I've followed the thread on bay with interest.
My bay is too young yet to take leaves from, so I asked my aunt to get me
some from her 7ft high one.
She snipped some off complete with stems and I noticed that on the stems
there were little bunches of peppercorn-like thingies in clusters of three.
I assume these are the seeds, what's the chances of propagating from these?

I dried the bay leaves themselves by putting them in a metal dish on top of
my woodburner - I now have enough for a year of soup flavouring ;-)

Tina

On Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:47:31 -0000, "Christina Websell"
wrote:

I dried the bay leaves themselves by putting them in a metal dish on top of
my woodburner - I now have enough for a year of soup flavouring ;-)

I never dry off bay leaves. I have a biggish standard bay and just
rip off a few fresh leaves as required. Drying does nothing for the
taste in my view.

--
(¯`·. ®óñ© © ²°¹° .·´¯)

Christina Websell writes
I've followed the thread on bay with interest.
My bay is too young yet to take leaves from, so I asked my aunt to get me
some from her 7ft high one.
She snipped some off complete with stems and I noticed that on the stems
there were little bunches of peppercorn-like thingies in clusters of three.
I assume these are the seeds, what's the chances of propagating from these?

(I've just been out into the ice and snow for you ;-) )

I think you'll find that they are flower buds. My buds are round,
peppercorn size, and pale yellowy brownish green.
--
Kay

®óñ© © ²°¹°-°¹ writes
On Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:47:31 -0000, "Christina Websell"
wrote:

I dried the bay leaves themselves by putting them in a metal dish on top of
my woodburner - I now have enough for a year of soup flavouring ;-)

I never dry off bay leaves. I have a biggish standard bay and just
rip off a few fresh leaves as required. Drying does nothing for the
taste in my view.

Yes, but Christina doesn't have much option, as her own plant is not yet
large enough for harvesting. I don't know that there are any herbs which
are better dried, it's just a way of coping if you haven't got a fresh
source.
--
Kay

In article ,
®óñ© © ²°¹°-°¹ wrote:
On Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:47:31 -0000, "Christina Websell"
wrote:

I dried the bay leaves themselves by putting them in a metal dish on top of
my woodburner - I now have enough for a year of soup flavouring ;-)

I never dry off bay leaves. I have a biggish standard bay and just
rip off a few fresh leaves as required. Drying does nothing for the
taste in my view.

Mine is big enough that we light it up as an outside Christmas tree,
I put twigs on the barbequeue and STILL have to prune it annually!
But it's planted in the soil.

If we go back to the hard winters we used to have here, 20-30 years
ago, I may well lose it, but it doesn't mind -10 Celsius or the soil
freezing to the depth of an inch or so.

Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In message , ®óñ© © ²°¹°-°¹
writes
On Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:47:31 -0000, "Christina Websell"
wrote:

I dried the bay leaves themselves by putting them in a metal dish on top of
my woodburner - I now have enough for a year of soup flavouring ;-)

I never dry off bay leaves. I have a biggish standard bay and just
rip off a few fresh leaves as required. Drying does nothing for the
taste in my view.

I agree. If you can obtain fresh leaves, they are better than dried but
sometimes needs must. The largest of my bay trees is around 20 feet
tall and the leaves smell lovely when picked and scrunched up so the
perfume is released.
--
June Hughes

"®óñ© © ²°¹°-°¹" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:47:31 -0000, "Christina Websell"
wrote:

I dried the bay leaves themselves by putting them in a metal dish on top
of
my woodburner - I now have enough for a year of soup flavouring ;-)

I never dry off bay leaves. I have a biggish standard bay and just
rip off a few fresh leaves as required. Drying does nothing for the
taste in my view
© ²°¹° .·´¯)

Well, as I said, my own bay is still very small, 2 ft, and I don't think
it's up to me ripping fresh leaves off it quite yet.

Tina

wrote in message ...
In article ,
®óñ© © ²°¹°-°¹ wrote:
On Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:47:31 -0000, "Christina Websell"
wrote:

I dried the bay leaves themselves by putting them in a metal dish on top
of
my woodburner - I now have enough for a year of soup flavouring ;-)

I never dry off bay leaves. I have a biggish standard bay and just
rip off a few fresh leaves as required. Drying does nothing for the
taste in my view.

Mine is big enough that we light it up as an outside Christmas tree,
I put twigs on the barbequeue and STILL have to prune it annually!
But it's planted in the soil.

If we go back to the hard winters we used to have here, 20-30 years
ago, I may well lose it, but it doesn't mind -10 Celsius or the soil
freezing to the depth of an inch or so.


Ok, stop showing off about your big bay tree ;-)
Let's not all get distracted by the part of my post that describes how I
dried bay leaves.
My question was: are those peppercorn like things on the stems the seeds,
and can I propagate them?
Does anyone know, has anyone tried it?
Tina

Christina Websell writes
Ok, stop showing off about your big bay tree ;-) Let's not all get
distracted by the part of my post that describes how I dried bay
leaves. My question was: are those peppercorn like things on the stems
the seeds,

I've already answered that one!

--
Kay

"K" wrote in message
...
Christina Websell writes
I've followed the thread on bay with interest.
My bay is too young yet to take leaves from, so I asked my aunt to get me
some from her 7ft high one.
She snipped some off complete with stems and I noticed that on the stems
there were little bunches of peppercorn-like thingies in clusters of
three.
I assume these are the seeds, what's the chances of propagating from
these?

(I've just been out into the ice and snow for you ;-)

Thank you. really appreciate it!

I think you'll find that they are flower buds. My buds are round,
peppercorn size, and pale yellowy brownish green.


Dammit, I'd really hoped they were seeds.
Thanks.

Tina

®óñ© © ²°¹°-°¹ wrote:
On Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:47:31 -0000, "Christina Websell"
wrote:

I dried the bay leaves themselves by putting them in a metal dish on top of
my woodburner - I now have enough for a year of soup flavouring ;-)

I never dry off bay leaves. I have a biggish standard bay and just
rip off a few fresh leaves as required. Drying does nothing for the
taste in my view.

Not long post-war, we had a residual member of the Polish Air Force who
came and mowed our grass. He asked my mother if he could take some bay
leaves (we had two huge trees) and the answer was, of course, 'Take as
many as you like'.

Imagine the dismay when Stefan was seen raking-up the dropped leaves. He
was bidden to take a branch of fresh ones, but he said that in Poland,
that was how they liked them.

Ah well - to everyone, his goat.

(I'll get mine...)

--
Rusty

wrote:

/prune/

If we go back to the hard winters we used to have here, 20-30 years
ago, I may well lose it, but it doesn't mind -10 Celsius or the soil
freezing to the depth of an inch or so.

No reason why - our bay trees were originally planted at the end of the
first world war, and they were still there last time I looked.

This was in Essex, which was not the warmest part of the UK during the
winter.

--
Rusty

Christina Websell wrote:
wrote in message ...
In article ,
®óñ© © ²°¹°-°¹ wrote:
On Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:47:31 -0000, "Christina Websell"
wrote:

I dried the bay leaves themselves by putting them in a metal dish on top
of
my woodburner - I now have enough for a year of soup flavouring ;-)
I never dry off bay leaves. I have a biggish standard bay and just
rip off a few fresh leaves as required. Drying does nothing for the
taste in my view.
Mine is big enough that we light it up as an outside Christmas tree,
I put twigs on the barbequeue and STILL have to prune it annually!
But it's planted in the soil.

If we go back to the hard winters we used to have here, 20-30 years
ago, I may well lose it, but it doesn't mind -10 Celsius or the soil
freezing to the depth of an inch or so.


Ok, stop showing off about your big bay tree ;-)
Let's not all get distracted by the part of my post that describes how I
dried bay leaves.
My question was: are those peppercorn like things on the stems the seeds,
and can I propagate them?
Does anyone know, has anyone tried it?

No, they are flower-buds.

--
Rusty

K wrote:

(I've just been out into the ice and snow for you ;-) )

I think you'll find that they are flower buds. My buds are round,
peppercorn size, and pale yellowy brownish green.

Bud Rays!

--
Rusty

In article ,
Dave Hill wrote:
On 31 Dec, 17:56, wrote:
In article ,

Yes. =A0I thought immediately of both curry leaves and kafir lime leaves=
as
opposed to the same dried..
The fresh varieties may well now be available in big cities but here on =
the
IOW they are a bit *too* cosmopolitan for many.
Tesco seems to have both dried from time to time but yet to find them
fresh - in spite of seeing them in some modern recipies.

Kaffir lime? =A0I grow it, but it's fairly unusual, and I doubt that it
would become a weed, even on Ventis.

Supermarkets are a disaster for specialist foods, but have driven
most other shops into bankruptcy. =A0You can get the fresh leaves, but
only when you find a suitable shop - which generally means London :-(

Here in south Wales there are a lot of Bay trees of 30ft and over,
many of which must be around 100 years old, they dont seem to mind our
high rainfall.

I doubt you have many kaffir lime trees, though :-)

As for using the leaves off a Bay just 2ft tall, why noy, use the
lower leaves, they will be falling off in time so why not use some of
them.
The seeds of Bay are black and about the size of cherry stones.

And rarely produced in the UK.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Regards,
Nick Maclaren.