Hello from the real Nor-cal

[Frankenstein]

Wasting perfectly good safrole oil .

Waste is a strong word, first the organic chemistry behind the entire process is extremely difficult, and to top it off you need to process so much bark just to get something worthwhile that for the average person the entire adventure is just very thankless. Sassafras is hard enough to find just to get a nice batch of kindling for a season, let alone the amount you'd have to collect just to be able to synthesize a handful of pills.. You'd be better off smuggling oil from China where the plant is much more plentiful and the amount of time saved accumulating and distilling is worth the extra costs. No I'm not advocating making drugs but I do advocate not wasting a lot of effort on things that could be come by a bit easier.

Oh, consequently since the subject came up I decided to look and see where sassafras grows naturally, turns out North Dakota is really outside its natural habitat, so it's no wonder why it was extremely difficult for me to find in the past, apparently Pennsylvania is in the normal region so I guess if I or other people went looking for it it wouldn't be such a task to get a lot of precursor to the precursor..

 

[greenjon]

I grew up in western PA. There was sassafras all over the place, but at the time I didn't know that rootbeer could be made out of it.

 

[Frankenstein]

I grew up in western PA. There was sassafras all over the place, but at the time I didn't know that rootbeer could be made out of it.

It's the original root beer, and coincidently it burns really really well, and can also be used to make strange drugs.

My only real thought about it all is who figured out you could make great soda out of it and who found the time to experiment with what was probably acres of trees until they found something that they were willing to eat and didn't kill them but instead made their world into being made from pillows and gum drops.

Kinda like when you see those videos where they make batches of cocaine and at some point they have it all in a 55 gallon barrel and start pouring gasoline in it to precipitate coke out of the mix. Who the hell said let's mush a bunch of bushes up and pour f***ing gas on it then snort whatever the hell we find at the bottom of the barrel. Seriously wtf. It's as bad as those people who bury fish heads and come back after a few years, dig it up and then spread it on toast like it's just a normal thing to do.

 

[greenjon]

[...My only real thought about it all is who figured out you could make great soda out of it...]

I'd guess the colonists learned from the native americans that sassafras was edible. Putting some fizz in it was the next level though.
I use Black Birch and Sarsaparilla more than Sassafras. Cheaper that way. I still have 5 gallons of Birch Soda on tap so I'll make some Sarsaparilla/Wintergreen soda next.

 

[Frankenstein]

I'd guess the colonists learned from the native americans that sassafras was edible. Putting some fizz in it was the next level though.
I use Black Birch and Sarsaparilla more than Sassafras. Cheaper that way. I still have 5 gallons of Birch Soda on tap so I'll make some Sarsaparilla/Wintergreen soda next.

I've had an interesting thought, you know those little pinkish red tea berries you can find in the woods here, they have a sorta minty bubblegum odd thing going in, could that be put into something like that as well? Would it taste OK?

Also not particularly sure if it's ok to do this but when I find them I make tea with them along with whatever tea got brought along. They are really cool tasting, how else could I describe it, other than maybe like that Greek guy who thought watermelons where the fruit of the gods. Pretty close, would be cool to have a kiwi sized berry from that plant.

 

[greenjon]

I've had an interesting thought, you know those little pinkish red tea berries you can find in the woods here, they have a sorta minty bubblegum odd thing going in, could that be put into something like that as well? Would it taste OK?

Also not particularly sure if it's ok to do this but when I find them I make tea with them along with whatever tea got brought along. They are really cool tasting, how else could I describe it, other than maybe like that Greek guy who thought watermelons where the fruit of the gods. Pretty close, would be cool to have a kiwi sized berry from that plant.

If by "tea berries" you are refering to wintergreen, that is the dominant flavor in modern root beer. I sometimes add a touch of wintergreen oil to my sodas.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaultheria_procumbens

 

[Frankenstein]

So root beer isn't really root beer? Now I'm confused.

So are there any sodas that use the original root flavor with a bit of that tea berry or wintergreen (other than yours I suppose,) I don't know why but different root beers seem to have very different flavors I've noticed, some taste really good and really have that sassafras sort of odor and taste, others have this over sweetened sort of odd root beer mint thing that's terrible.

Dr pepper kind of has that darker root beer flavor, I've already found out that it's because what some of it it based on. Out of curiosity how strong is the wintergreen oil itself, is it bearable to dip your fingertip in it in eat it or is it overpowering like some other peppermint oils are? I've had some that burned my lips for almost a half hour because it was really overpowering.

Something else about those actual berries though, is the flavor nice just because it's really light or the fruit doesn't have a bunch of sweet tasting sugars in it? It's actually nice, not like most sodas that are just very sweet.

 

[Tyler6357]

Welcome from So Cal!! Warning, this hobby is addictive and could result in obsession.

 

[greenjon]

So root beer isn't really root beer? Now I'm confused.

So are there any sodas that use the original root flavor with a bit of that tea berry or wintergreen (other than yours I suppose,) [...]Out of curiosity how strong is the wintergreen oil itself, is it bearable to dip your fingertip in it in eat it or is it overpowering like some other peppermint oils are? I've had some that burned my lips for almost a half hour because it was really overpowering.

Most of what I have heard about root beer I read here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_beer
I don't know about any specific sodas, but I've heard that natural sodas are commercially produced.
Wintergreen oil is extremely potent. I use about one drop per *gallon*. It's a mucus membrane irritant and is also a blood thinner. It has the same chemical (Methyl salicylate) as Black Birch bark which is closely related to aspirin, hence the blood thinning properties.
Making soda is easy if you don't mind investing in a CO2 tank and regulator. I already had that for the brewery, so it was an easy step.

 

[FurryOnTheInside]

I've always enjoyed making the bubbles the natural way. Only enough fermentation to make it sparkling though so no headache.
I like dandelion, honeysuckle, rose, then blackcurrant and raspberry.

I suppose I should try making ginger beer..