Dried Bay Leaf Opinions, Please

[Italiancook]

I'm having a rough week in the kitchen. Can't seem to do anything right.

I made a double batch of Carrot Soup. It has 4 dried bay leaves in it. When it came time to use the immersion blender on the soup, I didn't think to remove the bay leaves. After the soup became a smooth mixture, I remembered the bay leaves!

I had planned on freezing the soup & giving away some of it. I don't feel comfortable doing that now that I know there are dried bay leaves in it. My question is this:

I can't see any pieces of bay leaf in the soup. Do you think it's safe for my husband and I to eat? Or, should I just throw it away and not take a chance with it?

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[Mike Nolan]

You don't HAVE to remove the bay leaf; it tends to crumble into little pieces that are not very appealing, but there's nothing unsafe about it.

I've done this a couple times with marinara.

[Italiancook]

Thanks, Mike. I just tasted the soup. It tastes okay with the blended bay leaves in it. I did find a tiny piece of the crunched bay leaf on my tongue. I guess I left some of the green without blending it to smithereens. There are also thyme leaves in the soup, so while I was blending, I assumed the tiny specks of green were thyme.

I'm curious: When you left dried bay leaves in your marinara, were they whole where you could pull them out later? Or, did they crumble into little pieces?

I'm going to go ahead a freeze this soup. I'm going to label it as for family only, not gifts.

[RiversideLen]

The Spice House sells bay leaf powder so I'm sure there is nothing unsafe about eating it. I always thought the reason for removing the leaf is because it never gets soft, so it would not be pleasant to have it in your mouth.

Italiancook, maybe you could strain the soup?

[Italiancook]

Oh, RiversideLen, straining is an Excellent idea. I wish I had thought of that. They're already in the freezer. Since I've marked them for family only, I'll probably strain them after they're thawed.

My concern was that the dried crunched leaves might damage the digestive tract. But Mike says he leaves dried bay leaves in his marinara -- I took that to mean crumbles of them -- so I guess we'll be alright. I had a bowl of this soup for lunch. If I live to tell about it tomorrow, I'll assume my mistake was "no harm, no foul."

I'm going to post the recipe for the Carrot Soup in the recipe section . . . if I can figure out how to do that.

[BakerAunt]

I'm curious about the dried bay leaves, as my mother always said that they needed to be removed because they could damage the digestive tract. I wonder if there is any evidence supporting this idea, since Italian Cook also has heard it.

[RiversideLen]

My curiosity got the better of me so I looked it up on Wikipedia. They report that because the leaves remain very stiff even after cooking they do pose a risk of scratching the digestive tract or even choking if eaten whole or in large pieces.

[Mike Nolan]

I don't INTENTIONALLY leave bay leaves in marinara, I just have been known to forget to take them out before I use the stick blender to turn it into a puree.

(I also prefer to make marinara with seeded tomatoes, because tomato seeds can get bitter when cooked and stick in between your teeth.)

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