sassafrass root were the major ingredient in root beer, but not the only one-- birch (and birch beer can still be found if you search. ) and other root where part of the mix
back in the '70s, the US Food and Drug Administration decided that sassafrass roots were carciogenic (sp?)-- cancer causing.. and banned there use in food. now days, most root beer is made from artifical flavors, and its not nearly as good.
many old reproduction cookbooks include recipes for root beer-- but for the old fashioned kind.. made with sassafrass, ginger, birch and sassprarilla roots, and fermented with yeast! i made a batch one. it was very strongly flavored, but not to much alcohol.
sassafrass leaves are dried and ground up, and used to make a thickener (a vegetable gum) that is used in gumbo. i have 100 baby sassafrass trees in my yard now.. when a sassafrass is cut down, it sent up new shoots form its roots! it is like some demon out of myth!
