Enough bay leaves to fill the bay!

[labradors]

Having run out of bay leaves, I decided to pick some up at one of the street booths, downtown. I was already in the area for some other things, and thought I might get a better price than I would find on the supermarket's jars of spices.

When I asked the guy how much they would be, he said L20 ($1.06) per bag. That sounded reasonable to me, since a regular, McCormick jar only has .18 ounces of bay leaves, anyway. Thus, I figured it would be a small, plastic bag with about the same amount.

After I gave him the go-ahead, he opened his source bag and started STUFFING bay leaves from it into a quart-sized plastic bag! The result: for my $1.06, I got 3.4 ounces of bay leaves - about 18.9 TIMES more than in a spice jar!



So, maybe it's time to make some more soups, or SOMETHING. They certainly do have a great aroma, though!

[Harborwitch]

Oh how I miss having a friend with a bay laurel! It's time to get another tree.

The nice thing about them is that they do freeze well - they're almost like fresh!

[luvnit]

My mother has a bay tree. She likes to dry her leaves and grind them up into a fine powder. Then she uses it soups, stews and the 18 hour bread. It's wonderful in the bread.

Sharon- I have never heard of freezing them. Is there a reason you don't dry them for later use? Just curious. My mom has this tree and has never used them fresh. Not surprising though. She dries all of her fresh herbs <<crazy>>. One day I was so excited she was bringing me garden fresh tarragon. So to be even nicer to me she dried in her oven. Oh well

[bjcotton]

Sharon sweetie, you do have a friend with a bay tree...me!

Luvnit, I use them fresh all the time. Don't have any dried ones here, just step outside and cut what I want. The scent when you cut the leaves from the tree is just heavenly.

[Harborwitch]

I forgot Sweetie! I freeze the dried ones, been known to freeze the fresh ones - like I do curry leaves and kaffir lime leaves.

Our friend used to do the "pruning" on a HUGE bay tree his neighbor had for something like 20 years! Armloads! Neighbors sold the house and that was the end of that.

[Old Bay]

Put them all over your pantry and near your flours and rice--weavels hate bay--trust me --I have a bay laurel bush--been doing it for years.

[cjs]

YOu have two friends with trees, Sharon - I hang a branch in the pantry too, Bill.

[luvnit]

What are weavels?

[Old Bay]

Insipid little round bugs that can get in flours, meals, etc. They are sometimes hard to see.

[labradors]

Quote:

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What are weavels?

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Probably a grammatical (if not genetic) cross between weevils and weasels.