Bay Tree

[missy]

So i'm going to reveal my lack of knowledge here.. my gardener friend was over yesterday helping me tackle my flower beds and putting in a new one and pointed out that one of the bushes in my garden is infact a bay tree. it's about 6ft tall.

I know that people use the leafs in cooking but anyone have any suggestions on how I could use them?

[Carltonian Man]

Hi Missy
Any leaves you trim off can be dried for later use or you can use them fresh. Sit a roasting joint on a couple, pop them inside fish when grilling or baking or underneath fish portions. They add a delicate background flavour to betchamel sauce and go well in a risotto (put them in at the beginning). Also good when making stock or gravy or on top of potato bakes etc.

Hope this helps

[Odsox]

Ragu for spag bol needs bay leaves as does chilli con carne. (in our house it's the same thing, ragu with chilli powder in it )
Any casserole or stew that needs a bouquet garni should have a bay leaf included, it's also an essential ingredient in bread sauce to go with turkey at Christmas, also nice infusing a bay leaf in milk before making a rice pudding.
Together with mint, thyme, sage, rosemary and marjoram it's one of the few herbs I actually use.

[jim]

Dear Missy,

I know it's 8 months away, but we always bring in branches of bay (and Rosemary) as a Christmas decoration. The whole house gets scented by them. The leaves dry out over the 12 days and we pop them in jars for use in the early part of the year. The twigs get used as kindling on the woodburner. Other than that curry is enhanced by floating a couple of bay leaves on the surface whilst cooking; soups, stews, stocks the same ....

Love and Peace
Jim

[AngeB]

Most things saucy can be improved with a bay leaf or two! I put them in my soups and if you use a handblender you don't even need to remove them and they add such a lovely flavour - though I do only cook veg soup as a rule. Currys and rice are also good with a bay leaf added. You only really need 2 or 3 depending on the size of the batch, what a lovely find

[dave45]

Our bay tree has provided sterling service for years, residing in a large pot outside the back door.... but it is now looking decidedly dried up and unwell (it was OK a few weeks ago and we've been watering it). Is it likely ro be dead, dying or just pining for the fjords?

[Millymollymandy]

It may need repotting. Mine used to live in a pot and we'd have to go up in size every few years until the pot was almost too huge to move, so after that it had to have a root trim every few years. Now it finally is in soil after about 12 years in a pot! It has moved house and country many times that 'little' tree!

[julie_lanteri]

use it in a bouquet garni: bay leaf, rosemary, thyme tied together with kitchen/cooking string (long enough to tie the other end to the handle of the pan) and of it goes in tomato sauce, soup, stock, ragout... after cooking, just pull the string to remove the bouquet garni. ta da!

[missy]

wow thank you for the replies! will certainly try using it in my cooking :)

[scrap]

...Now that we have a thread full of proud bay tree owners...
How hardy are they?
Can they survive a -12 night of frost?

[Thomzo]

I chuck them into any savoury dish I'm cooking. But I would say always remove before serving.

A reasonable sized tree will survive a week of snow so a couple of nights of frost should be ok. It may look a little brown and disheartened afterwards but should perk up in spring. They aren't fully hardy, especially when young or in a pot, so may need protection until they get established.

Zoe

[Green Aura]

You can also use them in sweet stuff, custards and the like. Gives a lovely under flavour which no-one will be able to identify!

[Odsox]

...Now that we have a thread full of proud bay tree owners...
How hardy are they?
Can they survive a -12 night of frost?

I think that established trees will put up with almost anything, but younger trees may need protection.
I had a large bay tree where I lived in Kent, and that survived the winter of 1962/63 unscathed when temperatures stayed well below zero for nearly three months and night temperatures on occasions went down to 0 degrees F (-18c).
It did have a thick layer of snow over it's roots of course.

[MKG]

I think this last winter has done for my 7-year old tree. It's stood there unprotected for all of that time and has shrugged off each winter - but I think 4 feet of snow which hung around for three weeks was the last straw.

Mike

[JulieSherris]

I asked our 'Head Horticulturist' at our local garden centre ** about bay trees the other day. I'm turning over half of one of my beds to herbs this year & want a good patch of just about everything!
Anyway, Eamonn says that a lot of the nurseries lost their bay trees over the last 2 winters here, because of the amount of rain the year before last and then last winter because of the way the cold set in so early and so quick

I am still going to keep my eyes open & plan a bit of a drive out next week to see what I can find - fingers crossed!

** OK, ok, it's the general store/woodyard/agri-feed store/plant shop at the back of the petrol station/post office/deli counter & the only shop in the village. Moreover, he's the only guy out of the 3 of them who deals with the plants - because he has an allotment in Roscommon!!