Eli5: Why are bay leaves used whole, when every other spice is chopped or ground up?
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There is some agreement they work better whole… but! Google tells me there have been a few hospital trips due to choking on a bay leaf… so there is that.
Am I insane or does bay leaves not taste of anything?
usability. you *can* buy ground bay, but it’s such a strong herb that even 1/4 tsp will utterly ruin a dish. the whole leaf has little surface area so it infuses more slowly.
bay comes from a laurel plant. it’s not particularly difficult to grow and the leaves are plentiful, so it’s also economical to just sell/use the whole leaf and not worry about the waste.
Bad premise. Lots of spices are or can be used whole. Many whole spices get removed when you serve the dish though.
Ground bay leaf is used extensively in Indian cooking. It is a staple ingredient of any garam masala.
The leaves are rough and can give you micro cuts in your throat is the short version
This problem is even bigger when dried , fresh bay leaves are ok to eat but still kind of unpleasant because they are very fibrous
Some moron at my old workplace thought it was a good idea to chop up bay leaves for the sauce. All it did was make you need to spit out a bay leaf every mouthful you had, it’s hard/sharp and not something you’d eat. Powdered bay leaf might be a different story.
Besides, removing a whole bay leaf is not hard, not many leaves are used
Truncate that question to ‘why are bay leaves?’.
They aren’t really edible, the oils and flavors they give up while cooking taste good but the tough leaf isn’t something you should consume which is why we remove them after cooking
*cinnamon stick has entered the chat*
Not ‘every other spice’ is chopped or ground up before use. Either through necessity or just taste preference, plenty of recipes call for various spices to be used whole but then, generally, removed before serving.
It’s due to the strength of the spice in question, the different way it impacts a flavour when used either whole or chopped and, sometimes, purely for presentation purposes.
Bay leaf has a strong flavour when it’s chopped but is far more subtle when used whole so people typically cook with it whole and remove before serving to avoid chewing on a whole hard leaf mid-meal.
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