Tej patta
Also known as tejpat, tejpatta, tejpata, tamalapatra, Indian bay leaf, Indian cassia leaf
Quick answer
The dried leaf of Cinnamomum tamala, a Himalayan relative of cinnamon, used whole in South Asian cooking. It tastes of clove and cinnamon rather than of the European bay that English recipes name in its place.
- Tastes of
- clove, cinnamon, warm, peppery
- Heat
- Scoville does not apply
Other names
What this spice is called elsewhere, and where the translation is not clean.
tej patta
Hindi
Translated as "bay leaf" in most English recipes, which is the source of the commonest leaf confusion in South Asian cooking: the European bay is a different plant in a different genus.
Flavour and aroma
Spicy and peppery, with the warmth of clove and cinnamon.
Spicy, peppery and clove-and-cinnamon-like. The leaf oil’s main constituents are eugenol, methyl eugenol, cinnamaldehyde and cinnamyl acetate; in 28 leaf samples from the western Himalaya cinnamaldehyde made up 0.39–1.27 per cent of the leaf and was its largest fingerprint peak, while coumarin was absent from every sample from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir and reached 1.09 per cent in Uttarakhand.
Taste, smell and sensation, channel by channel
Smell, taste and the chemical sense of heat and cold are different senses. Each is listed with the compounds evidenced as producing it.
Smell
- Cinnamon-like — Cinnamaldehyde
- Floral — Linalool
- Clove-like — Eugenol
Cinnamaldehyde was the leading compound measured in 28 Western Himalayan leaf samples, and 16 per cent of a Bangladeshi leaf oil.
The Bangladeshi leaf oil was led by linalool, 47 per cent, with eugenol 18 per cent; the authors note that leaf oils of this species vary widely with origin.
Heat
Pungency scale: none — this spice is not pungent
Described as peppery, not hot.
Pairings
Ranked by how well established the combination is, with the reason and the caveats attached.
Shares a blend
Spices that appear alongside tej patta in the core ingredients of a blend profiled here. That is a record of established use rather than a recommendation, and it carries no proportions.
Together in Goda masala.
Together in Goda masala.
Together in Goda masala.
Together in Goda masala.
Together in Goda masala.
Together in Goda masala.
Together in Goda masala.
Together in Goda masala.
Together in Goda masala.
Together in Goda masala.
Together in Goda masala.
Preparation and use
Use whole and remove before serving, or tear to release more aroma. Where a South Asian recipe in English asks for a bay leaf, this is usually the leaf meant.
A whole leaf for savoury dishes, tea and traditional foods across the Indian subcontinent. The sources describe its use by region rather than by dish.
Appears in: Garam masala, Goda masala
Storage and freshness
| Form | Good for | Conditions | Fridge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dried whole | Not established | Cool, dark, dry and sealed. | No |
Tear a leaf: it should smell at once of clove and cinnamon.
- Little smell when torn
- Loss of the volatile oil that carries the clove and cinnamon notes
Quality is not the same as safety
A faded leaf is a quality matter, not a safety one.
Forms
The form the sources describe, and so the one this page is about.
Dried leaf
The whole dried leaf, used whole in the pot or ground into a spice mixture.
Commonly confused with tej patta
Direct comparisons, each with the difference that actually changes what you cook.
Botany
Lauraceae
The laurel family, with cinnamon, cassia and the European bay.
The leaf is the spice; the bark is used as a spice and flavouring too.
An evergreen tree of the wet forests of the Himalaya and its foothills. The leaves sampled for one study came from mature trees 30–50 m tall in the western Himalaya.
Commonly confused with
Laurus nobilis, the Mediterranean bay. Sold under the same English word and used as an adulterant of tej patta in the trade; its leaves have a different chemistry and do not give the clove-and-cinnamon note.
Leaves of true cinnamon, Cinnamomum verum, and of C. malabatrum are mixed into traded tej patta; the three look alike and differ in composition.
Syzygium polyanthum, the Indonesian leaf also translated as bay. A third plant under the same word, in another family.
How it is grown
The plant, how it is propagated and farmed, what threatens the crop, and where it is produced now. Crop diseases here are plant health, not food safety.
How it is grown is not yet described. The sources read for Cinnamomum tamala are chemical studies that give its range and altitude but not how the tree is grown, propagated or cut for leaf; no agronomic account was found.
Where it comes from and how it is made
The wet tropical and subtropical forests of the Himalaya and its foothills, from India, Nepal and Bhutan to Bangladesh, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and China.
- India (The north-eastern and north-western Himalaya) — native range. Naturally distributed at about 900–2500 m.
- Nepal — native range
- Bhutan — native range
- Bangladesh — native range
No ladder of grades has been found. India’s food product standards set one statutory floor for tejpat, the dried leaves of Cinnamomum tamala: no admixture of other leaves; moisture not more than 10.0 per cent; extraneous matter not more than 1.0; shrivelled and discoloured leaves not more than 10.0; cut and broken leaves not more than 20.0; insect-bored and diseased leaves not more than 10.0; twigs and leaf stalk not more than 5.0, by mass; volatile oil not less than 0.5 ml per 100 g on dry basis. It applies in India only.
Because authentic material is scarce and the species are easily mistaken, the leaves of Cinnamomum malabatrum, true cinnamon and the European bay are mixed into or sold as tej patta in India and elsewhere. The leaves differ in composition, and chemical fingerprinting is how the study cited tells them apart.
Grown as well as gathered: besides its native range it is cultivated in other tropical and subtropical countries, and research collections grow it in India.
Buying and quality
Whole. The leaf is usually cooked whole and removed, and its aroma is a volatile oil that a powder loses.
- A strong clove-and-cinnamon smell when a leaf is torn.
- Bought by name: under the label "bay leaf" either this leaf or the European bay may be meant.
Physical properties and standards
Moisture, water activity, ash, volatile oil and the like — what standards require kept apart from what has been measured.
| Property | Value | Rule and source |
|---|---|---|
| Moisture (leaf) | 10 % max | Maximum moisture content, percent by mass; the table prints "on dry basis" against it — FSSAI Food Products Standards and Food Additives Regulations 2011, reg. 2.9.33, tejpat, the dried leaves of Cinnamomum tamala (India, statutory; chapter text, Version 4 of 1 August 2025) |
| Volatile oil (leaf) | 0.5 ml/100 g min, dry basis | Minimum volatile oil, millilitres per 100 g on dry basis — FSSAI Food Products Standards and Food Additives Regulations 2011, reg. 2.9.33, tejpat, the dried leaves of Cinnamomum tamala (India, statutory; chapter text, Version 4 of 1 August 2025) |
What the law of one country requires before the product may be sold there under this name. It is a floor for compliance and says nothing about how good a lot above it is.
| Property | Value | Sample and method |
|---|---|---|
| Volatile oil (leaf) | 1.67 % yield (± 0.13) | Dried Cinnamomum tamala leaves bought in a market in Sylhet, Bangladesh · Essential oil yield from shade- and oven-dried leaves by sonication-assisted hydrodistillation under optimised conditions; a yield of an intensified process, not a standard volatile-oil assay |
A limit is set by a rule of one kind, in one place; a measurement describes particular samples. Neither is a property of every jar.
Safety
Safety statements on SpiceHQ must cite evidence — they cannot be published on editorial judgement.
Coumarin content varies with origin
Applies to: Heavy habitual use, as with cassia; not established for ordinary use of a whole leaf
The leaf can contain coumarin, the compound for which the European Food Safety Authority has set a tolerable daily intake of 0.1 mg per kg of body weight. In 28 leaf samples from the western Himalaya it was absent from all those from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir and present at up to 1.09 per cent of the leaf in most of those from Uttarakhand. How much reaches a dish when the leaf is cooked whole and removed has not been measured, and a packet does not say where its leaves were grown. This is a statement of composition and established intake guidance, not medical advice.
Not among the substances that must be declared as allergens under EU Regulation 1169/2011 Annex II or under the United States major food allergen rules. That is a statement about labelling law and not about whether allergy occurs: allergic reactions to spices are documented in the clinical literature and are simply not a labelling category. Where a ground spice presents an allergen risk it is usually through adulteration or shared processing equipment rather than through the plant itself.
History and trade
Used as a spice and flavouring in the Indian subcontinent since at least the first century CE, and traded to the Greek and Roman world from the Malabar coast under the name malabathrum.
Among the most traded and exported plant products of India’s spice and pharmaceutical sectors; the scarcity of authentic leaf is what drives its adulteration.
Culture
Recorded by tradition rather than merged into one narrative — these are genuinely different practices.
The Indian subcontinent
The dried leaves and bark have flavoured tea, savoury meals and traditional foods since at least the first century CE.
- In savoury dishes
- In tea
Used in Ayurvedic and Unani medicine. Recorded as context only; SpiceHQ makes no health claim.
What it is called
- Hindi: tej patta
What we do not know
Published openly. A gap we have named is more useful than a gap we have filled with plausible prose.
Not yet established for tej patta:
- Propagation
- Archaeological evidence
- Historical timeline
- Ceremonial use
- Regulatory limits
- Traditional uses