How to Use Bay Leaves: The Misunderstood Herb

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Dear Home Ec 101:
A friend told me that bay leaves are poisonous, and that’s why you remove them before serving. Isn’t it kind of…insane to cook with a poison plant? If they are ok, would you tell me how to use bay leaves?
Signed,
Is it safe?

You know, that never made sense to me, either. My reasoning was, “If it’s true, the poison gets into the food during the cooking process, so removing the leaf is a moot point. And if it’s not true – why are we supposed to remove it?” So, I finally looked into it because I wanted to feel comfortable using them. And not die much.

Without getting into the technical terms, I came across in my research (sesquiterpene lactone, anyone?), let me assure you that the bay leaves sold for cooking are not poisonous and are perfectly fine to cook with. The herb commonly referred to as “bay leaf” comes from an evergreen shrub or tree (depending on where it’s grown) called bay laurel, also known as Laurus nobilis or sweet bay, and its leaves are non-toxic in reasonable quantities.

Bay leaves for cooking are not poisonous, but some laurels are.

The confusion regarding whether or not bay leaves are poisonous may come, in part, from the fact that some laurels are toxic. Unfortunately, toxic laurels and bay leaves have leaves that look similar.

The solution to never getting poisoned or confused by plants in the laurel family is this. If you aren’t 100000% certain the tree you want to pick a leaf from to toss into your stew is the right kind, then DON’T.

For those of you who want to say, oh but I have a plant identifier app, I’ll just grab a leaf and use that to identify my plant to be sure. We aren’t quite there yet. Let’s give it a couple more years before we start trusting our health and safety to machine learning. We will get there. We’re not quite there yet. (Forum discussion identifying different laurels using a plant identification app.)

Let the experts do the identifying. just stick with bay leaves sold for cooking, and you’ll be fine.

Did you notice I said “reasonable quantities?” Too much of a good thing can be bad, including bay leaves that we use for cooking. Don’t worry, though — to get a toxic effect from bay leaves, you would need to eat at least several quarts of packed leaves. Who, in their right mind, is going to do that?  

(Of course, some people are allergic to certain plants and should avoid them. That doesn’t mean they’re poisonous. My dad was allergic to basil. Very sad.)

Why should I “remove the bay leaf” before serving?

Those leaves are tough!

That’s it. That’s the reason.

All-day simmering in a soup or stew does not disintegrate or soften them. They’ll be leathery at best, and the edges can be a little sharp.

Besides being downright unpleasant to swallow, a bay leaf can scratch your throat, stomach or intestines. In my research, I found mentions in a medical journal of individuals who had inadvertently swallowed a whole bay leaf, which became lodged in their digestive tract, causing extreme pain. The leaves then had to be surgically removed. 

To ensure that a bay leaf never causes you any difficulty, follow these guidelines:

  1. Keep your bay leaves whole. This makes them easier to see.
  2. Count how many bay leaves you add at the beginning of the cooking process.
  3. Count how many bay leaves you removed at the end of the cooking process.

That’s not overly difficult, now is it?

bay leaves scattered on a burlap background

Do bay leaves really make a difference?

Yes. Next question.

Just kidding. Yesterday, I mentioned to a friend that I was going to write about bay leaves. She said she never understood their point since the recipes always say to take them out anyway, so she’s always omitted them. As we talked, I tried to convey what she was missing, and by the time we parted ways, she was excited that I would bring her some of my bay leaf stash when next we met.

When I was newly married and teaching myself to cook things that didn’t require mixes, any attempt at making beef stew came out wrong.

Not that it was horrible, but it didn’t taste like mom’s stew, which was simply the best I’d ever had. The same thing happened with my vegetable soup and pot roasts.

They even smelled wrong when they were cooking. After talking with her, I figured out that what I’d been missing was the bay leaf.

Who knew something so simple and subtle could make such a difference in the overall flavor of my favorite foods?

Like my friend, I’d dismissed them as not that big a deal, not realizing that they were the very thing that made the aroma of mom’s vegetable soup so comforting.

Yes, comforting. Relaxing. Soothing. I’ve even simmered a few bay leaves in a pot of water simply for the aroma. (Weird? Yeah, okay. I already know.) Give me that faintly sweet but more savory fragrance over a sweet, cloying candle or air freshener any day.  But, as much as I love them, the words to describe the rich flavor that bay leaves bring to a dish elude me. It’s nothing overt. Subtle. Woodsy comes to mind. Slightly bitter. Pungent? And ever so slightly piney.

As the French say, it has a certain je ne sais quoi.* (Because they don’t know, either.)

Okay, fine….. so what can I do with bay leaves?

How To Use Bay Leaves

There are tons of things you can do with bay leaves… here are a few ideas to get you started. Even if your recipe doesn’t call for bay leaves, you can use them in:

Roast beast. Try Heather’s pot roast. Or try my standard method for beef or pork roasts: add 2 or 3 bay leaves (depending on the size of roast), a few peppercorns, garlic, and onion. Then I add about ¼ cup of either white wine vinegar or the liquid from a jar of pepperoncini if I have some. Cook all day on low. Make a roux to thicken the juices that cook out to make gravy that will stun the diners. (Not like a phaser. A good stun.)

Stews of any kind: beef, pork, poultry, or vegetarian. Add at the beginning of cooking and let the long simmer add depth to your favorite recipe.

Braising. Any meat that is cooked in liquid is fair game. Like Heather’s Beef Short Ribs. Or Chicken Bog. Oh, you MUST make this  Wine Braised Pot Roast.

Stocks and soups. Add bay leaf when making stock. Bay leaf does wonders for anything tomato-based, including spaghetti sauce and chili.  They’re in my pea soup recipe, which you’ve already tried, right?

Baked potatoes: cut a scrubbed potato in half, put a bay leaf between the halves, reassemble and wrap in foil, then bake. The flavor permeates the potato flesh as it bakes. (Remember to remove the bay leaf, add butter or olive oil, salt, and pepper as desired; we’re not animals.)

Are you making mashed potatoes? Add a leaf to the boiling water. Remove before mashing.

Baked beans. Red beans and rice. Add to any bean or lentil dish. Or add a couple of leaves to the water when cooking dried beans.

Make pickled peppers, which are delicious on a roast beef sandwich or served alongside pork or beef roast.

To note, these are fresh pickles, not preserved. Pack sliced green peppers in a sterilized pint jar with 2 or 3 cloves of garlic (cut in half), 2 bay leaves, and ½ teaspoon salt. Fill the jar with equal parts of boiling water and boiling vinegar. Seal and let cool, then refrigerate at least overnight before using. Store in your refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. (I first made this with distilled white vinegar, which was good, but it’s even better using white wine vinegar.)

Quick Beef and Cabbage skillet – Simple food, but I could eat this at least once a week, and my husband loves it too, even as reheated leftovers!

Did you know Old Bay Seasoning contains ground bay leaves? (I can’t stand the stuff, but I know some people who would still eat it even if bay leaves were toxic.)

Do you have a favorite way to use bay leaves?

*translates to: “I don’t know what.”

Bonus Points to anyone who caught my movie reference and can name the actor who said the line. You win the internet.

__________

Bobbie Laughman is an elder caregiver, writer and introvert who is bad at small talk but occasionally gets on a soapbox about one thing or another and feels embarrassed about it when she comes to her senses. Contact her with questions or feedback at Bobbie@home-ec101.com.

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40 thoughts on “How to Use Bay Leaves: The Misunderstood Herb”

    • @nickolina

      I’ve been looking for an answer to that question, and the best I can come up with is “Maybe.”

      There are dozenss of anecdotes about using strong-scented herbs to keep away insects, and I’m not one to dismiss anecdotal evidence. But then I found this, from the University of Idaho Extension:

      “Homeowners have used bay leaves, spearmint and

      peppermint gum, and other scented items to repel grain

      insects, with the claim of many years of insect free storage.

      The authors have not experienced good results from

      these repellents in controlled test situations. Therefore,

      we do not recommend reliance upon them.”

      So. There ya go.

      Reply
  1. My mother and I always put a bay leaf in the pot of boiling water for pasta. Pasta without this step now tastes bland to me 🙂

    Reply
  2. Is your movie reference the Grinch with the roast beast? If so, I only am familiar with the cartoon version & that’d be Boris Karloff narrating.

    Reply
  3. Well, I’m guessing you’re talking about Woody Allen, but all I can think about is Dr Evil talking about mojo, “or what the French call a certain… I don’t know what”.Anywho, thanks for writting this. I never thought I’d laugh about bay leaves. 🙂 (BTW, my hubby used a recipe for bacon wrapped turkey that included bay leaves stuffed in the cavity. Delish!)

    Reply
  4. Years ago at a restaurant, my date asked for “coffee with Bailey’s on the side.: After waiting for a long, long time, the waiter proudly present her a cup of coffee with several bay leaves sitting on the saucer. We laughed and left a good tip.

    Reply
  5. I do not get your movie reference, but then you are much more movie savvy than I am. I do get your humor, which I love, and I appreciate you clearing up the bay-leaves-as-potential-poison issue. Now I can stop feeling like I’m taking our lives into my hands every time I drop one in the pot.

    Reply
    • @Jacqueline No, they shouldn’t be a problem if they’re all ground up – you can buy ground bay leaf, and like I said, it’s one of the ingredients in Old Bay. The problems may come when a whole leaf or a large piece is swallowed.

      Reply
  6. I always add a bay leaf to bechamel sauce, and, weird as it sounds, to rhubarb – the “woodsiness” of it is perfect with something so sweet-sharp

    Reply
  7. I put whole Bay Leaves in almost anything going in the crock pot, slow simmer, releases that woody, earthy, “AH, bay leaves” flavor. I go through a bottle of month, and have been thinking for the last year, I got to find these cheaper at the international farmers market kind of place. Soups, stews, stocks, and spaghetti sauce are pretty common places they end up at my house. But I really love how they add to my “Mexican” and Tex-Mex dishes as well. Chili’s, “Spanish rice”, pinto beans, enchilada sauce (ground up fine), as well as most of my Cajun dishes such as http://typeaparent.com/mondays-red-beans-and-rice.html  Red Beans and Rice, Jambalaya, Shrimp Creole. As well as in my pickling spice mixes http://typeaparent.com/basic-mixed-pickling-spices.html
     
    I love the Type A Parent site as well, as I write foodie posts there, and love being a DIY, saving money and fun projects.

    Reply
  8. As both a chef and food critic, I had to join in this. Thx for additional ideas with bay leaves. However, as a film buff, the total disregard to Jim Carrey’s acting chops, shows ignorance in that department. Stick to bay leaves and cooking. Yes, his talk work is sophomoric, but he won the golden globe two years in a row, for his portrayal of Andy Kaufman in man on the moon, and the Truman show. Lastly, one of the greatest movies/love stories which was one of the best reviewed movies of 2004, Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. Critics and the world are both wrong?

    Reply
  9. Is it safe for me to make my own “bay leaf powder” (i.e. grind bay leaves in my spice grinder)? I found a recipe to make my own Old Bay seasoning which called for it.

    Reply
    • Yes, Allie, just make sure you grind them finely to a powder. The only safety issue with bay leaves is if they’re whole or in large pieces that may cause choking or lacerations due to being a tough leaf.

      Reply
  10. Shannon Lush, Australian diva on household stains and other disasters recommends placing several bay leaves throughout your kitchen cupboards to kill pantry moths. She would know with all their creepy crawlies…

    I can personally attest that this works. I had an infestation of them a couple of years ago for the first time – yuk!
    I saw a few moths on the wing a few weeks ago and I sprayed them, but definitely none in my cupboards…..

    I think it must have an effect on other bugs too within a confined space.

    Reply
  11. Thanjs so much for tge bay leaf info. I was a lil intimidated by tgeses suckers. I had a high quality package of them, but tgey just set tgere starring at me. Im going to add them to tge mentioned Heatgers pot roast.

    Reply
  12. I use bay leaves in just about every savory soup or stew. My eureka moment came when I added them to Chicken Cacciatori after trying to re-create my Grandmother’s recipe from memory and forgot the bay leaves. My question is: can you leave them in too long? In other words, in a long simmering dish, say, 3 hours or more, can bay leaves stop giving their normal flavor and become bitter or nasty in some way that detracts from their flavor? Or do they just become inert when their flavor has been extracted?

    Reply
    • I have never noticed a bitterness when using bay leaves in long-simmering items. This doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist, but that if it does, it became part of the complex flavor profile of this type of dish. I don’t think if it does occur that it would be as noticeable as over-extraction in coffee. I hope that helps!

      Reply
  13. Nobody has mentioned the use of bay leaf to temper the acidity of tomato-based dishes, like some vindaloo or marinara sauces. I’m not a cook, but I had heard once that adding bay leaf to these types of dishes is essential in order to avoid it being too acidic.

    Is this a real thing? I love vindaloo, but sometimes I find it inedible due to severe tangy-ness. Is bay leaf the thing that cures this?

    Thanks!

    Reply
  14. Roast Beast! From How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
    I am just now discovering the health benefits of bay leaves and have begun to drink it as a subtle tea with a drop or two of organic Stevia.

    Reply
  15. I don’t normally comment on these types of resources…. When I search stuff… But I really enjoyed your writing and also appreciate hearing lots of great info about bay leaves.
    Thanks very much!
    From a fellow Caregiver.

    Reply
  16. I have a bay laurel plant that is outside in summer and inside in winter (Colorado, 7300ft.). It’s going on 5 years and is the delight of my herb garden!

    Reply

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