Re: [CH] Bay Tree
Brent Thompson (brent@hplbct.hpl.hp.com)
Wed, 24 May 2000 17:22:52 -0700
> Bay leaves are an important part of bouquet garni, used a lot in northern
> Indian curries..
The catch here is that the "bay leaves" used in India are a totally
unrelated plant (the ones in India are actually cassia leaves, I think,
which is some Cinnamomun sp., and are definitely not Laurus nobilis
"Grecian Bay", which is not grown in India). These Indian ones got named
"bay leaves" by the British when they encountered them by the typical
mistake (or convenience, take your choice) of "the leaves we use in cooking
are bay leaves, so these must be bay leaves too". They don't even much
look like bay leaves to me (but then my eyes light up at these types of
little plant details :-) ), and they certainly don't taste like bay leaves;
instead they taste like cinnamon (or more precisely cassia), oddly enough.
--- Brent