As soon as Joey Fonseca got home, he poured a huge glass of swamp bay leaf tea and retreated to his shady back porch to extract the gran à voler seeds from their pods.
There really wasn’t any art to it: The pods were simply broken open by hand with a twisting motion to expose the seeds.
“Watch for worms in the nuts,” cautioned Fonseca as he tossed the shelled seeds in a colander.
I had learned earlier that other creatures also like the succulent seeds: Some of the tough pods were severely shredded by birds such as boat-tailed grackles.
After he shelled about 2 pounds of seeds, he rinsed them and set them aside. He put a couple of quarts of water in a large pot and added liquid crab boil, salt and crumbled bay leaves.
After the water came to a boil, he added the seeds.
When the water returned to a boil, he cooked them for 2 minutes. When the shells of the younger seeds split, they were judged done.
While Fonseca was spreading the drained seeds to cool, he mentioned that “pour and boil” seafood boiling spice blends work as well as adding individual ingredients.
“I hear that some people make a stew with the seeds,” interjected wife Jeanie. “They use them in place of meat.”
Joey agreed, adding that he heard the seeds are cooked creamy and served over rice.
But these would never see rice. They were destined for an evening snack.
