<human>: Hi r/Cooking! This is my first post here, I hope you can help me.

I love pesto. I've been buying it for a few years now, but I prefer homemade, all-natural food, so I tried making it myself. The original recipe I got was from an Italian friend, but apparently, I'm doing something wrong.

The problem is that the pesto I made (using basil leaves (with a little bit of stem), olive oil, pine nuts and parmesan/grana padano cheese) is quite bitter, much more so than the one I buy. I've searched online, but the only explanation I found was something to do with blending olive oil. So, I tried again, first smashing ingredients, and adding olive oil later, but it's still the same. I think it has to do with smashing fresh basil, if I try just squeezing a single leaf, it gets the same bitter taste.

Has anyone faced this problem before, and does anyone know how to make non-bitter pesto? Or have I trained my palate to the wrong, industrial, taste?

Can you give me a shortened version of the text?
<bot>: When I make pesto, it's very bitter, I think it comes from crushing fresh basil leaves. How can I make it less bitter (more like the industrial pesto that I can buy in a store)?