If a recipe asked you to add a bay leaf, would you listen? The tough but delicate leaf, which is usually removed before a dish is served, has been a mainstay of Mediterranean cuisine for centuries — but recently, some food enthusiasts and chefs have questioned whether the herb adds any flavor.
Could they be right? The answer depends on a number of factors, including the variety of the leaf, its freshness, and even whether people can taste its unique flavors, as research suggests not everyone can.
What do bay leaves taste like?
Bay leaves come from the laurel tree, an evergreen tree native to the Mediterranean basin. When cooked for a long time in a dish like a stew or soup, bay leaves are said to impart a strong flavor: a blend of notes of pine, clove, lavender and eucalyptus, Charles Spenceprofessor of experimental psychology and gastrophysicist at the University of Oxford, wrote in a Paper 2023 on the taste and history of bay leaf.
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But the subtle green and bitter flavors that escape from the leaf are difficult to describe, even for chefs, and some say they have an indescribable mystique. “My brother, who is a chef, feels that way,” Spence told Live Science. “He feels like the dish is missing something without the bay leaf, even though he can’t express exactly what the bay leaf does.”
A person unfamiliar with bay leaf’s flavor profile might not notice the herb’s subtle influence and pretend it didn’t do anything, said Ethan Frischco-founder and co-CEO of Burlap and Barrel, a single-origin spice company.
Additionally, different varieties of bay leaves have different aromas. The European variety (Laurus nobilis L.) is most often available in grocery stores and requested in recipes, Frisch noted. But North America is also home to the California bay leaf (California Umbellula). Although both leaves are similar in shape and aroma, California bay leaf is “a bit more pine and citrus, compared to Mediterranean species that contain more menthol and eucalyptus,” according to Frisch.
Perhaps this is why bay leaves are receiving more attention in North America. Elsewhere, such as in the Mediterranean region of bay leaf’s origin, the herb is still a ubiquitous and uncontested part of the culinary landscape, Spence said.
Frisch said bay leaf’s reputation has been skewed by a combination of poor quality and unfamiliarity. In the United States, “most dried bay leaves have no flavor because they are so old,” Frisch told Live Science.
Many bay leaf products have unknown harvest conditions and processing times of several years, he said, adding that they can easily be expired before they are purchased.
Cooks may consider bay leaf’s subtle flavor enhancements to be uneconomical compared to hotter spices, such as pepper or garlic. They choose to skip it or substitute it, perpetuating the idea that it doesn’t matter since their dish can still taste good afterwards.
The bay leaf controversy may also be driven by a genetic factor. The volatile compound 1,8-cineole is the most common essential oil in bay leaf, giving it a somewhat minty medicinal aroma, like Vicks VapoRub. A 1981 study out of 85 participants, a third were unable to taste 1,8-cineole. It is unclear whether the inability to taste bay leaf is genetic, as is likely the case with people who think cilantro tastes like soap. This selective anosmia of bay leaves might also help explain why a cohort of people refer to this plant as tasteless, Spence said.
How to use bay leaves correctly
Experts say there are some best practices to ensure you maximize the effect of bay leaf. Frisch recommends starting with high-quality sheets. Look for brighter green leaves with obvious veins running from stem to stem and avoid leaves that are gray, brown, or have wilted stems, as these are signs that the grass is past its prime.
Whole bay leaves are best suited for long-cooking dishes, such as soups, stews or braises. Be sure to add the leaf early in the process, giving it time to release its essential oils. And since most of the volatile compounds in bay leaves aren’t soluble in water, you’ll have better luck cooking the bay leaf in an oil or fatty base like béchamel, Spence said.
However, for quicker meals, Frisch prefers ground bay leaf. The ground version has more surface area and releases flavors more quickly, eliminating the need for long cooking times. And there is no need to think about taking it out at the end of cooking, as cooks have to do with whole leaves. Additionally, it may be easier to cook with ground bay leaf because it’s easier to smell the different aromatic notes, he said.
But if you don’t have quality bay leaves on hand, that’s okay. There are easy substitutes. Frisch recommends using rosemary, thyme or oregano, which have similar herbal notes.
