Bay Leaves

[rockncook]

This is a silly question, but one I've never asked anyone who knew the answer.

 

I remember, when I was little, 6 or 7, watching the neighbors finish up the spaghetti sauce they'd just made from scratch (this was new to me, my mom never made anything from scratch LOL), and they were fishing out the bay leaves. I asked why they were doing that and the mom said "because you can put them in the sauce like that, but if you chew them, they're poisonous".

 

NEVER made sense, really, I mean, why risk cooking with them, right? But it obviously made an impression, cause I have NEVER used bay leaves in anything LOL. I have a FULL jar of crushed bay leaves that came with a spice rack I got for Christmas one year. Never opened it.

 

WHY would they say that? Granted, I was little, but there was no sarcasm or joking look on her face or in her voice. Is there some urban legend that bay leaves are poisonous? Do othey taste yucky if you bite into one?

 

Obviously, Pixie's statement of telling her daughter they are good luck brought this question on, LOL...cause I know no one would tell their kid to lick it off if it were poisonous!!!

 

If anyone knows the origins of this, I would appreciate it.

[Freetobeme]

As far as I know bay leaves are not poisonous, otherwise you wouldn't put them in food. They do taste nasty if you bite into them.

[Kygal]

you likely got a similar spice rack as i got. my husband gave it to me. i dislike the jar of crushed bay leaves, because they do not get soft when cooked, but they stay pretty much as they are in the jar. it sucks getting them stuck in my teeth. so i only use whole ones. i only cook from scratch. it tastes WAAAAAAAY better in my opinion. no one has ever disliked what i cook except maybe me, but them i am very picky. Pat sais that the best cooks are the pickiest eaters. lol maybe it's true?

 

 

as for that jar, i tried making the bayleaves into a "fine grind" but i do not have a grinder of any sort, so i will toss them , and use the jar for my own special blend of spices. (oregano, chili powder, crushed chilis, salt, sugar i only use fresh garlic)

[Guest Guest]

It's probably something dumb that somebody teased *her* with, and she believed it.

[ejagno]

She was told that so she wouldn't try to eat it. Bay leaves are not poisonous but they are stiff and pointed if you managed to swallow one it might get stuck in your digestive system [like swallowing a pin] and have to be surgically removed, so its easier to tell someone it's poisonous and it is easier for little kids to understand the concept.

[Guest Guest]

sometimes grown-ups say things without thinking about what they are saying. It is easier to say something is bad without an explaination.

 

I take a pork picnic roast and carefully cut the bone out, the meat is now flat. I lay bay leaves on top (by the handful) and roll the meat up. Tie it with a string and put it in a crock pot. when it is time to eat, I unroll it and take out all the leaves... can't eat them, the meat is now permiated with the strong flavor of bay...that we love.

 

After all that cooking, those leaves are still as tough as shoe leather! The reason for fishing them out of the sauce, is so that someone doesn't have to be rude at the table and fish the leaf out of their mouth.