Showing Food Sweet bay
| General Information | |||||||||||
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| Name | Sweet bay | ||||||||||
| Scientific Name | Laurus nobilis | ||||||||||
| Description | Sweet bay, Laurus nobilis, is an aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub native to the Mediterranean region. It is widely used in Mediterranean cuisines, particularly in Italian cooking, where the leaves are added whole to pasta sauces for flavor. The leaves are typically removed before serving, unless used as a garnish. Sweet bay has a mild, slightly bitter taste and a distinctive aroma. It is rich in antioxidants and has anti-inflammatory properties, providing several health benefits (PMID: 30387132). The most notable chemical compound in sweet bay is eugenol (PMID: 35267385). Eugenol has medicinal uses, including as a local anesthetic and antiseptic. Industrially, sweet bay is used in the production of perfumes and soaps. A peculiar mode of preparation involves using whole bay leaves in cooking, which are then removed before serving, while ground bay leaves can be safely ingested and are often used in soups and stocks. | ||||||||||
| Primary ID | FOOD00097 | ||||||||||
| Picture |  | ||||||||||
| Classification | |||||||||||
| Group | Herbs and Spices | ||||||||||
| Sub-Group | Herbs | ||||||||||
| Taxonomy | |||||||||||
| Superkingdom | Eukaryota | ||||||||||
| Kingdom | Viridiplantae | ||||||||||
| Phylum | Streptophyta | ||||||||||
| Class | Magnoliopsida | ||||||||||
| Order | Laurales | ||||||||||
| Family | Lauraceae | ||||||||||
| Genus | Laurus | ||||||||||
| Species | nobilis | ||||||||||
| Variety | Not Available | ||||||||||
| External Links | |||||||||||
| ITIS ID | 503343 | ||||||||||
| Wikipedia ID | Sweet_bay | ||||||||||
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| References | |||||||||||
| Content Reference | — Duke, James. 'Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases. United States Department of Agriculture.' Agricultural Research Service, Accessed April 27 (2004). — U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. 2008. USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 21. Nutrient Data Laboratory Home Page. — Rothwell JA, Pérez-Jiménez J, Neveu V, Medina-Ramon A, M'Hiri N, Garcia Lobato P, Manach C, Knox K, Eisner R, Wishart D, Scalbert A. (2013) Phenol-Explorer 3.0: a major update of the Phenol-Explorer database to incorporate data on the effects of food processing on polyphenol content. Database, 10.1093/database/bat070. — Shinbo, Y., et al. 'KNApSAcK: a comprehensive species-metabolite relationship database.' Plant Metabolomics. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2006. 165-181. | ||||||||||