FOGLIO DA LAURO

The Laurel Leaf

 

Bay leaf is a flavoring used in cooking, the Italian name is Foglio da Lauro―the Laurel Leaf. This leaf has an interesting history besides its use as a flavoring agent in cooking. In ancient Greece and Rome winners in the Olympic Games, and other forms of competition received as an award—the privilege of wearing a crown of laurel leaves. Many statues of Roman Emperors wear such crowns and on some ancient Roman coins appear the laureate crowned heads of emperors. Our English word baccalaureate meaning the conferring of a bachelor’s degree at college graduation ceremonies derives from the ancient practices.

The Italian word for receiving a degree is laurare. In regard to the baccalaureate exercises, Bacca may refer to Bacchus the god of grape growing, wine and celebration. In ancient depictions of him, he wears a laurel leaf crown. The conferring of a baccalaureate degree is a time for celebration. Dante Alighieri the renowned poet of the renaissance received the award poet laureate, indicating he was a poet worthy to wear a crown of laurel leaves.

The origins of the use of a laurel wreath lie in Greek Mythology; Apollo, the handsome Olympian God and son of Zeus, fell in love with a beautiful nymph named Daphne. Cupid, in revenge for Apollo’s arrogance, struck him with a love arrow and Daphne with one of odium. As the story goes, Daphne, could not reciprocate the feelings of love Apollo had for her and fled from him. In her flight she asked the river god Peneus for help. When Apollo caught up to her and extended his arms to embrace her, Peneus turned her into a laurel tree. Apollo in his despair from his loss of such a love, cut off a branch to wear as a wreath and declared the plant sacred. This myth initiated the presentation of the laurel wreaths to the victors in the Olympic Games to honor Apollo. One would think the opposite since he lost her love rather than to have won it.

Many statues and frescoes of the mythological Apollo exist. Often the title of these statues bear the name Apollo Belvedere, meaning he is pretty to see, bel—pretty and vedere—to see.

The laurel-leaf as a cooking spice is most frequently available in the dried form. One must be careful in using the leaf in recipes, since too much will embitter the dish. Fresh laurel is difficult to come by unless you have a tree in the yard. It is a pretty tree with long straight branches reaching upward with dark green leaves. The fresh leaf when picked and crushed emits a strong pleasing odor and adds a delicious flavor to many dishes. 

The dried leaf is readily available in the grocery store under the name Bay Leaf. But bay leaf becomes confused with Red Bay Leaf. Both have aromatic leaves and are used in cooking. Red bay leaf is Persea Borbonia and different from the common laurel, Laurus Nobilis, which is the one available at the grocery store. Both, are members of the laurel family (Lauraceae). Red Bay Leaf, a bush common to the south, is slowly fading from American forests due to a wilt disease passed on by a non-native insect, the Red Bay Ambrosia Beetle. Fortunately, Laurus Nobilis is not affected.

The following are a painting of Dante wearing a laurel wreath by Sandro Botticelli, a fresco of him in the chapel of San Brizio in Orvieto by Luca Signorelli, and a statue of Apollo Belvedere in the Vatican Museum.