I once had a grown up neighbor who had never heard of such a thing in his life and I’m wondering if that’s as rare as I thought it was then.
I had a bay tree in my backyard growing up. The woods around me were full of them. I was absolutely horrified to see that you can buy them in a store for like 8 bucks a bottle when you can just, like, grab some off the tree? Then dry them out in your oven for like a day and bam, tasty soup enhancer.
When I was little my older sister said she had “read” somewhere that the Ohlone people stuck rolled-up bay leaves up their noses to clear their sinuses. So she and I would dare each other to stick bay leaves up our noses and whoever could stand the burning for the longest won (I usually won).
So yes, I am intimately acquainted with bay leaves.
I just put them in my spaghetti sauce. When I remember to.
One of my coworkers was talking about how he went to Olive Garden and was utterly OUTRAGED over the fact that there was a whole leaf sitting in his lagasna. He thought that someone had just plopped a leaf right into is food.
I told him, bruh, that’s a bay leaf, it’s a seasoning thing. He didn’t believe me, so I lead him into the kitchen, pulled down th ebig ass container of bay leaves, and asked him if the leaf in his food looked like those.
The look on his face. The confusion, the shock, the disbelief… I will never forget that.