Sheila Alldredge
January 22, 2008
Lillie Reed
January 24, 2008
Purple Sack Seafood Spice, a new company based in Houma, which was founded in April last year, has begun selling its products out of Rouses Supermarkets.
Purple Sack’s main product, Atchafalaya Gold “Custom” Spice Kit in a purple sack, contains a 3.7-pound pack of Custom Spice Boil Mix, a .12-pound pouch of red peppers and a .38-pound pouch of the company’s own Beaucoup Lemon Seasoning.
Owner Dickie Chauvin, a retired oil refinery employee who grew up in St. John the Baptist Parish and lives in Houma, said Atchafalaya Gold differs from other seafood spices – like Zatarain’s – because Atchafalaya Gold allows the cook to adjust the intensity of the spice.
“If you want to boil for your kids, make it milder, you can adjust the flavor,” Chauvin said. “It’s truly a custom spice boil.”
Purple Sack sells the Beaucoup Lemon Seasoning, a combination of lemon and seasoning salt, separately as well as part of the kit.
“You can adjust the lemon too,” Chauvin said. “Atchafalaya Gold is a complete, stand-alone kit. You don’t have to add anything.”
He said Purple Sack is the only seafood spice company to offer its lemon seasoning in a shaker.
The seafood spice mix is delicious and it’s a local product, Chauvin said, unlike Zatarain’s, which was purchased by Maryland – based McCormick in 2003.
“We took our time to do a quality job,” he said. “Our spices are very fresh. We’ve had great feedback on how good it is. Crawfish come out perfect every time.”
“People like it because it’s an economic way to boil seafood,” he said. “Potatoes come out perfect. Crawfish are always full of juice and easy to peel. People really like that.”
Plus, the seafood spice kit is easy to use.
Cooking instructions are on the backs of the purple sacks and on the Atchafalaya Gold Web site.
To cook crawfish, the instructions recommend the eight minutes to boil, eight minutes to soak method (eight by eight) for crawfish, four by four for shrimp and ten by ten for crabs.
“If you can boil water, you can follow the instructions,” Chauvin said.
The most difficult part so far, according to Chauvin, has been inducing people to try the spice kit.
To advertise “Atchafalaya Gold,” he has conducted promotional seafood boils at Rouses.
The spice kit is also available at Sea-Go Seafood (410 Grand Caillou Road in Houma) and Ray’s Seafood (7217 Park Avenue in Houma).
Purple Sack is looking for outlets in southern Terrebonne Parish too.
Chauvin said he enjoys cooking. He would cook dishes for other employees at the refineries where he worked along the Mississippi River. After retirement, friends urged him to go into business.
He chose to sell the seafood spice mix in a purple sack mainly because crawfish formerly were regularly sold in purple sacks. Also, purple is one of the colors of LSU and Mardi Gras. The sacks are handy for containing other items after their initial use.
Chauvin said the company is developing new spices besides the Atchafalaya Gold “Custom” Spice Kit. “They will add some excitement to cooking,” he said.
But for now, he is excited about what he has.
“I boiled two bushels of crabs this weekend,” he said, “and they came out fantastic.”
Atchafalaya Gold, a product of Purple Sack Seafood Spice LLC, bears the Certified Cajun seal. It is sold locally online at www.purplesackseafood.com or at Rouses Supermarkets. * Photo courtesy of DICKIE CHAUVIN
