Best culinary hay?

[Daniel Duane]

I baked a chicken in hay last night--bed of hay in a dutch oven, chicken rubbed in hazelnut oil and seasoned, set in the hay, more hay on top, covered with lid, lid sealed with a quick flour/water dough. Everything was terrific except the hay I used: pet-store grade alfalfa. There was a barnyard quality to the alfalfa that I couldn't quite get past. Anybody have a better suggestion? I saw references to a French mountain hay, in a post discussing Bocuse's ham in hay. But I'm guessing this is not a readily available ingredient in the US. Other options? Western Timothy? Oat hay? What hay are people cooking with?

[Mjx]

Recently had a dish at Malling & Schmidt that had been prepared using flax hay; don't know how widely available that it, but it was very good.

[Paul Bacino]

I'm not sure of culinary type.. but the best hay/straw, comes from late harvest, as the earlier hay usually has weeds. So it could be variation you will see in the different cuts. I think the 3 or 4 cut will be the cleanest..

Consider straw?

Difference..

http://www.ehow.com/facts_5595669_difference-between-hay-straw-bedding.html

[BadRabbit]

I'm really interested in whether Timothy can be used since I always have small bales of it around the house (my daughter has a pet Cavy).

[Daniel Duane]

I smelled Timothy at the pet store, when I bought the alfalfa. seems to me it had a grassier aroma--less barnyard. Might be worth a shot.

[pax]

The difference between straw and hay is pretty big. Hay is one of many grasses (timothy, orchard grass, alfalfa) that are cut green and dried. Straw is harvested when it's fruit (oats, etc) is dry and is basically just a stalk. It doesn't have much in the way of anything in terms of aroma or taste.

Please be careful buying hay. Depending on your location, hay is weird. It can be chemically treated, it can be baled damp and mold BADLY, it can be mixed in with a lot of other plants which you will not recognize because they are all dried out. Also, alfalfa has a spore which causes miscarriage if you get infected hay.