Gale

Think "bitter", think "gale". Gale is an essential ingredient of stews and bitter ales.

Gale shrubs	Gale leaves

Species:	Myrica gale.
Origin:	Unknown.
Source:	The plant is found in oligotrophic habitats of Northern Europe, Asia and North America. The closely related plant m. pensylvanica (bayberry) is a US native.
Used Part:	Leaves, fresh or dried. Besides those of m. gale, the larger leaves of m. cerifera and the North American m. pensylvanica can also be used as a spice with similar characteristics.
Family:	Myricaceae (gale family).
Effect:	Gale leaves have a pleasant aromatic smell that increases when the leaves are dried. The taste of the leaves is similar, but somewhat bitter and astringent. The genus myrica gale has the purest fragrance, whereas m. cerifera has pungent, eucalypt-like overtones and m. pensylvanica possesses citrus-like notes.
Etymology:	The botanical species name and English common name gale (Old English gagel) is an name of uncertain etymology, but may derive from Middle French gale "merrymaking" "festivity" or "pleasure" perhaps from its use in flavouring beer and substituting for more expensive spices in cooking for poorer people. Names of the same source include German and Dutch gagel and French galè. An aromatic wax can be obtained from the fruits, leading to the British name "candle berry".
	The origin of the genus name myrica is Greek myrikē "tamarisk", probably a word of Semitic origin akin to the source of Greek myrrha "myrrh". There may also be a relation to Greek myron "balm".
	Many popular names link gale to myrtle, often with adjectives referring to its habitat or geographical distribution, e.g. German sumpfmyrte "swamp-myrtle", English bog myrtle; Spanish mirto Holandés "Dutch Myrtle" or mirto de Brabante which alludes to Brabant in Belgium. A Portuguese name likens gale to the Mediterranean shrub rosemary, translating as "rosemary of the North".
	Norwegian pors and related names in other Scandinavian languages probably derive from a pre-Indo-European Northern European language. In German, the name porst has been loaned to denote another aromatic plant typical of similar habitats, the so-called "wild rosemary" ledum palustre.
Uses:	Gale hardly plays any role in contemporary cuisines, although recipes using gale are found in Sweden, Britain and France. In the past, the fragrant leaves offered flavour to those who could not afford costly import spices, in particular the peasants of Central and Northern Europe.
	Like bay leaves (for which gale is often an interesting alternative), gale leaves should be used whole and steeped in soups and sauces, to be removed before serving to ensure that no bitter flavour is imparted. Gale is a pleasant addition to boiled vegetable stews and legumes, but is less efficient for meat dishes.
	Historically, the most important application of gale was in the flavouring of beer. The hop humulus lupulus, used to flavour beer today, did not play a significant part in medieval beer brewing which employed a number of aromatic plants, of which gale was one of the most efficient and most cheap.
	Beer was flavoured with a mixture of herbs and spices called gruit or grut, not only to alter the taste, but also to improve the durability. Brewers of the 16th and 17th century used a large variety of plant extracts for their gruit, with the better off using expensive Asian spices (ginger, cloves, galangale, cinnamon, nutmeg and Indian bay leaves) and the less well off using local herbs (fennel, mint, juniper, rosemary and gale).