Bay Trees

I swear I posted this somewhere but I can't find it so here is the question again. I have a large Bay tree and I am not sure of this, but I think it is a CA Bay Laurel. I was reading in The Herb Companion today that the CA Bay can be bitter. It should not be used in cooking (its principal constituent, umbellulone, can cause sinus irritation, convulsive sneezing and headaches), though many cooks still use it. What we should be growing for cooking and consumption is Laurus Nobiliis.

Jenise, I know you have a Bay tree...do you know which type it is? Any others grow this tree?

This article: http://www.chow.com/ingredients/77 says: " The plump, oval-shaped bay laurel leaves, which are shiny, medium green, and sturdy with slightly rough edges, have a sweet, full-bodied aroma. ..snip... California bay leaves... are long, narrow ovals that, unlike their Mediterranean counterparts, are smooth-edged and dark grayish green."

HTH

[Jenise]

Karen, I honestly don't remember. I am thinking it was called a California bay--to my eye the leaves fit the first description provided by Jeff. And the taste is very correct. When I shopped for this I was offered a substitute with the word 'Oregon' in the name that many have better luck with in our climate, but I passed on that to try the true bay laurel, whatever that was to me at the time and California would have rung all the right bells with me, and the leaves were the shape and size I expected.

I once bought some fresh bay leaves in one of those little plastic clamshell packages in the fresh herb department at a California grocer once that were long and narrow, grayer in color, and had almost no flavor. I ended up putting almost the whole package in one pot of chicken soup--I did not want to end up with something like that.

I have a huge California Bay Laurel in the yard and I use the leaves all the time for cooking, but I've stopped making fresh bay leaf wreaths for my friends at Christmas time because of the very pungent and sinus-irritating aromatics that are super concentrated when you work with a bunch of the fresh leaves. But using 1 or 2 of the fresh leaves in a preparation causes no sinus problems whatsoever and the flavor of the fresh leaves is truly superior to the dried variety.

I use the leaves from my tree frequently, more so in the winter months, never had a problem. I've also given tons of leaves away and no one has ever complained.

I'm with Karen on this one. My tree is more like the one described as California Bay. I use from it frequently and have dried leaves from it as well, as the leaves taste differently dried vs fresh (prefer fresh). I haven't noticed any bitterness or off-taste either way. It's wonderful!