Bay, or laurel, is a symbol of fame and victory. A wreath of bay leaves was a token of honour given to poets and conquerors of antiquity and has remained so to this day.
Nowadays, due apparently to intensive forestry practices, extensive use of pesticides and fungicides, and last but not least environmental pollution, the orange milk-cup is hard to find and in all probability the day is not far off when it will become extinct. Unless we learn to cultivate it before then, we shall be deprived forever of its inimitable flavour and aroma, which is even more powerful when pickled in vinegar. It is not suitable for drying.
Besides essential oil (as much as 2%) the berries contain a bitter-tasting mixture of tannins, resins and other organic acids, which gives them their characteristic woodland aroma and spicy bitter flavour. It is perhaps for this reason that juniper was a popular flavouring with huntsmen as an essential in preparing game.
It may, however, also be used for marinating fish, with fatty meats, and to disguise the odour of cabbage or beets.
Nowadays laurel is grown not only in the Mediterranean countries but also in many other parts of Europe. Two-year-old leaves (1), up to 10 cm (4 in) long and 3 cm (1 in) wide, arc harvested in the autumn and dried in thin layers in shade to preserve their characteristic aroma and flavour.
They should be sown on the surface, which should be kept moist all the time. When the seeds have swollen they form a thick layer of mucilage and then rapidly sprout, so that within two weeks you can harvest young plants with two true leaves. Up to this point they need no feeding, for they have an ample store inside the seeds. Seeds may be sown in succession at 14-day intervals throughout the year
Nowadays, due apparently to intensive forestry practices, extensive use of pesticides and fungicides, and last but not least environmental pollution, the orange milk-cup is hard to find and in all probability the day is not far off when it will become extinct. Unless we learn to cultivate it before then, we shall be deprived forever of its inimitable flavour and aroma, which is even more powerful when pickled in vinegar. It is not suitable for drying.
Besides essential oil (as much as 2%) the berries contain a bitter-tasting mixture of tannins, resins and other organic acids, which gives them their characteristic woodland aroma and spicy bitter flavour. It is perhaps for this reason that juniper was a popular flavouring with huntsmen as an essential in preparing game.
It may, however, also be used for marinating fish, with fatty meats, and to disguise the odour of cabbage or beets.
Nowadays laurel is grown not only in the Mediterranean countries but also in many other parts of Europe. Two-year-old leaves (1), up to 10 cm (4 in) long and 3 cm (1 in) wide, arc harvested in the autumn and dried in thin layers in shade to preserve their characteristic aroma and flavour.
They should be sown on the surface, which should be kept moist all the time. When the seeds have swollen they form a thick layer of mucilage and then rapidly sprout, so that within two weeks you can harvest young plants with two true leaves. Up to this point they need no feeding, for they have an ample store inside the seeds. Seeds may be sown in succession at 14-day intervals throughout the year
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