[Sca-cooks] OT - Gumbo file powder

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Sep 8, 2007, at 2:37 PM, Terri Morgan wrote:

> Oh, and I should add - I already looked online. *I* know what is in  
> gumbo,
> thankyouverymuch, but on the off chance that my husband remembers  
> something
> that was once common and has disappeared, I ask... (although my  
> grandmother
> would be smacking me with her thimble right about now about it all  
> - she's
> from New Orleans, you see).

Bearing in mind my geographical location and background make anything  
I say on the subject automatically suspect, it's my understanding  
that file powder is powdered sassafras (leaf?), and that while other  
herbs and seasonings are used in gumbo, they're used independently of  
file. I'm not sure if this is as it has always been, but my exposure  
to the concept of file=sassafras has got to go back maybe 30 years...

Adamantius