Jambalaya, crawfish pie, file gumbo Jambalaya, crawfish pie, fil gumbo . . .
Fil powder is a thickener used in cajun cooking.
The Sand Dollar Fil Factory combines cooking and pottery into a business venture. Once dry, the leaves are crushed by hand and then milled to a powder in a sophisticated imported mill that looks quite a bit like a Braun coffee grinder. Fil powder is soft and green and smells wonderfully like fresh mown hay, and is sprinkled into a dish after it is cooked to thicken it so it will stick to rice without running through to the bottom of the plate or bowl. The fil powder will be available with custom bowls in assorted sizes, and will include a recipe for basic gumbo - okra and tomatoes with shrimp, ladled out onto a bed of steamed rice. In a pocosin, the subsurface water is only inches below ground level - it will support trees and wetland flora and fauna, but not structures.