Bay Leaf

Bay Leaf or Laurel Leaf are dried leaves or an evergreen shrub.Bay leaf refers to the aromatic leaves of several plants used in cooking.Bay leaves were used for flavoring by the ancient Greeks.It is a fixture in the cooking of many European cuisines as well as in the Americas. They are used in soups, stews, meat, seafood, vegetable dishes, and sauces. The leaves also flavor many classic French dishes. The leaves are most often used whole and removed before serving Thai cuisine employs bay leaf in a few Arab-influenced dishes, notably massaman curry.Bay leaves can also be crushed or ground before cooking. Crushed bay leaves impart more of their desired 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 due to the increased surface area and in some dishes the texture may not be desirable.