Ingredient: Bay leaves
Category: Herbs, Spices & Seasoning
Season: All:
Fresh or dried bay leaves are used in cooking for their distinctive flavour and fragrance.
It is a culinary herb often used to flavour soups, stews, and braises and pâtés in Mediterranean Cuisine. The fresh leaves are very mild and do not develop their full flavour until several weeks after picking and drying.
California bay leaf
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- The leaf of the California bay tree (Umbellularia californica), also known as 'California laurel', 'Oregon myrtle', and 'pepperwood', is similar to the Mediterranean bay but has a stronger flavour
Indian bay leaf (also tej pat, tejpat, or tejpata)
The leaf of the Cinnamomum tejpata (malabathrum) tree is similar in fragrance and taste to cinnamon bark, but milder. In appearance, it is similar to the other bay leaves but is culinary quite different, having an aroma and flavour more similar to that of Cassia. It is inaccurately called a bay leaf as it is of a different genus (though the same family) as the bay laurel.
Indonesian bay leaf or Indonesian laurel (salam leaf)
The leaf of Syzigium polyanthum. Used mostly in dry form although the fresh one gives the "right" flavour. The leaf used in certain soups or steamed preparations. Like Indian bay leaf, it is also an inaccurate name because, unlike bay leaf, the plant belongs to Myrtaceae
Fresh bay leaves, however, can impart a slightly bitter flavour, so this is a herb which is far better used dried. To dry them is easy: just hang a branch in an airy spot and the leaves will dry in a couple of weeks.
They are used probably more than any other herb, to flavour stocks, sauces, casseroles and marinades.
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