You roast them until dark brown, almost black. Like dark roasted coffee or dark chocolate. They contain caffeine like stimulants and an extraordinarily rich flavor profile.
They are related to avocados, in the Laurel or Lauraceae family, and their fruit when fully ripe can be eaten like an avocado. The leaves, although 3 times as strong, can be substituted for the European Bay Leaf, the “Bay leaves” you buy at the store, Laurus nobilis.
The edible uses of these trees and their growth were covered in my recent class, How to Eat Acorns and Bay Nuts.
California Bay Laurel trees are also involved in the phenomenon of Sudden Oak Death. Ask me how.
I am from Coos Bay OR originally, and am from the Coos tribe. We live near myrtlewood (the usual Oregonian name for ‘bay laurel’) northern natural limit. The nuts were a traditional food (in our language called shichils) but when I was growing up no one ate them any more. So this year, I picked a few & roasted them, altho’ I did not get them as dark as yours in this video. Got the ‘burnt popcorn’ note all right, along with hint of coffee and chocolate. Definitely oily. Traditionally, our people never ate the outside skins - just the nut part, after roasting in ashes. Well, I am going to try and find some more nuts next year (this year, the trees where I live were pretty light on fruit) and see if we can revive this as a traditional food. I like shichils a lot more than acorns!
Thanks for your pointers, I’ll try some more batches next year with different degrees of roasting and see how it works out.
Thanks for sharing! I had never heard the name myrtlewood (I’ve heard them called peppernuts, and pepperwood.) Nor have I heard them called shichils (how do you pronounce this?) Great!
Well, if you ever visit the southwestern corner of Oregon (Curry County, Coos county, western Douglas county) you’ll hear these trees called myrtlewood about exclusively. People will look at ya funny if you call them ‘bay laurel’!
Shichils is the Coos name for the nut. The ‘i’ is short, like the ‘i’ in the English word ‘bit’. Shih - chills. (There is a different word for the tree itself - wægænhl).
I am looking forward to reviving this annual harvest as a living tradition again. I am surprised more people don’t eat them today, they are pretty good.