Bay Leaf

Fresh or dried bay leaves are used in cooking for their distinctive flavour and fragrance. The leaves should be removed from the cooked food before eating. The leaves are often used to flavour soups, stews, braises and pâtés in many countries. The fresh leaves are very mild and do not develop their full flavour until several weeks after picking and drying.[1]

 

Bay leaves may be eaten without toxic effect. However, they remain unpleasantly stiff even after thorough cooking, and if swallowed whole or in large pieces they may pose a risk of harming the digestive tract or causing choking.[15] Thus, most recipes that use bay leaves will recommend their removal after the cooking process has finished.[16]

 

In Indian cuisine, bay laurel leaves are sometimes used in place of Indian bay leaf, although they have a different flavour. They are most often used in rice dishes like biryani and as an ingredient in garam masala. Bay (laurel) leaves are called tezpattā (तेज़पत्ता, in Hindi) and Tejpātā (তেজপাতা) in Bengali and তেজ পাত in Assamese.

 

In the Philippines, dried bay laurel leaves are used in several Filipino dishes, such as menudo, beef pares, and adobo.

 

Bay leaves were used for flavouring by the ancient Greeks.[4] They are a fixture in the cooking of many European cuisines (particularly those of the Mediterranean), as well as in the Americas. They are used in soups, stews, brines, meat, seafood, vegetable dishes, and sauces. The leaves also flavour many classic French and Italian dishes. The leaves are most often used whole (sometimes in a bouquet garni) and removed before serving (they can be abrasive in the digestive tract). Thai and Laotian cuisine employs bay leaf (Thai: ใบกระวาน, bai kra wān) in a few Arab-influenced dishes, notably massaman curry.[5]

 

Bay leaves can also be crushed or ground before cooking. Crushed bay leaves impart more fragrance than whole leaves, but are more difficult to remove and thus they are often used in a muslin bag or tea infuser. Ground bay laurel may be substituted for whole leaves and does not need to be removed, but it is much stronger.

 

Bay leaves are also used in the making of jerk chicken in the Caribbean Islands. The bay leaves are soaked and placed on the cool side of the grill. Pimento sticks are placed on top of the leaves, and the chicken is placed on top and smoked. The leaves are also added whole to soups, stews, and other Caribbean dishes.

 

Bay leaves can also be used scattered in a pantry to repel meal moths,[6] flies,[7] and cockroaches.[8] Mediouni-Ben Jemaa and Tersim 2011 find the essential oil to be usable as an insect repellent.[9]: 131 

 

Bay leaves have been used in entomology as the active ingredient in killing jars. The crushed, fresh, young leaves are put into the jar under a layer of paper. The vapors they release kill insects slowly but effectively and keep the specimens relaxed and easy to mount. The leaves discourage the growth of molds. They are not effective for killing large beetles and similar specimens, but insects that have been killed in a cyanide killing jar can be transferred to a laurel jar to await mounting.[10] There is confusion in the literature about whether Laurus nobilis is a source of cyanide to any practical extent, but there is no evidence that cyanide is relevant to its value in killing jars. It certainly is rich in various essential oil components that could incapacitate insects in high concentrations; such compounds include 1,8-cineole, alpha-terpinyl acetate, and methyl eugenol.[11] It also is unclear to what extent the alleged effect of cyanide released by the crushed leaves has been mis-attributed to Laurus nobilis in confusion with the unrelated Prunus laurocerasus, the so-called cherry laurel, which certainly does contain dangerous concentrations of cyanogenic glycocides[12] together with the enzymes to generate the hydrogen cyanide from the glycocides if the leaf is physically damaged.[13]

 

Bay leaves are used in Eastern Orthodoxy liturgy. To mark Jesus' destruction of Hades and freeing of the dead, parishioners throw bay leaves and flowers into the air, letting them flutter to the ground. [14]

Source: Wikipedia

Bay leaves add flavour to popular dishes like soups, stews, and other savory dishes without adding sodium. Researchers are also investigating compounds in bay leaves to determine other health benefits.

As with all herbs, only consume in  small quantities as an additive. Bay leaves should not be consumed whole. The leaf remains intact and cannot be digested. It may become lodged in the throat or cause damage to the intestinal tract.

Culinary herb, herbal, flavonoids, tannins, eugenol, citric acid, carbohydrate, steroids, alkaloids, triterpenoids .