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Post by Jaga on Jun 17, 2006 14:25:54 GMT -7
Root beer (no alcohol) is another product that I did not know from Poland. I guess, it should be called "piwo korzenne". My daughter tried to drink the root beer very recently at the birthday party and she really loved it. I like root beer together with French vanilla ice-cream, did you try guys? It is very good! By the way, I just found on another website that the root beer is done differently in different countries: Historians often credit Charles Hires with creating the root beer flavor we know today, but I believe that he simply made it popular. Here is a list of ingredients and countries from a 1922 pamphlet about Hires Root Beer. Birch Bark - United States, New England Chirreta – India Dog Grass – Germany Ginger – Africa Ginger – China Ginger – Jamaica Hires special plant Hops – United States, Northwest Juniper Berries – Italy Licorice – Spain Licorice – Russia Sarsaparilla – Honduras Sugar – Cuba Vanilla – Mexico Wintergreen – United States, North Carolina Yerba Mate, Brazil In 1960 the FDA outlawed sassafras because it contains safrole, which was proven to cause cancer in lab rats. The primary element in the root beer flavor we know today is wintergreen. www.greydragon.org/library/brewing_root_beer.html
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Post by gardenmoma on Jun 19, 2006 20:24:25 GMT -7
Jaga and all, It is possible to find amny variations of "root beer" at whole / natural food stores as well as spicialty shops. It is also possible to find variations of the following: - ginger beer
- birch beer
- sarsasparilla and
- more.
There is a local western MA company which still makes all of these. When my kids were growing the birthday, and other special days, treat was an assortment of these "beers." You can also make your own...a good project for you and Ella, Jaga...from concentrates and brewers yeasts bought at brewers' stores. And you are correct, Jaga, about the sassafras...we use to be able to buy dried sassafras root in bulk to make sassafras "tea" (tisane) when I was in high school and college. However, because of the cancer scare, it is no longer easily available. I still have a small jar of it that I use ocassionally for demonstration purposes. Of course, I know where there are a lot of sassafras trees growing...if you really want the tea, I can show you where they grow...all you have to do is uproot some seedlings, skin the bark off the roots, and dry it! Happy drinking! ;D GM
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