Although bay leaves have been used in dishes for millennia, cooks and cooks are increasingly wondering how much they really bring to the table.
The small, green, and usually dry leaves are often added to sauces, stews, soups, and rice dishes during cooking and removed before eating. Which leads to the central question: What are they actually doing?
A famously impassioned broadside on The Awl called them “cops***,” while celebrity chef Ina Garten, aka Barefoot Contessa, recently admitted she “don’t know if they’re actually doing anything.”
Fans of the herb say its informers have lost its subtlety. They claim that it carries a blend of eucalyptus, pine, lavender and woody notes and that its addition to a dish is of undeniable value.
But cynics claim that the leaf, ubiquitous in so many modern recipes, adds nothing. Since 10 or 15 bay leaves can cost around $10 (£8), is it really worth using in cooking? We asked experts to clarify the question.
Bay leaves are often added to sauces, soups, and rice dishes, but many wonder what they add
In December, Ina Garten, also known as Barefoot Contessa, said she wasn’t sure how bay leaves changed the flavor of a dish
In December, Garten said on a New York podcast that she’s never sure about bay leaves. “I always wonder if a bay leaf makes a difference,” she says.
“There are a few things I use bay leaves in and I’ve always wanted to do them without the bay leaves to see if it makes a difference and I’ve never done it so I’m not sure,” added she added.
The doubts go beyond cooks. Ethné and Philippe de Vienne have been running a tea and spice business in Montreal for more than 20 years.
“You are right,” said Philippe von Laurelcynikern.
“When it’s good, it tastes like something, but 95 percent of the time it tastes like nothing. Usually the problem is that the bay leaf is harvested at a time of year when there is no flavor.
“Ninety-five percent of the bay leaves available to most people are of very, very poor quality.”
According to Ethné, the western market was flooded with boring and low-quality bay leaves, giving the herb an unjustified bad reputation.
“North Americans were taught to accept mediocrity,” she said.
“The ritual says you put in a bay leaf and you stir the pot, so they put it in and you stir, but it could just as easily be a blade of grass,” she said. “Now people are starting to wake up. It’s so neutral and boring. It’s just a waste of money.’
“People have been accustomed to adulterated products for so long that most home cooks think [bay leaf] is just an accessory for cooking,” she said.
“Fifty percent of the ground spices sold in North America are adulterated, according to the FDA, and we believe it’s not even that little,” added Philippe.
Ethné and Philippe de Vienne (left and right respectively) have been running a tea and spice shop in Montreal for more than 20 years. They say the problem isn’t the bay leaf, it’s the quality of the produce in North America
The leaf is generally added during the cooking process. Old leaves lose their aroma and those picked at the wrong time of year don’t even taste good
Ian “Herbie” Hemphill (pictured) is Managing Director of Herbie’s Spices. He says bay leaves should have flavor if dried properly and not too old
Ian ‘Herbie’ Hemphill is Managing Director of Herbie’s Spices – a spice retailer and distributor in Australia. Since founding the company in 1997, he has written a number of books including The Spice and Herb Bible.
He agreed that a good bay leaf shouldn’t be tasteless. “First of all, bay leaves have a lot of flavor, they’re pretty strong,” he said.
“If they don’t get a lot of flavor from it, I’d say it’s a poor quality bay leaf, it probably wasn’t dried very well, but it could also be past its sell-by date.
“A high quality dried herb will retain its flavor for 18 months to 2 years, that would apply to thyme, sage, oregano etc. If something is old, packaged three or four years ago and sat in the pantry for another year or two, it’s probably lost all of its flavor.’
According to Ethné, who hails from the West Indies, the West Indian variety of laurel is particularly aromatic and has additional elements of cinnamon and clove.
“If they tried in the West Indies what they’ve tried in other parts of the world, they wouldn’t get away with it. No one in their right mind would try to sell these adulterated herbs to West Indians,” she said.
“But you can get tasty bay leaf from Greece and Turkey,” she said. “You just have to know what you’re dealing with.”
This debate isn’t new, having raged back in 2016. Several chefs told The Awl that the leaves could deliver a powerful flavor if used properly.
Chef Matty Bennett of The Lucky Bee on the Lower East Side told the outlet, “People don’t realize the flavor they’re adding. Stale bay leaves sitting in your closet for months are not going to help you at all. If you find fresh bay leaves, this is the way to go!’
Not only do the leaves need to be fairly fresh (freshly dried), but they also need to be cooked with the food for some time. While the flavor can be extracted in as little as five minutes, Cook’s Illustrated suggested they need to simmer for a full hour to extract all of the flavor.
Bay leaves are the foliage of the laurel tree (pictured) and are native to the Mediterranean region
Bay leaves are the foliage of the laurel tree, small trees that were native to the Mediterranean region but were eventually brought to the New World where they were quickly adopted.
There are several cultivars of bay leaves as they can come from different species of bay trees, including the California bay, but the California variety of the leaf is aromatically very different.
Bay leaves are popular in many cuisines in the Mediterranean, France, India, America and Mexico. They are an essential part of gumbo and Texas chili. In Jamaica, the leaves and wood of the bay tree are used to smoke meats such as jerk chicken.
Branches of the laurel tree were fashioned into crowns in ancient times, and the term ‘laureate’, used to refer to someone honored with an award, comes from the plant.
What most herbal experts seem to be saying is that if you feel like bay leaves are a scam and a conspiracy, buy some award-winning leaves to find out just how good they can be. But they would say, right?