Pumpkin Spice, shorter days, and a chill in the air mean Fall is officially in full swing. I am a summertime, beach girl at heart, but I do love the scents and flavors of the season. 

This is the time of year that the Winter Gumbo traditionally comes into play.  

Before refrigeration and the invention of electric freezers, the foods people ate were much more strictly determined by the seasons. Since tomatoes and okra are grown in the summer months along the subtropical zone of the Gulf Coast, gumbo cooks had to come up with an alternative in the winter months. Tomatoes were eliminated, and to add thickness and taste, filé powder was used. Filé is made from ground sassafras leaves, and its use in gumbo dates back to the Choctaw Indians. Winter gumbos also use more foul, game, meats, sausages, and oysters, which are at their best when harvested from colder waters. In my Winter Gumbo, I use almost any tasty ingredient available. I combine chicken with pork sausage, and I include both oysters and shrimp. After all, for me, gumbo is all about ‘anything goes’! 

You can find my recipe for Winter Gumbo if you search back through the archives of the recipe blog.

Now let’s go have an afternoon pumpkin latte! 

Happy Fall everybody!

All my Gumbo Love,