If you have searched for who supplies bulk bay leaves in the United States, you have probably found a confusing mix of brokers, marketplaces, and listings with no clear origin or accountability. This article answers the question directly and then gives you a checklist to vet any supplier you are considering.
The short answer
Most culinary bay leaf is not grown in the United States. The leaf — Laurus nobilis, true bay or laurel — is overwhelmingly a Mediterranean crop, and Turkey is the dominant origin on the world market. So "who supplies bulk bay leaves in the U.S." almost always means: which company imports Turkish (or other Mediterranean) bay leaf and sells it into the American market.
Bay Leaves Co. is one such supplier. It is a Tuna Spice brand of Tuna Project, structured specifically for U.S. buyers:
- You contract with Tuna Project LLC, a Florida-registered U.S. company in St. Petersburg — the seller of record on your purchase order and invoice.
- Sourcing and export are run by Tuna Project Global Trade Inc. in İzmir, Turkey, at origin.
- Delivery is typically to your U.S. warehouse in about 60 days, with DDP quotes available.
That structure matters because it lets you buy direct-from-origin leaf while keeping a domestic counterparty.
Where the leaf actually comes from
Understanding origin is the first step in vetting any supplier. Turkish bay leaf is harvested across three broad regions:
- Aegean — the primary export region and the quality benchmark, with roughly 1.5–2.5% essential oil. This is what most U.S. and European buyers index to.
- Mediterranean — warmer winters, broader leaves, slightly lower oil percentages; widely specified for food-service blends.
- Marmara / Black Sea — cooler and more humid with a shorter season; a smaller export share that mostly feeds domestic Turkish demand.
A credible supplier can tell you which region a lot comes from and what that means for color, leaf shape, and oil content. Vague "imported bay leaves" with no origin is a yellow flag.
The supplier vetting checklist
Whether you end up working with Bay Leaves Co. or anyone else, run every candidate through the same checks:
- Named origin. Can they state the country and region of the crop, not just "imported"?
- Defined grades. Do they distinguish Hand-picked Select, Semi-select, Standard, and Industrial / Crushed — or do they sell one undifferentiated "bay leaves"?
- Certificate of Analysis per lot. Will they provide a COA covering moisture, foreign matter, and the specs your channel requires?
- Food-safety documentation. Can they show export documentation prepared for U.S. entry and name their facility registration when relevant?
- U.S. accountability. Can you contract with a U.S. seller of record, or are you wiring funds overseas on a first transaction with no domestic recourse?
- Consistent paperwork. Do the commercial invoice, packing list, and certificate of origin line up with the purchase order?
- Packing transparency. Do they quote a specific format — 25 kg or 50 kg pressed bales, 10 kg cartons — that matches your line?
A supplier that answers all seven cleanly is a fundamentally different risk profile from a listing that answers none.
Why "U.S. seller of record" keeps coming up
For a buyer, the difference between an overseas wire and a domestic invoice is significant. Ordering through a U.S. seller of record means:
Your purchase order and invoice sit with a U.S. company — in Bay Leaves Co.'s case, Tuna Project LLC in Florida — while the leaf still ships direct from İzmir at origin pricing. You get a domestic point of contact and U.S.-style documentation without paying a domestic middleman's markup.
That is the structural reason buyers increasingly ask not just who supplies bay leaf, but how the transaction is structured.
Putting it together
The honest answer to "who supplies bulk bay leaves in the United States" is: importers of Turkish bay leaf, of which Bay Leaves Co. — backed by Tuna Project LLC in Florida and Tuna Project Global Trade Inc. in İzmir — is one built specifically around U.S. buyers. But the more useful answer is the checklist above. Use it on every supplier, and you will choose on origin, grade discipline, documentation, and accountability rather than on a price line with no context.
Want to test us against that checklist? Request a quote and we will respond with origin, grade, packing, and a delivered number.