Bay Leaf: How to Grow and Make a Pot of Beans!

The bay leaf is one of those wonderful herbs that are too often overlooked. It never acts as the featured ingredient in a dish the way basil does for pesto or parsley for chimichurri, but behind the scenes, it’s putting in the subtle layers of flavor that lift a dish from passable to impressive.

No, the fate of the bay leaf is often either never making it to a spice cabinet or migrating its way to the back, likely not to be revisited until an extensive cleaning or full-fledged change of address. It makes sense in a way. We are talking about a jar of the whole, dried tree leaves. That’s not something we usually put in our food.

However, bay leaves are aromatic, versatile, and health-boosting. For some cooks, they are a mainstay, go-to ingredient that permeates flavor into dishes, particularly those with a bit of sauciness, like a pot of beans. And they are fun to grow at home!

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The Bay Laurel

Bay leaves come from bay laurel trees (Laurus nobilis), which can also be called sweetbay laurel. These are evergreen trees that grow to about 25 feet tall, and they are native to the Mediterranean and Asia. It is one of the oldest cultivated trees. Bay laurels have oval leaves, little clusters of yellow flowers, and tiny purple drupes (on female trees).

For home growers in the States, bay laurel is comfortable in USDA Hardiness Zone 7, and it likes well-draining soil. It enjoys plenty of sunlight and a moderate amount of humidity. Bay laurels are okay grown in pots, and they can be trained to be a manageable size. In fact, bay laurels work as topiary plants.

Adding Bay Laurel to the Garden

Because sweetbay laurels can be clipped and pruned heavily, they can be kept as a small tree in an herb garden, and one will provide more bay leaves than any home chef will need. Like most other culinary herbs, bay laurel is disease and pest-resistant, including deer. They are adaptable to different types of soils, and they can deal with a bit of heat and drought. In a word, they are easy to cultivate.

Bay laurel trees can be maintained like bushes. They are slow-growing, so they won’t quickly get out of hand. For colder climates, they can be grown in pots and moved inside during the winter, making a nice, aromatic evergreen houseplant.

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Harvesting and Using Bay Leaves

Like an evergreen tree, the leaves of bay sweetbay laurels can be harvested year-round, though some sources suggest harvesting them when the plant is dried. Additionally, bay leaves can be used fresh or dried, but most cooks prefer the dried leaves because the flavor mellows a bit. Turkish researchers have also advised picking leaves from two to three-year-old shoots for the choicest leaves.

Bay leaves are tossed into dishes as whole leaves, and they will hold their shape and rigidness after hours of cooking. In short, they aren’t meant to be eaten but rather to impart flavor as done with bouquet garnets in French cooking. Though the leaves are sometimes believed to be poisonous, this is not the case (mountain laurel and cherry laurel are), so accidentally eating a bit will not cause any issue.

Other Uses for Bay Leaf

Adding a bay leaf to a pot of beans or spaghetti sauce will impart a depth of flavor, but that’s not the only way to use a bay leaf. Because they are so fragrant, bay leaves find their way into several different aromatic applications, such as candles and potpourri. They are also great for naturally deterring pests in pantries, and they can be safely put into containers of dried goods like flour, rice, pasta, etc.

Small twigs of bay leaves are also traditionally used to make wreaths during the wintertime. These wreaths were commonly used by the Ancient Greeks and believed to provide spiritual and physical cleansing. Nowadays, we can appreciate that they will stay green for a long time, all the while providing a pleasant bouquet.

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Getting a Bay Laurel

For those interested in growing a bay laurel, this is one of those plants that is probably best bought as a small specimen rather than trying to grow it from seeds or cuttings. One will be enough to keep the pantry stocked and provide plenty more leaves to play with.

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