Pruning and repotting my Bay Leaf plant

[summer57]

Summer, do you get fruit on your Makrut lime tree? If you do, what do you do with it?

This is the first year I didn't get fruit. I moved from my southwest-facing deck to an east-facing condo, so all I get are the leaves, which is perfectly fine, because the leaves are a very useful part of the makrut lime tree.
When I did get the little makrut limes, and there weren't many, I'd freeze them and grate them into a Thai curry. Makrut limes are small, hard, knobby, little fruit with a thick rind. Very fragrant, though, as are the leaves.

 

[Badjak]

I agree with summer on the use of makrut limes (although I would call them different).
You can also peel them and dry the zest and then use (I've actuslly used them instead of orange peel in a beer recipe (tripel) and liked the result
(By the way, I would call them jeruk purut )

 

[KatyCooks]

I had a Bay Tree (a youngish one) in a pot and sort of ignored it until every single leaf turned brown and fell off. That got my attention! So I looked up what to do, and the advice was that if there was any green colour left on the stems, it could be revived. I planted into the ground and gave it a lot of water. It has come back and is providing me with more than enough bay leaves for cooking, but looks nothing like as healthy as the ones pictured here! Still glad I have it though as I love to cook with fresh bay leaves.

 

[dragnlaw]

Can't remember if I asked this. When you cook with fresh, do you add more than the dry requirement or less or the same.

 

[GotGarlic]

The rule of thumb is to use three times as much fresh as you would dried, because the flavor is more concentrated in dried herbs when the water has evaporated, and because volatile molecules will have dissipated.

 

[dragnlaw]

Thanks GG. When one knows the reason why, one has a tendency to remember.

albeit my tendencies' have a habit of evading me on occasion.

 

[taxlady]

Can't remember if I asked this. When you cook with fresh, do you add more than the dry requirement or less or the same.

I would have thought one leaf for one leaf. Or possibly less of the fresh. It's not like dry, crumbled herbs that take less space in a teaspoon than the fresh stuff. I imagine that the dry stuff loses some of its volatile oils in the drying process. I guess someone needs to the experiment.

 

[pepperhead212]

I would have thought one leaf for one leaf. Or possibly less of the fresh. It's not like dry, crumbled herbs that take less space in a teaspoon than the fresh stuff. I imagine that the dry stuff loses some of its volatile oils in the drying process. I guess someone needs to the experiment.

I was thinking the same, with the bay leaf. Things like thyme, oregano, and other herbs, that shrink considerably, and don't lose a lot of their flavors when drying, need less, but things like basil lose so much of their volatile oils while drying, aren't that flavorful. Sage is fairly strong when dry, but with mainly one of its oils - much more of the other of its volatile oils is lost, when dried. This is what happens with rosemary, too - the reason the fresh and dried taste so different with these, as well as some others.

 

[Badjak]

I agree with less in most cases, but I find bay dries very well and the dried version has a stronger flavour than fresh. So I use more fresh leaves than I would use if I used dried (that sentence is totally crooked, but I hope still understandable)

 

[dragnlaw]

LOL... well, sounds like 3 blind men describing an elephant!
So I will experiment, but I don't use a lot of bay. At least not any more. One time I do use it is when poaching, especially salmon.

 

[GotGarlic]

I would have thought one leaf for one leaf. Or possibly less of the fresh. It's not like dry, crumbled herbs that take less space in a teaspoon than the fresh stuff. I imagine that the dry stuff loses some of its volatile oils in the drying process. I guess someone needs to the experiment.

I was posting the general rule and didn't really think it through. Bay leaves have such a subtle flavor I'm not sure how much you use matters much, unless it's a whole lot.

 

[dragnlaw]

That's OK GG, general rules are a base line that one can use to experiment. As I said, when one knows why...