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Post by plantsnobin on Nov 16, 2009 12:09:07 GMT -5
You can use Aralia root too. Haven't tried it, as I only have one plant so far, and didn't get to save any seeds from it this year. I do love the smell of sassafras.
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Post by johno on Nov 16, 2009 15:47:50 GMT -5
We have consumed sassafras tea for as long as I can remember. At some point when I was a child, I heard that it was potentially dangerous, and around the same time heard that the local Indians tended to only drink it in the spring. I followed the lead and have only drank it in the spring since then, to be on the safe side.
We had some root beer kits from when the kids were little, and my wife decided to use them up some time ago. She apparently let them sit too long. The resulting root beer was intoxicating...
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Post by peppereater on Nov 16, 2009 16:36:11 GMT -5
Nice! johno!, there is intoxicating as in wonderfully delicious, as well as intoxicating as in chemically induced. I assume it was wonderfully delicious, and I want some!!!!
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peapod
gardener
Zone 4, acidic soil, and sandy loam that I have worked on for 4 years. Fixing the bad stuff.
Posts: 175
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Post by peapod on Nov 16, 2009 22:21:03 GMT -5
I agree with peppereater, way to go Johno getting drunk off of good ol sassafras. And you are also correct in the theory of Indians harvesting in the spring to drink sassafras as a tea... but then in the fall there would be a second harvest to mix the sassafras with bear lard/ fat for winter eating. It was a much less consumption (of sassafras) with the animal fat. But I am sure it had to taste much better than just good old fashioned blubber from a wild animal.
Peapod
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Post by plantsnobin on Nov 18, 2009 9:57:31 GMT -5
Picked up the Nov issue of The Herb Companion yesterday, and they had an interesting tidbit. Seems that research on Cinnamomum carolinense, which also has high levels of safrole, shows that the heating process of making tea eliminates safrole. So perhaps drinking sassafras tea ain't gonna hurt you at all.
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peapod
gardener
Zone 4, acidic soil, and sandy loam that I have worked on for 4 years. Fixing the bad stuff.
Posts: 175
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Post by peapod on Dec 13, 2009 21:18:31 GMT -5
Karen, I have the same issue. Thought to myself funny how things get answered. I have never worried about the minute amount of sassafras I've consumed over the years.
Oh well. I drank a bottle of Rootbeer today and its probably one of the best batches I've made in a long time. Dry weather helps with flavour I have found out. What an odd thing.
The ginger ale is really good too.
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