[Sca-cooks] bay berries

[Terry Decker]

Flower and Rosenbaum translate "bacae lauri" as "laurel berry."  A better 
choice than "bay berry."

According to the OED in English usage bayberry is the fruit of the bay-tree 
or laurel.  In U.S. usage, it is the fruit of the wax myrtle (Myrica 
cerifera).  The error here is trying to provide a common identifier (having 
different meanings in different locations) without reference to the defining 
scientific nomenclature.

Bear


> It sounds like either we have a translation error, a substitution for ease 
> of finding an ingredient (which I doubt as this is a translation and not a 
> redaction) or we actually have two different plants with perhaps the New 
> World one being named after the Old World one. I don't know Latin, but 
> "bacae lauri" does look like laurel berry.
>
> The link given doesn't talk of the bayberry they are talking about being 
> edible, just it's use as a wax source.
>
> Stefan