Thursday's Food Tip: Be Careful with Bay Leaves

Here's a tip that won't affect the taste of whatever you're baking or cooking. It will just make the dish safer to eat.



If you like to bake or cook, chances are you use a lot of flour. To keep the flour from attracting weevils, you probably put a few bay leaves into the flour cannister. Then, whenever you need flour and get some out of the cannister, if you come across a bay leaf you simply toss it out or put it back into the cannister with the flour.

But be carefull with bay leaves. They can break apart. You might come across a piece of bay leaf, and not a complete leaf, when you're dipping into the cannister for some flour. For that reason, you should always SIFT the flour you remove from the cannister. That way, if there are any pieces of bay leaf hidden in the flour you'll get them out.

Someone could actually choke on a small piece of dry, hard bay leaf in a soup, stew, sauce, or other food. Be careful with bay leaves and that won't happen.