# any ever make bay leaf oil?



## everydayevents (Jun 14, 2010)

I have a question about infused oils. I've made many in the past, but never made one out of bay leaf. Which is better, fresh or dried? I need a really prevalent bay leaf aroma in the oil for the re-creation that I'm developing. 

Lastly, directions on how it would be done if using dried leafs would be awesome too. 

from: Scratching my head in bewilderment.....


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

Dried is safer.  Basically fresh plant matter pose a risk of botulism in flavored oils--especially so for garlic.

You probably want to choose a flavorful oil to start with. Extra Virgin Olive Oil is commonly used and appropriate for a bay leaf oil as they share terroir so to speak. But nut oils would be fun too.

Inspect and clean or omit the leaves you'll use.

I'd use a quart sized wide mouth jar.  Fill it loosely about half way with the dried bay leaves. Pour in olive oil to fill the jar. Cap tightly and put in a cool dry place for a few weeks.  Taste at the end of every week until you have the intensity of flavor you want.

That's a lot of bay leaves, but I'd probably buy a big jar of it at Costco for such a  purpose. or Penzeys or Spices Etc.

You can also do a warm oil method that is faster but tends to negatively affect the flavor of the oil itself. Which method to use depends on your intended use of the oil. The cool oil method creates a more versatile oil in my opinion, but sometimes you need speed for a specific event.

I tend to use a warm oil technique on things like lemon flavored oil that I make in small batches and use quickly to avoid the botulism risk.


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

Every day....just curious what are you using the bay leaf oil on?  Never seen nor heard of it.


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