Comments on: Sassafras Trees & Filé Powder

By: Karen

Karen — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 13:25:08 +0000

I would like to get two of these trees. Where can I buy them, maybe as seedlings, in Louisiana?
karen g

By: michel colman

michel colman — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:45:41 +0000

to go with the lore in cajun country,harvest sassafras
leaves on the full moon of august…and gumbo will never be
the real deal without file`… ya-ya gumbo !

By: Phyllis Cahill

Phyllis Cahill — Sun, 18 May 2008 19:14:54 +0000

I lost my beautiful sassafras tree last year of old age.
Do you know where I can buy a new one? I really miss its fall beauty.

By: Gerry S Hayes

Gerry S Hayes — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 13:07:07 +0000

Bill Farrell wrote that “Sasparilla is a root beer flavored drink made from sasafras tea and carbonated.” I just thought I’d correct that–root beer itself used to be made from sassafras, though with the FDA restrictions on sassafras root it’s now mostly artificial or mocked up from other spices. But sarsaparilla is made from the sarsapirilla vine, not from sassafras. (And birch beer is made from birch).

By: Phillip Salzman

Phillip Salzman — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 17:55:58 +0000

Kinda interesting, I wonder if the reason it’s weaker is because of the laws that also prohibit it from being used in Root Beer any longer…

By: Jennifer Tran

Jennifer Tran — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 16:45:47 +0000

Barbara ,

I would like to have some Sassafras seeds or leaves to make my own File Powder , Would you send me some .
Thank you

Jennifer

By: Barbara Allen

Barbara Allen — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 11:20:06 +0000

My yard is full of sassafras seedlings which I cut down whenever I have time. If you need more leaves, let me know and I’ll send you some.

Good luck!

Barbara

By: james

james — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 22:26:11 +0000

thanks for the info I have lived in ny all my 40+ yrs hunting and fishing never knew there were sasafras trees here. Thanks again

By: Bill Farrell

Bill Farrell — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 06:20:15 +0000

Bill Moran is my friend, too, and I’m sure he’s right!

As a young Boy Scout in Louisiana we used to dig up young sasafras trees for their roots, strip them of their woody outer layer and boil them in water to make tea. Root beer flavored tea. The sasafras tree was a favorite on the Nature Trail because you could identify it by the three different kinds of leaves, single lobed to triple lobed.

Sasparilla is a root beer flavored drink made from sasafras tea and carbonated.