Bay leaves...

[Butterflies&Hurricanes]

We have a Bay leaf tree in our garden but its kind of in the way of our plans...
I feel like its a shame to chop it all down and just chuck away and then have to buy bay leaves from the shop...
I thought maybe I could just take some off the tree and dry them for use later on.
how is this done? Do I just let them dry naturally? How long do they last? Is there anything else I can do???

[cath]

Hi,
We had a small tree in a pot that our dog decided to chew on until it was just a stick left in the pot. I pulled off the leaves that still looked okay and have just had them in a plastic container for the last 6 months or so (maybe longer) and have been using them in cooking. They seem fine and still smell better than the ones bought from the supermarket in a packet. I didn't do anything to dry them -just put them in the container. I'm not really sure how long they are meant to last or anything but they seem to be okay for now.