Comments on: Homemade Filé Powder

By: Chicken & Sausage Gumbo « local kitchen

Chicken & Sausage Gumbo « local kitchen — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 19:54:30 +0000

[...] powder (homemade if you are a [...]

By: Jerri

Jerri — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 18:53:02 +0000

I’m sitting here in my SW Missouri office, only a window and a wall seperating me from the volunteer sassafras that took root last year. I didn’t realize what it was until this spring. Now, waiting for autumn to remove it as it’s too close to the building. The File recipe makes me want to transplant it and keep it for years, my knowledge of invasive growth does not. Thanks for the File recipe! Either way, the tree will have a place in my spice cabinet!

By: Patsy

Patsy — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 17:00:28 +0000

Homemade Sassafras Root Beer Recipe

Several roots (including some green stems) from sassafras saplings, about 30-40 inches worth of 1/4-inch thick roots (enough to fill one cup when you chop them into 1/2-inch pieces)
4 cups water
2 cloves
1/2 teaspoon anise seeds (can sub fennel)
4 allspice berries
1-inch of stick cinnamon
1/4 cup molasses
1 cup sugar
2 quarts soda water

1 Scrub the roots clean of any dirt. Cut the roots into 1/2-inch long pieces. (The roots can be tough, if you have a pair of pruning shears, they work great to cut the roots.) If you have a few green stems, you can include them too, but you should have mostly roots. Cut up as much as you need to fill one cup. Put the roots into a small pot and cover with 4 cups of water. Add the cloves, anise seeds, allspice berries, and cinnamon stick. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and simmer for 25 minutes. Add the molasses and simmer for 5 minutes more. Remove from heat.

2 Strain through cheesecloth or a fine mesh sieve lined with a paper towel. Rinse out the pot. Return the liquid to the pot. Add the sugar, heat until just a simmer and the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and let cool.

3 To assemble the root beer, fill a glass with ice cubes, add the syrup and soda water in a 1:2 ratio, so 1/3 cup of syrup to 2/3 cups of soda water. Add more soda water if you want it more diluted, add more syrup if you want it stronger.

By: Kathryn Theriot

Kathryn Theriot — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 01:19:00 +0000

Can anyone tell me how to use sassy trees to make tea and root beer? My husband has the making of file down to a science! But I am interested on tea and root beer recipes. thanks from Houma, Louisiana

By: Francis Clark

Francis Clark — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 01:26:19 +0000

I’m from Pennsylvania and we have green bark and red bark varieties. I know the red bark variety has the best tasting roots for tea. Does anyone know if there’s a difference when it comes to the leaves?

By: Pots on Fiyo (Filé Gumbo) « Edible Aria

Pots on Fiyo (Filé Gumbo) « Edible Aria — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 00:40:01 +0000

[...] Choctaw Indians have had a settlement at Bayou Lacombe on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain; they had a way of making Gumbo long before the Africans and Europeans arrived.. -NOLA [...]

By: Frank

Frank — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 16:03:52 +0000

Hey wow I am from the Bayou Country where they speak Cajun French and just now for the first time looked up what is in Filee. My Grand mother used to make the best Chicken Gumbo and used fresh Okra that my Grand Father used to grow in his little garden mostly Okra, as a child I thought why does he grow this stuff that is like snot when boiled, but in Gumbo with Filee it’s the best.
Thanks again now to find a tree, I live out in the California desert now near Joshua Tree. May be able to sell it out here there are artists and culinary folks that would appreciate the real deal. There is stuff that they take out of the Sassafras for Root-beer flavor safrole I believe it is that was supposed to be bad for you now I am thinking they use the stuff to synthesize other compounds with worth more money, and used the extraction to protect the public as an excuse to take the stuff out.
That may be why the Filee in the store is substandard it has extracted leaves or no Sassafras in it at all.
Sasafras oil comes from a byproduct of Camphor in China, that does not sound good at all, and the Safrole from essential oil of the real Sasafras can be used in clandestine manufacture of MDMA a weird drug. Are the big Pharmas taking it to make things or is the Government really trying to protect us. Some of the things in Camphor that if not seperated can cause epileptic fits, they get the Sasfras oil from that is sold (is from China no less), so you tell me what is really going on with that. I will call it the “Root-Beer Conspiracy”.

By: jane

jane — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 18:39:50 +0000

In NY (on Long Island) sassafras trees grow like weeds, and can easily reach 50 feet or more. They are an “understory” tree, and grow in the shade of other trees. Its not uncommon to see a bare 40 foot trunk, with leaves only at the top, as the tree reaches for sunlight.

By: Jimmy James

Jimmy James — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 15:11:53 +0000

Now I know what to do with those sassafrass leaves! Thanks for all the enlightening info!

By: hylton

hylton — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 11:05:00 +0000

This is first I have ever heard of “file”. I will do some research on it. I live in VA, maybe that’s why? Information was very helpful though.