Talk:Filé powder

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 "Traditionally, filé powder is made from sassafras, which has been shown
 to cause liver cancer in laboratory studies [...]"

 "Filé powder has also been made traditionally from Sassafras leaves,
 which do not contain safrole, the volatile oil linked with cancer in lab
 rats. [...]"

So, what is the deal here; does sassafras leaves contain the, possibly, cancer causing safrole oil, or does it not? Quite 14:50, 21 November 2005 (UTC)

It's apparently carcinogenic to some degree, and manufacture of the product is discouraged, or even prohibited. Trafficking in saffrole is monitored by the FDA. See the article on Sassafras.

Sprinkled sparingly? In what recipe? The recipe handed down through my family requires quite generous amounts of file.

Probably because filé is a very powerful thickener

Filé was originally an okra substitute when okra was not in season

Alton Brown seemed to believe that filé powder may have been used before okra. Being that Sassafras was a local ingrediant known to the natives and probably more plentiful than the african imported okra.

________

Filé powder was used in Cajun cooking by the Acadians long before okra was used as a thickening agent. The Choctaw Indians introduced this spice to the Acadians when they arrived in Louisiana. Okra is a continuously growing crop and does not have a "season", thus negating the notion that filé was a substitute for okra. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.143.90.214 (talk) 13:47, 9 March 2008 (UTC)