You might spend your whole cooking life following recipes that call for bay leaves without really understanding why. Many ...

Although fresh leaves are becoming more widely available, they are usually sold dried. The dried bay leaves are more strongly flavoured than fresh ones, but the uses for both are the same.

NPR’s Ayesha Rascoe talks to the Boston Globe’s Beth Teitell < > about the bay leaf and whether it’s necessary or not for your dish.