Saturday, August 14, 2010

"Jumbalaya, Crawfish Pie, Filé Gumbo"

I liked the two-pronged "Mitten" leaves the best as a child, lol. You'll have to click the image to enlarge it to find 'em. There aren't that many in this photo.

P L A N T S — The Sassafras tree has a very cool feature—three differently shaped leaves on the same tree. You will find single-, double-, and triple-lobed leaves on the same branches. I've captured all three in this photo in which bright sunlight rendered some of the leaves translucent as well. Tea may be brewed from this plant, but I've never tried to do so. Apparently, the dried leaves can also be ground into a substance known as filé, used in gumbos. For more about Sassafras, here's the Wiki.

Who can forget this Hank Williams classic, Jumbalaya, Crawfish Pie, Filé Gumbo! There's no actual video, just a still of Hank, but the music is fun. We listened to this a lot as a family back in the day!

11 comments:

  1. Well, Good morning Casey!!! I see you are up as well...and I am FINALLY getting caught up on your blog..
    I always thought the word was "filet" gumbo and it never made sense to me (blushing) So interesting. I will have to go read the wiki on it that you provided...
    Glad the hand is feeling better...hope the bike faired well also.
    It is a COOOOL night with the windows open and barely a breeze, but a coolness coming in the window I am sitting next to. Hope it is the same there..
    When you get a chance, stop by my blog to see what you inspired me to do..I want to thank you. Something of importance (at least to hubby and me) would have been tossed for lack of knowing where to store it...now it has a place of importance (again, just to us, but it makes us happy.)
    Thank you,kind sir, you have enriched our lives in many ways..you have set a wonderful example and taught us much.
    mare

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  2. You taught me something new today Casey, first time I ever heard that about Sassafras leaves.

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  3. MY MOM USED TO MAKE SASSAFRAS TEA. SHE LIKE IT, I DIDN'T.

    GRANNY

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  4. do you remember how she did it? If it's just drying the leaves, I might try it. I love hot drinks. we had a nice birch tree at our family house. My mother used to pick stems and crush them and use them to stir her tea and coffee for a little extra taste.

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  5. ALL I REMEMBER IS THAT SHE BOUGHT THE LEAVES IN A CAN.SO I WOULD SAY IS BOIL THE WATER AND ADD THE LEAVES. IF I REMEMBER THE TEA WAS A RED TONE.

    GRANNY

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  6. Hi Casey and friends of Casye,

    I searched one of my favorite sites - Instructables. Everything from making tea to painting your car with Rustoleum is there.

    You need the roots for Sassafras tea. Another thing I didn't know is that the same root is used to make Root Beer.

    Anyway, here is the link to Instructables. There's a lot of ads, but I like that all of their "projects" can be downloaded as PDFs.

    http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-Sassafras-Tea/

    Marius

    P.S. You inspired me to start a blog. Exorcise my demons, exercise my brain, I suppose.

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  7. http://www.asianfoodgrocer.com/category/asian-tea-leaves?gclid=CMnymv6xuaMCFQo65QodZBUYcg


    A very resourceful link for tea lovers. I remember when I was in Japan, they had this very unique tea that looked more like garlic (maybe it was) but it was awesome and a tea that was very greenish and thick but was not "green tea".

    I think either late this year or early next, I will travel back to Nippon.

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  8. thanks for the links and the info!

    now I have to get on my hands and knees and do something about the hardwood floors. i have SO MANY things to move around, i can do about 1 foot at a time. I slammed my fingers too, OUCH. at least it's not hot today, not very hot anyway. i'd be having more fun riding my bike though. the Fuji should be back on monday. i'll ride the mountain bike when I get done.

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  9. thanks for the links and the info!

    now I have to get on my hands and knees and do something about the hardwood floors. i have SO MANY things to move around, i can do about 1 foot at a time. I slammed my fingers too, OUCH. at least it's not hot today, not very hot anyway. i'd be having more fun riding my bike though. the Fuji should be back on monday. i'll ride the mountain bike when I get done.

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  10. CASEY, MARIUS. IS RIGHT IT WAS A ROOT SHE BOIL NOT LEAVES. THE TEA SHE MADE FOR DA WAS GREEN TEA. I DO NOW REMEMBER HER BOILING THE ROOT. THANKS MARIUS. SEE I TOLD YOU IN THE DRAIN AND OUT.

    GRANNY

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