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 cans on the spice shelf.

It was routine for my mom to make up a batch of seasoned flour for those 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 also. I think that is what enticed me to purchase Bay Leaf Seasoning when I visited a Penzy outlet years ago. And I loved using it from day one...

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 need to flavor the dressing, does take planning 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...

Having a jar of Ground Bay Leaves is so convenient! 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 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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