Don’t know what put the thought in my head, but I remember knowing as a kid that sassafras tea was a spring tonic. Seems like somebody always knew where a sassafras tree could be found. A little shallow grubbing in the soil at the base of the tree would turn up a handful of small (1/8-1/4″ thick) roots. These were washed to remove dirt, and then steeped in boiling water to produce an exotically fragant tea. A steaming cup with a little cream and sugar, and you DID feel an effect. I don’t know if it was really effective as a tonic, but it was a might fine treat as a cup of tea.

Of course, there was a second reason to keep track of the location of that sassafras tree. The fully-grown leaves were harvested, dried, and ground to a fine powder. This is file’, pronounced “fee-lay”. It is a Cajun spice used to thicken “file’ gumbo”. you see, gumbo comes in two varieties: one uses okra to thicken, the other uses a roux (pronounced “roo”) of browned flour and the addition of file’. File’ is never added to the cooking gumbo. This mistake will leave you with a pot of something that will not necessarily taste bad, but it will be unappetizingly ropey, like a pot of snot. Instead, a shaker bottle of file’ is placed conveniently so each diner can shake a little on a freshly served bowl of hot gumbo.