Bay Leaves: What They Are, What They Taste Like, and the Other Bays

Bay leaves are the dried leaves of bay laurel, Laurus nobilis, an evergreen Mediterranean tree in the laurel family. They go into the pot whole, give soups, stocks, braises and beans a subtle herbal, faintly medicinal background, and come out before serving. Several unrelated leaves are also sold as “bay”, and they do not taste the same. This page covers the plant, the chemistry of its aroma, how it is used, how to buy and store it, the other bays, and the safety facts.

At a glance

What bay leaves are

Kew’s Plants of the World Online describes Laurus nobilis as a subtropical tree native to the Mediterranean.¹ Its native list runs from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya through France, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon-Syria and Palestine to Türkiye, and Kew records it as introduced in Spain, Portugal, Great Britain, Ireland, the Caucasus, Korea and Vietnam, among other places.¹ A 2017 review describes it as native to the southern Mediterranean and cultivated mainly in Europe and the US as an ornamental and medicinal plant, with the dried leaves and leaf oil used as a spice.² Atlas Obscura notes that “Turkish bay leaf” is a variety of this same species, known for being especially mild and sweet.³

A widely repeated claim says bay trees are native to Asia Minor and spread from there to the Mediterranean. Kew’s range includes Türkiye but treats the whole Mediterranean as native, so there is no support for Asia Minor as a single starting point.

Flavor and aroma

J. Kenji López-Alt describes bay leaves as having a very subtle flavor next to many other herbs and spices, and says they bring out the meaty flavors of beef and chicken.⁵ He calls Turkish bay leaves milder, more nuanced and a little sweeter than California bay, which has a stronger menthol and eucalyptus note.⁵ Atlas Obscura describes bay laurel’s flavor as herbal, bitter and slightly piney, and points out that the leaves taste unpleasantly intense when chewed.³ To us, a long-simmered pot with bay smells faintly of tea and eucalyptus; that impression is ours.

The compounds

Bay’s aroma comes from the leaf oil. In one 2017 analysis of leaves gathered in February 2016 at Montecorice in southern Italy, the oil yield was 0.57% and 55 compounds were identified, accounting for 91.6% of the oil.² The main ones:

Source: Caputo et al., 2017.² The same paper’s table gives a different figure for linalool than its text, so treat that one value with caution.

The same review compares its 1,8-cineole figure with oils from other countries, which ran higher: 44.97% in a Turkish sample, 56.0% in Tunisia, 58.59% in Cyprus and 52.43% in Morocco, and 34.62% in Algeria.² Those are separate studies with separate methods, so they show how much bay oil varies rather than a ranking of countries. The common claim that bay contains “more than 50 compounds” is consistent with the 55 identified in the Italian sample, but that number belongs to one sample and one method.

Origin and history

According to Atlas Obscura, the ancient Greeks and Romans used laurel leaves in food and medicine and to crown the winners of competitions, and laurel was the symbol of Apollo, whose oracle at Delphi held a laurel branch while prophesying.³

How bay leaves are used

Bay goes into liquids that cook for a while: stocks, soups, stews, braises, sauces, beans and lentils. That is common practice rather than a sourced finding, and so is the advice to add one or two leaves to a pot rather than a handful.

• Bouquet garni. Britannica gives the classic French bouquet garni as sprigs of parsley and thyme and a bay leaf.⁶ See bouquet garni.
• Spice blends. Great British Chefs lists bay leaf among the spices commonly used in garam masala.⁷ In South Asian cooking “bay leaf” often means a different leaf from a cinnamon relative (see below), so check which one a recipe means.
• Strength. The University of Delaware’s extension service groups bay leaf with the strong or dominant flavors, alongside rosemary and sage.⁸

López-Alt’s advice is that bay is optional in most dishes but that things are better with it.⁵ Whole leaves come out before serving because they stay tough, which he compares to the texture of a fish bone.⁵ For whole versus crushed leaves, see crushed vs. whole bay leaves; for more ideas, see cooking with bay leaves. If a dish has gone over, see too much bay leaf.

The other “bays”

Several unrelated leaves share the name. They are not interchangeable.

If a recipe written for Turkish bay is made with California bay, López-Alt suggests starting with a quarter to half the amount.⁵ See bay leaf substitutes, curry leaves vs. bay leaves and bay leaves vs. basil.

Buying and quality

No Codex standard for bay leaves was found. Kenya’s national standard for bay leaf (KS 2263:2016) sets a maximum of 10% moisture, 5% total ash and an acid-insoluble ash limit of 0.5 (the table gives no unit), and requires under 2% extraneous matter. It sets no minimum for volatile oil and defines no grades.⁹ It is one country’s standard, cited here as an example of what a specification checks. In practice, good dried bay leaves are whole, olive-green rather than brown, and smell clearly when crushed; that is kitchen judgment.

Storage

López-Alt buys dried bay leaves in bulk and keeps the jar in the freezer, where he says they last indefinitely.⁵ We found no published shelf-life figure from a regulator or standards body. If a crushed leaf smells faint, it has faded.

Safety

Bay leaves are not poisonous. Atlas Obscura calls the belief that they are a misconception and says they are safe to eat.³ The FDA lists bay (Laurus nobilis) among spices generally recognized as safe.⁴

The real reason to remove them is physical. Whole leaves are rigid and can have sharp points and edges, and they stay intact on the way through the gut.¹⁰ Doctors have reported two cases of bay leaves lodged in the esophagus,¹¹ and a case in which a 2 cm piece of bay leaf penetrated the bowel wall at a Meckel’s diverticulum.¹⁰ These are case reports, so they show the hazard exists, not how common it is. Count the leaves in and count them out.

Other plants called bay are a different matter: Atlas Obscura identifies West Indian bay as having poisonous parts (see the table above).³

Health claims

Lists of conditions that bay leaves are said to treat, from blood sugar to migraines, circulate widely. None is supported by a regulator or a systematic review we found, and the NIH’s National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health has no fact sheet on bay leaf.¹² The 2017 review notes that the leaves have been used in Iranian folk medicine.² This page makes no claim that bay leaves treat or prevent any condition.

Related pages

• Bay leaf substitutes
• Cooking with bay leaves
• Too much bay leaf
• Thyme
• Old Bay seasoning