Bay Leaf/Bay Leaves: The Topic

[liuzhou]

Bay leaf is also very common in Chinese cuisine; much more than the article suggests. They are not at all limited to Sichuan. Known in Chinese as 香叶 (xiāng yè), literally flavour leaf or aromatic leaf, they are the Mediterranean type. but I've also seen the Indonesian type very occasionally.

 

I do miss my 40 year old bay tree which is back in London in my daughter's house.

 

 

 

[Laurentius]

16 hours ago, Shel_B said:

There are at least six different answers.

 

Whether you’re making a recipe from India, Jamaica, or Spain, you’re likely to encounter bay leaf in the ingredients list. Just be sure you know the type of bay leaf the recipe calls for.

 

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-is-a-bay-leaf?

Thank you, especially for the interesting link!

[AlaMoi]

bay leaves are akin to hoagies.

what they are depends on where you live . . .

[KennethT]

As @liuzhou suggests above, there is also an Indonesian bay leaf, locally called Daun Salam (syzygium polyanthum) (daun is a word for leafy things), which is very commonly used in many Indonesian dishes and is quite different from any of the other leaves that we call bay leaves.

[Katie Meadow]

The National Wildlife Federation says this about California Bay Laurel:

 

Leaves of the California bay laurel have been used by people to get rid of head lice and to discourage fleas. Scientists now think that dusky-footed woodrats use the aromatic leaves to keep fleas out of their nests. For some people, the oils from the leaves of this tree can be toxic.

 

In my experience the local leaves you can pick here in the Bay Area are very intense; to my taste not particularly pleasant. For my needs dried Turkish bay leaves are just fine.  

[Shel_B]

1 hour ago, Katie Meadow said:

Leaves of the California bay laurel have been used by people to get rid of head lice and to discourage fleas. 

[...]

In my experience the local leaves you can pick here in the Bay Area are very intense; to my taste not particularly pleasant. For my needs dried Turkish bay leaves are just fine.  

I didn't know that CBL has been used as an insecticide, although I vaguely recall reading that the leaves were sometimes used as ticking in mattresses ... or maybe that was Eucalyptus leaves.

 

I certainly agree with you about the intensity of the leaves and your preference for the Turkish leaves. Still, I like them in one or two soups/stews and, when used cautiously, can be quite nice.