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Nov 18, 2023 · The journey of root beer — from a North American indigenous tribal tea to pharmacist Charles Elmer Hires’ first national soda brand— highlights a legacy of innovation and tenacity. Here’s a look!
Root beer. Root beer is a sweet North American soft drink traditionally made using the root bark of the sassafras tree Sassafras albidum or the vine of Smilax ornata (known as sarsaparilla; also used to make a soft drink called sarsaparilla) as the primary flavor. Root beer is typically, but not exclusively, non-alcoholic, caffeine-free, sweet ...
So root beer as it is known today is basically a carbonated sugar water drink flavored to mimic the taste of sarsaparilla. Most people would find root beer comparable to Coca-Cola in density, carbonation, color and sweetness except that it has a distinctive flavor.
- The Origins of Root Beer
- What Are Sassafras and Sarsparilla?
- The Growing Popularity—And Near-Extinction–Of Sassafras
- The Origins of Root Beer Production
- Homemade Root Beer Recipe
- About The Author
Indigenous peoples in the Americas have long been using sassafras and sarsaparilla—the central ingredients to root beer—for culinary and medicinal purposes, including infused beverages. In fact, botanical infusions have existed around the world for nearly as long as the ability to heat water with fire for things like tea and tinsane. But as the two...
True sarsaparilla (Smilax sp.) is a tropical woody vine that grows deep in the canopy of the rainforest. It is native to South America, the West Indies, Jamaica, the Caribbean, Honduras, and Mexico, where the Spaniards encountered the plant and introduced it to Europe in the 16th century. There are various species of sarsaparilla, all valued by the...
When the English first arrived on the coast of the northeast, sassafras trees were reported as plentiful. Sassafras bark was sold in England and continental Europe. It was made into a dark beverage called ‘saloop’ that was touted to have medicinal qualities and used as a medicinal cure for various ailments. This refreshing beverage was sold in plac...
The tradition of brewing, or fermenting, root beer is thought to have evolved out of other European small beer traditions that produced fermented drinks with low alcohol content. These were considered healthier to drink than possibly tainted local drinking water sources and enhanced by the medicinal and nutritional qualities of the ingredients used...
The making of root beer is pretty simple, with first the simmering of the herbal ingredients to make a simple tisane to which sugar is added to create a flavored syrup. This syrup can be refrigerated for up to a year.
Susan Verberg lives with her family, furry and human, on a small homestead in upstate New York. She enjoys growing European variety fruits for fermentation, especially wild ferments, in summer and researching traditional meads and herbal beers in winter. She enjoys sharing her exploits in mainstream homesteading magazines, as well as the occasional...
Root beer, sweet, nonalcoholic, carbonated beverage commonly flavored with extracts of roots and herbs. Invented in North America, the drink has characteristic herbal, earthy notes that have traditionally been imparted by sassafras root (Sassafras albidum), wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens), or
Mar 15, 2023 · There are few things as American as apple pie, or baseball, but root beer might just be one of the most “American” beverages of all – perhaps even more so than Coca-Cola! This title is well-earned, as the origins of root beer are closely tied to the formation of the United States.
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Apr 21, 2023 · What's now a category of mass-produced, canned and bottled root beer brands began as pre-contact American folk medicine. It all started with sassafras, a tree that's native to the northeast and southeast of the present day United States.
