Slap Ya Mama Cocktails

Jun 23, 2022 | Stories & More | 0 comments

Summer is the perfect time to cool down with one of Mama’s Cocktails. From Bloody Marys to Pineapple Margaritas Mamas got you covered for a summer of fun!

1. Mama’s Pineapple Margarita 

This margarita is sweet, spicy and everything nice. The combination of Pineapple, Tumeric, Tequila, and Slap, may sound a little crazy but the flavors come together to create an unforgettable flavor. Give this cocktail a try, you can thank us later!

Slap Ya Mama Pineapple Margarita

2. Slap Ya Mama Bloody Mary 

One morning while eating brunch, Mama Jen noticed that her Bloody Mary lacked a punchy pizazz she expected from her favorite drink. So in an effort to satisfy her discerning taste, we created a seasoning blend perfectly formulated to bring out the best flavor in any Bloody Mary. Our Slap Ya Mama Bloody Mary Mix uses only the best ingredients — and gives Mama Jen that delicious Bloody Mary flavor she loves. We hope your family and friends enjoy it as much as we do. Click here to shop Slap Ya Mama Bloody Mary Mix!

Slap Ya Mama Bloody Mary Mix

3. Slap Ya Mama Spicy Margs 

Mama is heating things up with her Spicy Jalapeño Margarita. Simple and delicious, these margaritas are made with fresh lime juice and agave syrup. Make a single cocktail or whip up a pitcher for a crowd.

Slap Ya Mama Spicy Marg

4. Slap Ya Mama Bloody Maria 

When a Bloody Mary meets tequila it makes a wonderful Bloody Maria. The simple change from vodka to tequila really changes the taste. Of course here at Slap Ya Mama, we like it SPICY so we recommend using Ghost Tequila! Give this spicy cocktail a try!

Slap Ya Mama Bloody Maria 

5. Spicy Mexican Mule 

A Mexican Mule is a tequila-based spin on the Moscow Mule. Made for the spice connoisseurs, filled with a flavorful kick from the combination of Slap Ya Mama Hot Sauce and ginger beer, this cocktail is truly delicious!

Spicy Mexican Mule

The Cajun Crawfish Season

Apr 28, 2022 | Stories & More | 0 comments

Native Americans were catching and eating crawfish for years before the Acadians arrived, although some legends tell of the northeastern lobster following the Acadians to Louisiana and shrinking in size over the long journey. The Acadians took quite well to the local crawfish, and they became a major part of Cajun culture.

Crawfish- or mudbugs, as they are called since the popular species in Louisiana burrow into the wet ground of the freshwater bayous- can be boiled whole with spices and vegetables or the tender meat can be featured in a variety of Cajun cuisine from étouffée to meat pies. Every spring when crawfish are in season, Louisiana families like the Walkers spend their afternoons gathered around picnic tables, picking crawfish. They spread the old newspaper across long tables where they dump a giant pot of steaming crawfish along with boiled potatoes, garlic cloves, corn on the cob, whole mushrooms, and onions.

Some of the Walker’s fondest memories involve farming crawfish themselves. One of TW’s clients had a crawfish pond. When TW’s brother, Bob, was coming to Ville Platte for Easter with his family, TW asked his client if the kids could come by and pick up crawfish with the hand nets. “Mais, cher, don’t worry about that,” TW’s client said using the Cajun term of endearment. “I’ll tell my guy not to make his run on Saturday morning, and y’all can pick up all the traps.”

TW couldn’t believe this generous offer. He loaded up the whole family, and they headed to the ponds. “Jack and Joe were just waist-high then,” recalls TW. “We pulled them behind us in a boat and waded through the water with our hip boots on, even Mama Jen. I think we came up with over 250 pounds of crawfish.”

A good rule of thumb is three pounds of crawfish per person, which means the walkers hit the motherlode. “We got to be crawfish farmers for the day,” Jack remembers fondly.

TW’s client invited them back year after year. As Jack and Joe got older they wore snake-proof boots and started pulling the boats through the muddy water for the younger kids to ride. “It was always a good weekend says TW.”It brought all the family together.”

The Walkers took all those crawfish back to the Bayou Chicot house and cooked them in the backyard under the twinkle lights TW stung from the trees. “We ate for two hours, Cajun french music blaring in the background,” says Bob. “Living in Mississippi, I wanted my kids to experience the way I grew up.”

Today when the Walkers eat crawfish, they all remember those Easter weekends. They pop off the head and suck the juices, peel off the shell, and pop the meat in their mouths. The Slap Ya Mama seasoning tingles their lips just perfectly, and they’re taken right back to those Easter weekends way back when.

Crawfish Boil 

Egg Pocking: The Cajun Easter Tradition

Apr 14, 2022 | Stories & More | 0 comments

What is Egg Pocking? 

Egg Pocking is a tournament-style battle for the strongest hard-boiled Easter egg.

How to Play: First, you and your competitor grab a hard-boiled egg. Hold the thickest part of the egg in your fist(as pictured). Then count to three and lightly tap your opponent’s egg without cracking your own egg. Continue tapping eggs until one cracks. The round ends as soon as the first egg cracks, the winner will then advance to the next round. The game repeats until there is one person left. That person becomes the winner of the Egg Pocking Competition. 

What do you win? Prizes can range from bragging rights for the year, cash, candy, or even first place in line for food.

The game is simple, but the competition gets serious! Some take it so seriously that they secretly switch out their eggs for a stronger duck egg.

Give it a crack, and let us know what you think of this Cajun tradition! 

History of Egg Pocking?

Egg Pocking began back in Ancient Greece. The game was called tsougrisma, which translates to clinking together. They would dye their eggs red to symbolize the blood of Christ, and the cracking of the egg symbolized the resurrection of Christ. From Ancient Greece, the game slowly spread around the globe, immersing itself in many cultures. 

Like many Cajun traditions, Egg Pocking made its way over to Louisiana by the French. Pocking comes from the french word Pâques, which translates to Easter. Once spelled egg paquing, but through time, it has simplified to what we know today, egg pocking. 

Today many families spend time decorating eggs for the game, while others leave theirs plain. No matter how the eggs look, Egg Pocking will always bring people together to celebrate a new origin of life. This tradition is going nowhere and will pass on to many more generations!

Save your eggs and make Mama’s Cajun Deviled Eggs!

The Cajun Country’s Humble Beginnings

Mar 30, 2022 | Stories & More | 3 comments

From the 1500s to the 1700s, European countries played a game of hot potato in the New World. Territory changed hands quickly, but for a time, France occupied much of Canada and Middle America, England ruled much of the East Coast, and Spain claimed Florida and much of the Southwest, from Louisiana to California and Mexico.

In the early 1600s, country folk from western France began making life for themselves in Acadia–which’s in today’s Novia Scotia, Canada. As the French settlers adapted to the New World, they became known as the Acadians. In 1713, the area swapped from French to British hands when the Treaty of Utrecht was signed. The treaty meant the Acadians were now subjects of the British monarchy and were expected to worship at the Church of England. The faithful Acadians refused to pledge fealty to either the British crown or Anglican religion and rebelled. In 1755, the British governor decided to solve the problem of unruly Acadians by forcibly dispersing them in Le Grand Derangement. The Acadian refugees were scattered across the British territories and colonies, and many lost their lives.

Exiled Acadians wandered the New World looking for a home. Preferring to follow a Catholic King, many traveled to the Spanish territory of Louisiana, just west of French New Orleans and 2,000 miles from their Canadian home. Spain allowed refugees to settle in their territory, so more Acadians flocked there in hopes of reuniting with their families and communities in the Louisiana countryside. These Acadians adapted to their new homes and became known as Cajuns.

The most famous Acadian refugee is Evangeline, the heroine of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem of the same name. Evangeline was separated from her love, Gabriel, in the expulsion and searched her entire life for him across the New World, until they finally reunited as he died in her arms. Of the 22 parishes in Louisiana’s Cajun Country, one is named Evangeline, and Ville Platte is the parish seat.

In the 1700s, Spain’s El Camino Real de Los Texas linked the territory with Texas and Mexico City. Because the Acadians were unwanted Exiles themselves, they met strangers with open arms and warm hospitality. Their frequently traveled trail fostered relationships among Native Americans and Irish, Spanish, and French immigrants, creating a rich gumbo of cultures and distinctive dialects.

In this part of the country, English names are far less common like Leblanc, Landry, Hebert (pronounced A-bair), Boudreaux, and Fontenot. Locals mix french right in with their English, and in many schools, French-language immersion begins in kindergarten.

Cajuns are known for zydeco music, played with the accordion, washboard, guitar, and violin, and swamp pop, which combines R&B, country/western, and traditional French Louisiana music. In the 1950s and ’60s, legendary producer Floyd Soileau recorded several swamp pop hits at his Ville Platte studio, which the state later proclaimed the Swamp Pop Capital of the World.

But Cajuns are most famous for their food, which should not be confused with Creole cuisine. While the two have their similarities, they possess defining differences. Cajuns hail from French Canada and live in Louisiana Rural areas, while creoles live in New Orleans and are a mix of Spanish, French, Caribbean, and African American ancestry. Thus, Creole food is considered city food, while Cajun food is more simple, country-style food.

Typical Cajun food includes chicken and sausage gumbo, deep-fried pork cracklins, crawfish etouffee, jambalaya, and boudin (sausage stuffed with rice, green onions, and seasonings). With every bite, this delectable culture is relished and preserved.

How Slap Ya Mama Came To Be

Mar 8, 2022 | Stories & More | 0 comments

Serving customers in the family store’s deli, Jennifer was disappointed in their store-bought seasoning. She went home and complained to TW, and they went to work making their own. “We went to the store and got all kinds of different seasonings, and we started mixing it at home until it was something we wanted,” says Jennifer. “Really all we put in it was salt, black pepper, red pepper, and garlic. We got the proportions like we wanted–not too salty- and put it in an old pickle jar.” Then she enlisted her sons for help. Jack and Joe who were 15 and 13 at the time, rolled the jar back and forth in the house’s only carpeted room until the mixture was perfectly combined.

The Walkers started using the seasoning in the deli, and soon customers wanted to buy it. “So we got jars from the dollar store,” says Jennifer. “They had little handles and shakers. The boys made labels off the computer that said ” Slap Your Mama, Bayou Chicot, Louisiana,’ since that is where we lived at the time. We put them on the counter and sold them for a dollar, and people kept buying them.”

Soon, the Walkers had to buy in bulk. They went to Targil Seasoning & Butcher Supplies in the nearby town of Opelousas and made 25 pounds of their seasoning. They sold out of that, too. Their customers and friends were using it like salt and pepper on everything from popcorn, French fries, and scrambled eggs to their favorite Cajun foods. They encouraged the Walkers to sell to a larger audience, but in order to do so, they’d need to create a barcode and get the product approved. “We got to the point where we asked each other, ‘Are we gonna do this for real?” Jennifer says.

Their product had been perfected, but they first had to settle on the name. TW, an attorney, and Southern gentleman said they couldn’t name it Slap Your Mama, “cause little old ladies are gonna get mad.” Jennifer insisted that it was the name that would sell their product, but she wanted to make one change first.

“We’re going to change it to Slap Ya Mama because it’s much more inviting and fun to say,” says Jennifer. TW compromised, and certainly not wanting to offend his own mother he included the following story on every product; “In 1956, Wilda Marie Fontenot Walker gave birth to the creator of this award-winning seasoning blend. Every time she uses it, she receives a loving slap on the back and a kiss on the cheek, thanking her for another great-tasting Cajun dish.”

With that, the walkers were ready for business. They ordered 200 cases with the revised Slap Ya Mama and they debuted their new product at Ville Platte’s Smoked Meat Festival. They sold 18 cases that weekend, and the following Monday, Jennifer loaded the rest into her little Nissan 280 ZX sports car and went door-to-door from grocery stores to convenience stores. Her area soon expanded to Lafayette and Alexandria, and TW bought her a minivan to fit more product. If a store manager said bo, Jeniffer gave them a case for free, and insisted in her sweet Cajun accent, that they just see what their customers thought. Sure enough, stores sold out, and here calling her to order 10 cases at a time.

“A lot of people buy it because of the name, but they buy that second can because of the flavor,” says TW’s brother Bob. At the time, Bob was selling Slap Ya Mama products at East Mississippi Community College where he worked- the only place east of the Mississippi you could find it at the time.

Meanwhile, Jack and Joe had finished high school and were packing their bags for LSU, 90 minutes away in Baton Rouge. “When we took off to go to college, Slap Ya Mama was in its premature stages,” says Joe. “We had no idea what the potential would be, where it was going to go, and if we could see our future in it.”

A few years after the Dot-Com Boom, Jack and Joe created a website for the company and started taking online orders. Between classes, their studies, college parties, and their part-time jobs at a local restaurant, they packaged and shipped Slap Ya Mama Seasoning. “We drove to Ville Platte once a week during college to pick up the product and bring it back,” recalls Jack. “We had two closets in our downstairs living room stocked full with Slap Ya Mama. You’d walk in the door and would smell the spices. We hired our roommate to work for us, and our friends walked around campus and wore Slap Ya Mama t-shirts.” Unaware of the exceptional entrepreneurs in her midst, a neighbor thought they were selling some sort of illegal substances through UPS. “Just a whole bunch of seasoning they assured her.

“Once we got to where we were going to graduate, more and more packages were going out the door,” says Joe. “we saw the potential in it and thought, ‘Wow we really started something, and it’s growing.”‘

In 2007, the boys moved back home to Ville Platte to run the family business. Jeniffer had connected with a distributor who had gotten their product into Texas, Arkansas, and all over Louisiana, and their footprint was rapidly expanding. Jack and Joe loaded their suitcases and attended international food shows, sharing their homegrown brand with the world.

Today, Slap Ya Mama is sold throughout the United States, Australia, Canada, Mexico, and Panama. The Walkers are running an impressive global business with just 10 employees, and the family remains heavily involved. Joe and his wife, Tana, take care of distribution and bookkeeping from Ville Platte, while Jack manages the marketing and advertising from his office in New Orleans. Although TW is officially retired from the practice of law and the family business, he continues to help with legal matters, real estate deals, and contracts. Targil, just up the highway, still makes many of the Slap Ya Mama seasoning products.

Jennifer and TW get their family together often to cook and test new products in their outdoor kitchen in Ville Platte, relying on the advice of their most loyal and enthusiastic customers–their close friends and family, including their own mamas.