My love of root beer comes from childhood when I took a trip to see one of my aunts in California when I was 7 years old. I lived in Virginia with my dad (her brother) at the time. My aunt would deep condition my hair and my cousin’s hair (and perhaps her own, too?) and we’d drink root beer floats to pass the time for the conditioner to do it’s work. That was the girliest thing I recall doing as a young girl! I am reminded of it now because I just spent a long weekend in the company of 50 women for an Herbal Medicine for Women intensive.
I have been collecting the ingredients for Rosemary Gladstar’s herbal root beer tonic. My recipe is a bit different than hers, of course, and she encourages that. So, here we go with my first pictorial blog…
Photographed above are all the herbs I used: dandelion root, burdock root, star anise, birch bark, sassafras root, licorice root, sarsaparilla root, and fennel seeds. The recipe is given in “parts” and my “part” was a teaspoon. Three teaspoons equals a tablespoon.
It’s so pretty!
HERBS:
3 parts Sassafras
3 parts Sarsaparilla root
2 parts Birch bark
2 parts Burdock root
1 part Dandelion root
1 part Licorice root
1 part Fennel seed
2.5 Anise Star pods
After placing the dried herbs into the pan, I added the water (1-7/8 cups) and brought it to a low simmer with the lid on and set the timer for 40 minutes. When it was done, I turned off the heat and left it there for a few minutes while I gathered the remaining items and thinly sliced an organic orange. I poured the decoction into a glass half-gallon Mason jar using a double-mesh stainless steel strainer. I added 1 T of maple syrup for a touch of sweetness.
With the sliced half-orange, the total volume for this test batch was just under 2 cups. I placed this in the fridge to chill for awhile.
Lastly, I added cold sparkling water and doubled the volume.
When I tasted the test batch, my first thought was, “The only way I am drinking THIS is with some vanilla ice cream!” It was the most bitter root beer float I’ve ever tasted. The good news is I can feel my stomach gently digesting my dinner now. 🙂