This prompted her to create her two original flavors, traditional and garlic lovers, which she says compliments steak or chicken well. Carina hopes to one day create additional flavors, using the traditional recipe as the base.
She learned the recipe by watching her father from a young age. She began by hunting for the perfect leaves of basil, then handing her father each ingredient while he blended them together. Creating a written recipe to ensure a consistent flavor across batches, has been one of Carina’s biggest hurdles in starting the business. However, she was able to recreate her father’s recipe and write it down for generations to come.
Pesto Joe sources its ingredients from local family farms in New Jersey. Carina would love to grow her own basil someday, but until she has the ability to keep up with the demand, she remains focused on sourcing high-quality ingredients from local sources.
Pesto Joe wants to slow life down for you and to create a means in which you can have a sit-down family dinner and enjoy each other’s company. They strive to be a high-quality healthy alternative that provides an easy way to make a delicious meal. Whether it be pasta with pesto, homemade pizza, or a sandwich!
Pesto Joe is committed to bringing families together and creating a positive impact and so they donate to charitable organizations on an annual basis.
The more you eat, the more we grow, the more we can give!
Want to learn more? Visit www.pestojoe.com
Each batch is made with love, from a father to a daughter, to your family.
