Bay Leaves: Here’s Why You Should Always Have Them At Home
Welcome Tips Bay Leaves: Here’s Why You Should Always Have Them In Your Home
Often used as a bouquet garni to flavor our small homemade dishes, this aromatic shrub has many other properties… Appetite-stimulating and body-boosting, bay leaf, once venerated by the Greeks and Romans, will quickly become one of our best health allies!
What is laurel?
Bay laurel, also called noble laurel by translation from the Latin Laurus nobilis, is a shrub that has few requirements except for the heat and the sun that it then knows how to transmit so well to culinary preparations. Logically, it is in the open ground around the Mediterranean basin that it is mainly found. It is recognized by its dark green, dense and resistant leaves, often used in the creation of hedges in gardens. Less well known, bay laurel also produces round and black berries in spring which, used dried, have the same taste properties as the leaves.
But if bay leaf is an essential aromatic plant in French gastronomy, it is also renowned for its medicinal properties and is widely used in herbal medicine.
The medicinal virtues of bay leaf
Bay leaf has always been used to treat digestive disorders.
It stimulates the appetite, stimulates the secretion of gastric juices in the stomach, ensures good digestion and prevents fermentation.
It is also used for its antiseptic properties, which is why it is present in many marinades.
Bay laurel is also said to be a good expectorant in cases of bronchitis and its powder is said to reduce fever.
Bay laurel essential oil (which should never be used internally) is often used in the form of ointments to combat muscle aches and pains. Its action is also said to be beneficial for rheumatic pains. Decoctions of the leaves added to bath water are also said to relieve aching limbs.
In the form of a leaf poultice, bay laurel is said to relieve the pain associated with wasp or bee stings.
Bay laurel is also said to have interesting properties on the urinary system since it tones the bladder and according to Dioscorides (1st century AD), it eliminates kidney stones. Still according to Discorides, its bark also relieves liver ailments.