McSam Organic Whole Dried Bay Leaves/Tej Patta 100grm, Natural Hand Selected Herb Ideal for Cooking & Tea

A few days ago I only knew one type of bay leaf existed. When I received this package I discovered that there are a few different varieties and this one is the Indian bay leaf known as tej patta. It’s about 3x the size of the Mediterranean bay laurel leaf that I usually get for my soups.Well rather than let this go to waste, I looked up some recipes and made a tea using the leaves. It was enjoyable and had cinnamon notes to it but I do like other teas that I own far better.Indian bay leaves have cinnamon notes and the bay laurel leaf has pine and lemon flavors. The two cannot be interchanged in recipes.Just make sure you know what you’re buying before you get this. I’m not disappointed though, I like to explore different dishes and this will help me do that.

The package describes these leaves as "bay laurel" leaves, but, while they are (Indian) bay leaves, they aren't from the laurel plant. "Bay leaves" describes a lot of different spices, and I suspect someone just copied some text. In addition, nowhere on the packaging does it say these leaves are organic, though a few of them have clearly been chewed by something, so maybe no pesticides.These are cassia leaves, which are not interchangeable with bay laurel leaves. They are MUCH larger, and they have a cinnamon/licorice taste component that is not found in Mediterranean or California bay leaves.If you're looking for Indian "bay leaves" these will do. I note that mine came in a plastic heat-sealed bag, where the heat seal actually melted a hole in the plastic, inside a cardboard box that had a sticker holding the top flap shut but only a mis-applied piece of clear tape on the bottom flap that didn't actually hold it closed, and that the box was in a cellophane overwrap that was held shut with a dirty piece of tape. I have now gotten several spices from this company, and this is apparently their signature.Note to the company: Cassia is a recognized allergen. This kind of mistake can get your product recalled and your company banned from further imports.

When the bay leaves from McSam arrived in a large box I was impressed by their size. Most of the leaves are 1 ½ to 3 inches long! I'm used to having leaves that are much shorter or even crumpled up and torn up. All of these looked very nice and very few were broken. You actually get the whole leaf! I also like how carefully the leaves are packed and the quality of the leaves is nice, too. All the leaves have an even color and there aren’t any dark patches on them except a few. However, upon closer inspection I noticed that the veining of these leaves looks different from the bay leaves that I am used to using in my kitchen. When I use these leaves in my soups I noticed that the taste was different, too. And I did not enjoy it. I think that these bay leaves may be a different variety than I am used to. Because they are from India it could be a variety that I am not familiar with. Maybe they taste better in curries and Indian recipes. I do not think that there's anything bad with these leaves. It's just that they are not the taste that I expected -so it tastes wrong. Therefore, I will probably use the old bay leaves that I still have left.I think the quality of these leaves is excellent, they just are not for me.

I make a really good turnip and beef stew and one of the ingredients is one large bay leaf. I usually get my bay leaves from our local food co-op because they have the largest and freshest leaves at the best price. I thought these bay leaves looked great and because we have been ordering our staples online due to covid I thought I would try them as an alternative.Here is the thing:These leaves are actually just fine, but they are not standard bay leaves that the average home cook might use in a turnip and beef stew. These are tej patta and here is why that will not work for my cooking purposes:True tej patta leaves impart a strong cassia or cinnamon-like aroma to dishes, while the bay laurel leaf's aroma is more reminiscent of pine and lemon.I Googled recipes for tej patta leaves and found mostly tea, but I did discover some curries. I will need to do some additional reading so I can use these leaves correctly.

These bay leaves are HUGE and the packaging is odd. They come in a plastic bag that is not resealable and the leaves are too big for most jars. There is just no practical way to store them. I suppose you can crush them and store them in a quart jar, which is likely what I will do. The prime mailer and the external product packaging had a VERY strong, off putting perfume smell like this product had been stored next to a strong room freshener. Fortunately once I disposed of the outer packaging the smell went away.Between the non reusable packaging, the overly large leaf size and the perfume smell I am not a fan of this product. Hopefully my experience was unique and other buyers have received a better product.