Background:
Since June 20th, 2020, Mirliton.org has been working with growers throughout the country on the Ishreal Thibodeaux White Mirliton Preservation Project in an attempt to bring back, from the brink of extinction, this rare ivory white variety of the mirliton grown and cared for over four decades by Opelousas, Louisiana’s Ishreal Thibodeaux. If you haven’t already checked out the last Update on the Ishreal Thibodeaux White Mirliton Preservation Project – 2nd Quarter 2021 then please do so to see the progress up to that point. It links back to the other updates which contain an in depth look at all of our growers and efforts from the start of the project.
As mentioned in the previous updates, we were able to expand our growing efforts to 9 new growers; mostly in Louisiana but some in Texas. This is in addition to our existing six from last year. Sadly, it looks like our Carolina and Alabama plants did not survive into the 2021 growing season. Our sincere hope is to resupply these folks with plants in early March 2022 for a second try.
Reports from the Field:
The last half of 2021 presented many challenges to the growers. In particular, a major part of those in Louisiana were right in the path of destruction of Hurricane Ida. Many lost their vines and the great progress they were making, but that loss seems inconsequential compared to the loss of life and property many in that area felt. Fortunately, our growers who faced setbacks are raring to try again in 2022 and we are making efforts to get them reestablished. Attached are a series of updates and photos from our new and existing growers from the last half of the year.
Wade Guidry – Cutoff, LA
Wade reports that. “(We) lost all our garden including Ishreal Thibodaux’s. But hoping we can get new ones to start from scratch again!” – September 23, 2021. Good news for us all is that we have helped locate more IT mirlitons for Wade to start over in 2022.
David Duvic – West Felicians Parish, LA
“Plants are doing well. Starting to flower. Spraying with copper every 7-10 days hoping to control mildew/anthracnose. So far, I am winning. If anyone knows of a particular product that works well, please let me know.” – September 23, 2021. As you can see, David efforts yielded a very nice crop.
Image 1. David Duvic’s IT mirliton in November 2021
Christopher Brooks – Opelousas, LA
“Bad news to report on my end. Something (I suspect a rabbit) ate both my vines off at the ground. I was hoping that they would re-sprout and resume growing. Unfortunately, they have not. One did put up a start but died back down.” – September 22, 2021. As with Wade, we have helped Christopher locate some more to start over in 2022.
Laken Thomas -Lake Charles, LA
“Unfortunately, my plants didn’t make it. We have been having terrible weather events in SWLA. After I moved them outside their health declined and never recovered. I put up wind barriers and built an area specific for their growing needs but it just wasn’t enough ☹“Fortunately, Laken located some more IT mirlitons from another source so they are set for 2022!
Brad Langlanais – Lafayette, LA
“Unfortunately, I lost my plant back in July from over fertilizing it. It was looking so good too!” – December 2022. Brad was able to locate some of the new white mirlitons a grower out of Mississippi made available in December. We don’t believe these are the Ishreal Thibodeaux variety, but we will find out after growing them the differences between the two.
So far, our Texas growers aren’t doing too bad at all. Please check out their phenomenal progress!
Kevin de Santiago – Round Rock, TX
Kevin has the distinction of being the first gardener in Texas to successfully grow the Ishreal Thibodeaux variety. Here are 4 beautiful specimens.
He notes – “There are eleven more that have reached the “this is happening” size. The vine keeps putting out flowers and our warm temps are holding up.” – December 4, 2021.
Image 2. Kevin de Santiago’s IT mirlitons December 10, 2021
Sadly, shortly after he reported, “The freeze was a lot harder than anticipated.”
Image 3. Kevin de Santiago’s IT mirlitons in early December 13, 2021
Image 4. Sasi Vajha of Houston photographed this IT mirliton down on Galveston Island provided to her by Kevin De Santiago December 23, 2021. We at Mirliton.org really love this shot!
Alan Raymond – Kingwood, TX
Alan reported that “I have 6 mirliton fruit developing. A few photos are attached. The largest is about 4 inches long.”
I
mage 5. Alan Raymond’s IT mirlitons in early December 2021
Image 6. Alan Raymond’s IT mirlitons in early December 2021
Image 7. Alan Raymond’s IT mirlitons in early December 2021
From our established growers:
Paul D’anna, Master Mirliton Grower – Metairie, LA
Paul’s holiday update –
Image 8. The Mirliton Man of Metairie, Mr. Paul D’Anna inspecting some IT mirlitons in December. Paul is in his element! Thank you, Renee Lapeyrolerie, for this great picture!
James Cobb– Houma, LA
James reports
“2 nice ones growing. Have about 1/2 dozen more about golf ball size and loads of tiny ones & flowers. Been some rough going the last year but hanging in there. There’s hope.” – November 2021
Image 9. James Cobb IT mirlitons in early November 2021
Chef John Folse – Baton Rouge, LA
“All good here. Vines very full and still picking and begin to plant for greenhouse. Many are already spreading roots. Big year again.” – December 2021
Once again Chef John and his great staff at White Oak Estates and Gardens have put aside some for the Ishreal Thibodeaux White Mirliton Preservation Project so that folks like Wade, Christopher, and Carolina grower Keith Mearns can give it another shot!
Image 10. White Oak Estates and Gardens IT mirlitons being potted in the greenhouse in early January 2022
I believe these are all of the photos I have from our growers. I imagine you are as impressed with their progress as I am. This is an amazing finish for 2021 compared to where we were in December 2020! Kudos to all the growers and continued success as we head into winter and work on overwintering and preparing for the 2022 growing season.
Additional Louisiana Growers – Independent of the formal group
Jay Thibodeaux – Opelousas, LA
Jay bought some from Paul D’Anna last year and had a great year making over 100 available for sale. Look at the size of this one!
Image 11. Jay Thibodeaux’s whopper IT mirliton December 2021
Image 12. Jay Thibodeaux’s display of some beautiful IT mirliton December 2021
Buddy and Charlotte Baham – Algiers, LA–
Back in March 2021, we learned of another Ishreal Thibodeaux grower that had gotten some of the original mirlitons Dr. Lance Hill shared with growers back in 2013. We were very pleasantly surprised that they had been growing these in abundance in Algiers for over 8 years. They generously made some available for sale back in March and shared some pictures of their Fall 2021 bounty. Check out these awesome pictures by Buddy Baham.
Image 13. Look at the size of those IT Mirlitons from Buddy and Charlotte Bahams!
Image 14. Buddy and Charlotte’s mirliton structure in Algiers!
Image 15. A cluster of the IT Mirlitons in Algiers
Image 16. The IT vine has found a wonderful place to thrive in Algiers!
Tee Shirt Campaign:
We continue to have steady sales of our Ishreal Thibodeaux White Mirliton Preservation Project tee shirts. The purchase of these shirts helps us continue our efforts to preserve and promote the work of Mirliton.org. If you are interested in purchasing one, these shirts are available as a special offering for those wishing to donate $30 per shirt to Mirliton.org. To order your own, simply click here or send me an email at rpcajun2r@gmail.com.
Image 17. The official project Tee Shirt
Image 18. The official tee shirt of The Ishreal Thibodeaux White Mirliton Preservation Project
Education and Inspiration Through Food:
One of the many other projects we conducted in 2021 was a fun little effort engaging the help of many notable south Louisianians to provide instructional videos on how they say the word, mirliton. The Mirliton Pronunciation Project was a great success and we have 27 episodes from the first pass and will be working on many more for the second round. If you haven’t seen them, please check them out by clicking on the following playlist: Mirliton Pronunciation Project. You’ll see many familiar Louisiana names like Chef Frank Brigtsen, writer Lolis Eric Elie, director Glen Pitre, outdoorsman Don Dubuc and many many more. I also hope you check out episode 26 below with our very special guests – the children of Mr. Ishreal Thibodeaux! Let us know what you think! Click below or here!
Image 19. The children of Ishreal Thibodeaux help out with the Mirliton Pronunciation Project
Chef John Folse provides another great recipe using the IT Mirliton found via WAFB’s website. Check out this Mirliton Custard recipe here: Mirliton Custard (wafb.com)
In addition to the great information regarding the growing of mirliton, don’t forget we have a section completely devoted to recipes found below: International Mirliton/Chayote Recipes – Mirliton Dr. Hill has continued to add great recipes as he comes across them. Check it out and start planning your 2022 mirliton menus now!
Finally, I had a chance to help spread the word on our mirliton efforts via three platforms. I gave a general hourlong mirliton talk via Zoom to the Pensacola Organic Gardening Club in October, followed by the very enjoyable and educational Tip of The Tongue podcast (part of the Nitty Grit Network) which falls under the umbrella of the great Southern Food and Beverage Museum in New Orleans. Thank you again to the founder and show host, Liz Williams for having me as her guest. You can check out the interview here: Tip of the Tongue 103: Mirliton, Chayote and Christophene — Southern Food & Beverage Foundation
I then finished off the year sharing our efforts on one of New Orleans’ great radio institutions, Tom & Mary Ann Fitzmorris’ The Food Show. You can find my 30-minute segment about an hour in here: THE FOOD SHOW – DECEMBER 10, 2021 – WGSO 990AM
Final Thoughts for the 2021 Growing Season:
This final update of the 2021 growing season should clearly give the reader an idea that the program is doing quite well despite our issues due to Ida. I am really impressed and inspired by what I am seeing from our Texas growers and the independent work done by Buddy & Charlotte Baham and Jay Thibodeaux are enhancing and supporting our work. The goal for the Ishreal Thibodeaux White Mirliton Project all along has been to preserve and then develop a network of growers that are able to provide others interested in this variety a reliable source to call upon as the we make a resurgence. It really looks like the we are a lot closer to that point then I expected we’d be after two years. At last count, we have 7 growers with great productive vines and perhaps 50+ independent growers going into 2022! I really believe by the end of 2022 we will have a great network of Ishreal Thibodeaux growers throughout the Gulf South that should be able to make this variety available to all who are interested in growing them.
As a final note, I have added only a few names to the third wave of growers in 2022 but if still interested in the project, please check out this link. Thank you all for the interest and support in 2021 and we wish you, your family, and friends a safe, healthy, and wonderful spring growing season.
If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please send them to me David J. Hubbell at rpcajun2r@gmail.com. Thank you.