Suggested uses

Basic prep

Storage & handling

Store in a dry, cool place.

Ingredients

Spices.

File powder, made from ground dried sassafras leaves, is an integral part of Creole and Cajun cuisine cooking used to flavor and thicken gumbos and other dishes. Gumbo is a stew commonly thickened by the seedpods of okra, the flour-to-fat mixture roux and file powder. It usually contains varied and seasonal meats, seafood and vegetables including celery, peppers and onion-the "holy trinity" of Cajun and Creole cooking. We combine dried ground sassafras leaves with ground thyme for a woodsy, herbaceous seasoning for flavoring and thickening dishes for our Gumbo File.

Like much of Creole and Cajun cuisine and culture, Gumbo draws influences from many different cultures that settled in Louisiana, including African, French, German and Spanish. However, the addition of file powder is owed to the native Choctaw, who were the first to use ground sassafras as seasoning. Besides its sweet anise-like flavor, sassafras is has been used for centuries to relieve fevers and as an anti-viral and anti-bacterial herb.