If bay leaves go stale, it takes decades. I picked some dry, brown ones off the ground at Muir Woods in 1966, and they were still strong 20 years later in my car’s glove compartment. I would break one brittle one in two and the smell was renewed every time until the pieces got too small to break in half.
They are best used dried as this dissipates the bitterness you get from fresh leaves. The berries of the tree are poisonous as they contain laurostearine and lauric acid.
I add bay leaf to soups and stews and remove it before serving. I’m not sure how much flavor it adds but it I can usually tell when it goes missing. I also will use it when creating a sauce for a marinade or for brushing on fish. I use the dried leaves only.
Forget what you know about making rice for accompanying a savory dish. Twice the water by volume, bring to a boil, simmer for 20 minutes, right? No.
Boil your Jasmine or Basmati rice in plenty of plenty of water for 11 minutes or so with salt and two fresh bay leaves. Think al dente pasta.
Drain the rice, transfer to a baking dish, dot with butter, and bake at 400 F for 15 minutes.
Bay leaves from Muir Woods are from the California bay tree, or Umbellularia californica. It is a different species from true bay laurel, or Laurus nobilis. California bay has a stronger aroma, and in my opinion an inferior flavor to bay laurel. It doesn’t surprise me that California bay leaves would still be fragrant after 20 years, but true bay leaves don’t keep their aroma nearly so long.
Or a choking hazard.
Emperors new clothes. They add nothing, imho.
The linked SD column above says that California bay is somewhat poisonous to cook with.
Aw, come on. Eat your soup. It’s only somewhat poisonous!
Why are bay leave usually use whole rather than ground?
For years I thought my mother used Baileys for her stews…turns out it was bay leaves
So you can find them and remove them when the dish is done. I put them into stew but then take them back out when the stew is done.
Convenience, mainly. Whole leaves will keep for a long time, but ground bay leaf does not keep well. For many applications, using them whole imparts enough flavour, and fishing them out afterwards isn’t such a hassle.
A quick consult of Wikipedia seems to confirm my assumption - the essential oil that is the dominant flavour would degrade too quickly to make it worthwhile to store it pre-ground:
Thanks. That makes sense.
I would have made more sense if I’d appended that last bit to the post I had open, instead of an abandoned one from a while back… 
I think Muffin is wondering why we usually use the relatively inefficient and inconvenient infusion method instead of just keeping ground bay leaf on hand and using a much smaller amount to impart the amount of flavour you want.
Of course, we do frequently use ground bay leaf. but it’s always toasted and ground as needed. My assumption is that this is because ground bay leaf doesn’t keep well
Maybe – I never tried – but they sure made my car smell good.
Yup. That’s what I was wondering.
No, you can’t make a real Kosher pickle without a Rabbi. 