Bay Leaves

[Wholemeal Crank]

I tried sprouting some seeds I found on a sidewalk from a tree in someone's yard (not from the parks), but didn't succeed. I've only seen the plants twice since I moved to LA, both from specialty native plant nurseries.

Edited November 9, 2009 by Wholemeal Crank (log)

[LuckyGirl]

The bay leaves I have are organic, came in a plastic box and are from "Jacob's Farm". I probably bought them at Whole Foods.

They have probably been in my freezer for 2 years if not three.

Like I said in an earlier post, they are particularly small, like a quater the size of most bay leaves. I wonder if these small leaves are particular to a specific type of bay.

[Wholemeal Crank]

These are my two umbellularia, from two different native plant nurseries. Their leaf shape is not quite the same, but they do have the same characteristic odor.

and

Not sure either of these photos are clear enough at this scale to demonstrate that the young leaves can be quite small; and the leaf shape is also pretty variable between the very elongated potted plant and the less elongate one planted in the yard.

[John Rosevear]

Sparrowgrass, I recently got a bag of Penzey's bay leaves, and they're far and away the most aromatic (and best-tasting) dried bay leaves I've ever had, much better than the ones I used to get from a local foodie shop (which were probably from Frontier co-op, now that I think about it). Maybe you got a bad batch?