I mean, you put one or two bay leaves into a stew, simmer, and then take them out before serving.
I swear, beef stew with or without a bay leaf boiling in it tastes exactly like beef stew.
Has anyone anywhere ever said, “Whoa, she really put too many bay leaves in this.”?
A couple of times I’ve sucked on a bay leaf, and you know what? It tastes like an artificial leaf made of tough silk. No flavor at all.
I think that hundreds, perhaps thousands of years ago, some snickering cooking teacher said to some not too bright underling, “Here, put these leaves in, then take them out again later.”
And then, never let on that it was a joke.
Can anyone taste bay leaves? Or are they like MSG or something?
If you harvest your bay leaves fresh and let them dry, their flavor is very strong and unmistakable. It’s easy to use too many. However, as they age, they definitely lose their herbal punch.
Last time I harvested bay leaves, I let them dry in my car – a great, functional dehydrator in warmer weather. The car smelled like Christmas for months after.
It also makes a difference what kind of bay leaves you use. Normally bay laurel is called for, but around here (California) what you generally get is California bay leaves, which reportedly have a stronger flavor.
If you buy them in the store, you will get Laurus nobilis, southern European Bay Laurel, what Caesar wore on his head. No matter what state you are in. I agree the old dried leaves don’t do much.
If you pick them off a wild tree in California or southern Oregon, you will have Umbellaria californica, also called California Bay, or Oregon Myrtle. It is a related species, but its volatile oils are much stronger. Most people do not recommend cooking with it. It can cause headaches or even vomiting in the sensitive. Very menthol. It’s good for clearing your nose. To me it is a quintessential California dry chapparal canyon smell.
Laurus nobilis also grows in California as a planted tree. A big broadleaved evergreen tree. The fresh leaves are marvelous in cooking. We had one in our backyard.
I’ve pretty much always said the same as the OP. Even very recently here on the Dope I said I add bay leaves to my stew more as ritual than belief that they actually impart any perceptible flavor.
In the few weeks or months since I’ve made that statement, I’ve paid a little closer attention. Now I can sort of tell a slightly, I don’t know, eucalyptus-y flavor to them? Just some vague general herbal spiciness. It’s nothing I notice if I’m not paying attention or leave bay leaves out. But there does seem to be some slight flavor there, but it’s nothing on the intensity/level of obviousness as rosemary, thyme, oregano, marjoram, etc.
That said one doper – and I apologize for forgetting who – sent me some fresh bay leaves from her tree in the backyard a number of years back. Those definitely had an immediately identifiable smell and taste to them.
Hell’s teeth, really?! Bay leaves are incredibly strongly flavoured! Gravy tastes like chicken stock and nothing else…definitely needs work…add a bay leaf, it tastes like gravy. Suck on a bay leaf taken out of a soup or sauce and there’s a pungency that’s almost unbearable. No, I don’t know why I keep doing it either…
The kitchen smells obviously like bay when they’re simmering.
I grind bay leaves into my bacon-cure…and it’s obviously part of the flavour.
After the dog ate the bay tree by the kitchen door - stupid hairy chuffing idiot beast - I went back to dried ones, and they were just as flavour-rich. A bit more tea-like in aroma, I think, but unmistakably bay.
Maybe it’s a flavour receptor thing? Some just don’t have those cells and so can’t detect it? Because to me this is a bit like asking if coffee or vinegar have detectable flavours.
You might get fresher bay leaves than we do. “Strong” in flavor is not a characteristic I would ascribe to them. If you Google around, it seems to be a common complaint/question. I mean, I literally just went to my spice cabinet and smelled a bunch of herbs. Rosemary? Oh, geez, yep that’s rosemary. Thyme? Same. Marjoram? No question? Bay leaves? Today, they smell like tea to me, for lack of better descriptor.
Yeah, I really can’t tell that much. Like I said, a few weeks ago I would have said “what the hell do they do”? And now I can tell they add a little something to the dish, because I’ve pulled back some sauce before adding bay leaves and compared, and there’s a slight little something to it, but it’s barely detectable to me. And, yeah, with gravy… I don’t think I’ve ever added bay leaves to it. And I’ve done the suck on the bay leaves thing before just to get a sense of what they taste like and, well, I just don’t notice that much other than having a leaf in my mouth.
There are lots of spices that are taken out before serving. Cinnamon sticks are usually not eaten, nor is a bouquet garni (mixed spices in a bag). Some people also do this with hot peppers.
To clarify, the ones I harvest are of the Laurus nobilis variety, from a friend in California who has such a tree. As you noted, they don’t grow in Oregon, so I stock up when I visit her. Sure makes the car fragrant, though.
So, does all of this mean that bay leaves sold in the store are very often extremely stale? (not gone bad, just no flavour left?) I’ve wondered that, but figured it was just me.
If anyone else would like to try a few fresh bay leaves, pm me with your address and I’ll send out a few (until I run out of stamps and nice leaves off the tree).
I’ve never chewed one up or even tried to (they’re tough), but having them in my mouth is not unpleasant at all. But maybe I’ve just never tried a good one.
With cheaper brands, yes, often this is the case. If you keep them sitting around your house forever, they lose flavor too. To me, the leaves lose most of their color and have hardly any aroma at all as they age past usefulness. You’ll want to look for darker leaves and a strong smell on crushing with your fingers.
I’m like our friend Yorkshire Pudding. I notice when they’re used, and I notice when they’re gone.
I learned not to lick the bay leaves after pulling them out of the sauce after I started buying them from a local spice dealer instead of at a grocery store. Wow! Such flavor!