# Canning Veggies with Bay leaves?



## lisa's garden (Apr 1, 2010)

I canned some soup veggies with a bay leaf in each jar yesterday and now I'm wondering if the bay leaf will cause a bitter taste. Anyone have experience with this? 

It seemed like a good idea at the time.


----------



## lisa's garden (Apr 1, 2010)

I don't know if it matters as far as my question, but this was in a pressure canner.


----------



## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

I have read that bay leaves cause bitterness when pressure canned so I don't use them, so I guess I don't have any first-hand knowledge.

If a recipe calls for bay leaves (whole), they usually say to remove the leaf after it has cooked. Bay leaves don't soften upon cooking and that could be part of the reason.


----------



## judylou (Jun 19, 2009)

I agree with what Sally said and I learned from personal experience that bay leaves are not a "leave in" herb. Since that sad experience I have read several sources that support that position. I have even gone so far as to call them notorious for bad results. 

This, of course, depends on several factors including time on the shelf, proportion of ingredients to the leaf, what else is added to the mix AFTER opening the jar, and other ingredients in the jar mix. So your soup veggies may be fine if well diluted after opening or they may not.

Basically it will be your taste buds that will determine if the end result is acceptable to you but for future reference I would definitely leave the bay leaf out and only add it to the mix after opening the jar.


----------



## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

I have an old spice grinder and it will reduce bay leaves to a fine powder. I'll add an eighth teaspoon to spaghetti sauce before canning. That's not overwhelming and don't have to fish around to find a whole leaf.

Martin


----------



## lisa's garden (Apr 1, 2010)

Paquebot said:


> I have an old spice grinder and it will reduce bay leaves to a fine powder. I'll add an eighth teaspoon to spaghetti sauce before canning. That's not overwhelming and don't have to fish around to find a whole leaf.
> 
> Martin


Hmmm, never tried that, but it sounds good! I have a big package of bay leaves from our coop...$2.10 for about 50 times what you get in the little bottle at the store. :thumb: So I've been a little 'free and easy' with them in my cooking lately :teehee:

I just got another canner full of the same veggie mix together and turned the heat on. But this time I did not put the bay leaves in...just parsley and sea salt. So I will try to use the batch with bay leaves up first and see how it goes. 

I will also try diluting the broth to see if that helps. Thanks for the suggestions!


----------



## RandalOulton (Feb 21, 2015)

Just a small followup to this thread 4 years later for anyone searching. To be fair, I would say this is a personal taste thing. Some people don't like black pepper or ketchup or mustard or white sugar, so of course there will be a few people who don't like bay leaves as well. But if you're not one of those, you may wish to consider trying a bay leaf in a jar of something to see what you think.

I personally use bay leaves all the time in my canning (water bath preserves and pressure canned veggies) and it's great; there's nothing like a bay leaf tucked into a jar of carrots or green beans or meat to elevate the flavour from boiled banal to quasi-gourmet, lol. Definitely a leave-in jar herb for me and I get mad when I forget. And they look beautiful, too.

So I get that there are people who don't like it; I just wanted to register my vote in favour of liking it! lol.

Cheers


----------

