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Friday, June 11, 2021

How to Make Ground Bay Leaves, and why you might want to!

How to Make Ground Bay Leaves, so easy to make, and very convenient to use. Plus you won't have to fish the cooked bay leaf out of your finished dish ever again if you don't want to! 


I will always remember those little red shaker cans with their squatty rectangle shape. 

There seemed to be a lot of them, and when I was asked to bring over a certain spice, I had to read the name of the spice carefully, to select the right one. Because to my 8-year-old eyes, they all looked the same on the shelf where they were kept! I don't remember jars of whole spices, but I do remember all the little red cans on the spice shelf.  

It was routine for my mom to make up a batch of seasoned flour for the times Fried Chicken was on the menu. The seasoned flour included salt, pepper, paprika, thyme, and a dash of Ground Bay Leaves. As a child I used to think, how does she know to do this? But the chicken was always delicious and so was the gravy!

It took another 40 plus years to realize that there needed to be ground bay leaves in my kitchen as well. I think that little can of ground bay leaves is what enticed me to purchase Bay Leaf Seasoning when I visited a Penzy's outlet years ago. And I loved using it from day one...

Ground Bay Leaves are nice for so many recipes.

The flavor from bay leaves is lovely, but in whole leaf form, long cooking or marinating/setting time is needed for the flavor to come through. This works well for recipes like Quick Pickled Onions, or Red Beans with Garlic and Red Wine. But for something like this delicious salad dressing, where the crumbled leaves are used to flavor the dressing. Some of these recipes need to be planned for, ahead.  

And while we all plan ahead as much as possible, some days planning ahead works better than others! And then I remembered, my mom always had a little can of Ground Bay Leaves right there on her spice shelf...and my second reminder came from a cookbook that I like to browse from time to time. I do not have a specific spice grinder, but what I do use and recommend is a small coffee grinder with a removable grinding cup. That way you can put it through the dishwasher or wash by hand with no residual small to affect the next batch of spices you work with. 

Having a jar of Ground Bay Leaves is so convenient! 

And it only takes but a moment to buzz them up. The chamber for my coffee grinder that I keep just for spices, holds a small handful. Once ground they are reduced to about one and a half tablespoons. I recommend that you only grind one chamber at a time, as the flavor of ground spices dims faster than that of whole herbs and spices. I use a pinch of Ground Bay Leaves, for each bay leaf called for in a recipe. 

Ingredients needed for this recipe:
  • bay leaves
You will also need the following:
  • small spice grinder or coffee grinder 
  • small glass jar with lid
Now we are ready to begin!



How to Make Ground Bay Leaves
inspired by Good Stuff Cookbook and memories of my mom's kitchen

Bay Leaves, that's it!


Break the stem portion off enough bay leaves to fill the grinding chamber. 



Attach the lid of the grinder securely, grind using an "on and off" method if needed to move the bay leaves around, grinding until a fine powder is achieved. 



Spoon the ground bay leaves into a storage jar, label, store in a cool dry spot. Use within 6 months or so for the best flavor. 

Storage options for Ground Bay Leaves. Store in a small container or jar with a lid for up to six months. The ground herb won't go bad, but will lose flavor if not used quickly, smell before using, if it smells bright and flavorful it is fine to use!

UPDATE:  For your convenience, a "copy and paste" version of How to Make Ground Bay Leaves has been included below. 

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Printable "copy and paste" version:

How to Make Ground Bay Leaves
inspired by Good Stuff Cookbook and memories of my mom's kitchen

Bay Leaves, that's it!

Break the stem portion off enough bay leaves to fill the grinding chamber. 

Attach the lid of the grinder securely, grind using an "on and off" method if needed to move the bay leaves around, grinding until a fine powder is achieved. 

Spoon the ground bay leaves into a storage jar, label, store in a cool dry spot. Use within 6 months or so for the best flavor. 

Storage options for Ground Bay Leaves. Store in a small container or jar with a lid for up to six months. The ground herb won't go bad, but will lose flavor if not used quickly, smell before using, if it smells bright and flavorful it is fine to use!

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Would you like to comment?

  1. Soooo, this is certainly convenient! Great tip. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've done this! We found a wild bay when we were hiking aroubnd a few yaers back and collected some of the leaves. It's great fresh. Love this post.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I have thought about growing a bay tree for this very reason.

      Delete
  3. I've never thought of grinding the leaves before. Great idea!Thanks for sharing at the What's for Dinner party! Have a great week.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks so much for linking up at A Themed Linkup 83 for Recipes in a Jar. Pinned!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dee, you are very welcome, the link-ups you share are always interesting and fun!

      Delete
  5. I have a big container of bay leaves and it never occurred to me to keep some ground ones nearby. Thank you for this idea!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello, I have a delicious Salad Dressing Recipe that calls for a crumbled bay leaf, but I add a pinch of ground bay leaves instead, perfect and no pieces of bay leaves to work around! Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate it!

      Delete
  6. I use a coffee grinder to grind my herbs and seeds too! Great idea for the bay leaves, one time I forgot to fish them out of a soup before using the immersion blender and it was like eating little toothpicks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Leslie, I do the same, I have a coffee grinder dedicated to herb grinding only. Thanks so much for stopping by, I appreciate it.

      Delete

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