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Sassafrasses

Appears in
Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America

By Andrew F. Smith

Published 2004

  • About

The sassafras tree (Sassafras albidum) is a New World tree. All parts of the tree are pleasantly aromatic, and its bark and roots can be steeped as a beverage and for medicinal purposes. Large leaves on a single branch of the sassafras tree appear in three different shapes. Sassafras was so prized for a time that it was used as a medium of exchange and offered to guests at weddings.

Before the Civil War, Native Americans and East Coast settlers made sassafras each spring by boiling new maple sugar sap, then adding sassafras roots and simmering for a time. The bark and roots contain the highest concentration of oil. These are steeped to make a deep red sassafras tea given as a diuretic to treat sickness caused from drinking polluted water. It could also be used as a yellow-orange dye. In later years sassafras flavoring became a useful ingredient in the making of root beer and as a scent in perfumes and soaps.

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