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BS: What's root beer?
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Subject: What's root beer? From: Allan Dennehy Date: 12 Sep 02 - 07:45 AM We hear of this stuff on American comedies, but we don't seem to have it in Europe. Is there coffeine in it? What does it taste like? Who drinks it? etc. etc. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Mr Happy Date: 12 Sep 02 - 07:48 AM they had it in mCdonalds for a while. ttasted like coke with tcp in it. yuk! |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: GUEST Date: 12 Sep 02 - 07:50 AM http://www.howstuffworks.com/question137.htm Question Why is root beer called root beer? Did it used to be made out of roots? Or did it ferment in a root cellar? And was it ever alcoholic? Answer The English language has lots of words that are used in two or three different ways. For example, the word "cabinet" can mean "storage space in your kitchen" or "a group of folks who advise the president." Beer is a word with two meanings. It can mean an alcoholic beverage made from cereal grains, or a non-alcoholic beverage flavored by root extracts. Root beer, birch beer and ginger beer are three common forms of this non-alcoholic sort of beer. In the case of root beer, the flavoring comes from the root of the sassafras tree or the sarsaparilla vine. Originally, the root was brewed like a tea to make an extract, but now it is much easier to buy the extract ready-made. The root beer extract is mixed with sugar, yeast and water. If this mixture is placed in a tightly sealed bottle, the yeast will generate carbon dioxide at a high enough pressure to carbonate the water. You end up with fizzy, delicious root beer!
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: GUEST Date: 12 Sep 02 - 07:52 AM http://www.howstuffworks.com/framed.htm?parent=question137.htm&url=http://www.epicurious.com/run/fooddictionary/browse?entry_id=9952 Created in the mid-1800s by Philadelphia pharmacist Charles Hires, the original root beer was a (very) low-alcohol, naturally effervescent beverage made by fermenting a blend of sugar and yeast with various roots, herbs and barks such as SARSAPARILLA, SASSAFRAS, wild cherry, WINTERGREEN and GINGER. Today's commercial root beer is completely nonalcoholic and generally contains sugar, caramel coloring, a combination of artificial and natural flavorings (including some of those originally used) and carbonated water for sparkle.
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Nigel Parsons Date: 12 Sep 02 - 07:59 AM Wintergreen is what we rub on strained muscles when playing rugby, it stinks, and works into the skin producing heat. This is worrying in a drink Nigel |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: MMario Date: 12 Sep 02 - 08:25 AM wintergreen has been (and is) used as a tea, and a flavouring in many items. root beer originally had some alcohol - home "brewed" root beer still has a small amount. commercial root beer has none.
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Bee-dubya-ell Date: 12 Sep 02 - 08:50 AM "Now it is much easier to buy the extract ready-made" would seem to explain why all the rootbeers on the crocer's shelf taste pretty much the same, from the cheapo chainstore brands to the premium labels like IBC. They all use the same ready-made extract with identical ingredients blended in the same percentages. Absolutely no imagination. You have to go to a natural food or gourmet store and pay twice as much to get a naturally brewed rootbeer with any individual character. Bruce |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Trevor Date: 12 Sep 02 - 08:55 AM So, in a TV prog from about a hundred years ago - I think it was called 'Sugarfoot' - when the hero asked for '..a sarsaparilla with a dash of cherry' (he was on the wagon I think) was he drinking root beer? |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: wilco Date: 12 Sep 02 - 09:32 AM I grew-up (and still live in Tennessee). This was a Native American practice. As a child, we would frequently find a particular type of small bush in the woods, pull-part of the roots out of the ground, and wash it off. You would strip the outside sheeth (bark) off the roots, and then you would boil the sheeth and roots in water. The tea would be very sweet, and was "root beer." You could also just chew on the roots' bark. This was something we always did when we camped-out, I think that the tree was sasafrass, Wilco in Tennessee |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: MMario Date: 12 Sep 02 - 09:37 AM sarsparilla could be called a "root beer" - though what in the US is now known as root beer is distinct from sasparilla. (Sasparilla flavouring is an ingredient of the classic root beer - but in "sasparilla" it is the primary (possibly only) flavour) the 'with a dash of cherry' means that the drinks were being mixed to order - as many fountain drinks were even up through the 60's; the syrups could be mixed and combined, or a shot of syrup added to a drink you'd already mixed.
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Alice Date: 12 Sep 02 - 09:38 AM Don't you have wintergreen chewing gum in the UK? |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: GUEST,Bill Kennedy Date: 12 Sep 02 - 10:38 AM there is also sasparilla (or sometimes sarsparilla) and sassafrass teas, and also a carbonated beverage that is a bit smoother called birch beer, which uses the oils extracted from birch bark and roots, delicious. so root beer, is a) not beer (any longer, though some home brewers do make an alcoholic version) b) made from roots of certain trees and shrubs, like some tonics in medicinal concoctions, and still having some residual medicnal or tonic application c) today a sweet, syrupy carbonated beverage, delicious with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, called a 'root beer float' (or in some areas a 'Boston Cooler', though there is wide disagreement and much hard feelings about the misuse of this term!) |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: GUEST,Fred Miller Date: 12 Sep 02 - 10:46 AM To find out what root beer is, cross East from Minnesota to Wisconsin on the main interstate there--I-90 I think, get off at exit 19, go to the A&W where it's brewed fresh daily. Try that. But don't try to travel with it, the gallon jugs go flat, bad lids. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Alice Date: 12 Sep 02 - 10:53 AM Good root beer has a foamy thick head when you pour a glass. The A&W chain of root beer stands used to be in every Montana town but in many places has been replaced by that golden arches clown. We would get the big gallon glass jugs of it and then return the jug to the root beer stand when it was empty. My mom used to make root beer and ginger beer and so have I (and home made cola). Using an extract flavoring is the easy way. Be sure to get a good fresh brewing yeast. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: MMario Date: 12 Sep 02 - 10:55 AM A&W - haven't had a good |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: sian, west wales Date: 12 Sep 02 - 11:04 AM Good heavens, Trev. Did you have Sugarfoot over here? Sasparilla was, I think, A root beer, but I don't think it was Root Beer ... if you undestand my drift. I was just going to point out - based on actually testimony from a friend's father - that home made root beer, if made by 12 year olds on a hot summer and stored under the foundations of the summer cottage beyond the prying eyes of adults - can not only become VERY alcoholic, but can also ... ummm ... explode. sian |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Bagpuss Date: 12 Sep 02 - 11:08 AM My mam used to make ginger beer which she stored in the old coalhouse because of its habit of exploding violently. More recently she's been making elderflower champagne, and the top of the bottle exploded when I tried to take the lid off one bottle. Bagpuss |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: wysiwyg Date: 12 Sep 02 - 11:20 AM Ooo-eee, A&W and a chili cheese dog served in the shady car on a hot day! Take me back to Valpo (Valparaiso, IN). ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 12 Sep 02 - 11:23 AM I was a car hop in an A&W drive in as a teenager. They didn't want girls as car hops because all the guys hung around, flirting with the girls and caused too much trouble. (For our "foreign" friends, car hops wait on cars who park is a lot next to the refreshment stand.) There isn't anything like freshly brewed A&W in a frosted mug.
If you put a scoop of vanilla ice cream in a mug of root beer, you get a Black Cow. Just wanted to find out who's an old-timer on the Cat. :-) Jerry |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: GUEST,Bill Kennedy Date: 12 Sep 02 - 11:27 AM yes, a Black Cow, another name for it; better than A & W (I still have a mug lifted from the A & W in Iowa City, 1968) was Royal Castle's frosted mug of Birch Beer, miss that dearly, at least you can get something called A & W root beer today; |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Bagpuss Date: 12 Sep 02 - 11:29 AM Veering off on a tangent, but a "brown cow", so I have been told, is Guinness with condensed milk. How disgusting does that sound? |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: EBarnacle1 Date: 12 Sep 02 - 11:32 AM Let us mourn the loss of one of the great small craft root beer and birch beer makers in this country. S & O'K was recently discontinued by its brewer/bottler/sole distributer. Their birch beer, especially, was superb. They said there was not enough demand. Of course, they might have had this problem because they never figured out how to ship the stuff without breaking a large per centage of the bottles. They were so busy being quaint that they forgot to make a profit. I tried to have a friend bring a few cases down this way but, when he got there, they were all gone. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: GUEST,maryrrf Date: 12 Sep 02 - 11:43 AM I quite like root beer and have since I was a kid. I also used to make sassafrass tea from roots and it tastes kind of like root beer. But I've never introduced a European, South American, Asian or whatever to rootbeer who liked it. All of them hated it and said it tasted like medicine. It seems to be one of those tastes you acquire as a child. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Don Firth Date: 12 Sep 02 - 12:04 PM I generally don't drink soft drinks. But when I do, I don't drink Coke. I don't drink Pepsi. I do drink root beer. The first two leave my mouth tasting like I've been sucking on a sugar cube laced with gasoline. Root beer leaves a nice, clean aftertaste. On a hot day (or even on a cold day) a root beer float (see recipe for Black Cow above) is pure ambrosia. It is a truly Klingon drink! Don Firth |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Clinton Hammond Date: 12 Sep 02 - 12:12 PM Mmmm... Root beer... Tied in 2nd place as my favorite drink with ginger beer... ,-)
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Steve Latimer Date: 12 Sep 02 - 12:17 PM Don, I'm with you. I very raerely drink soft drinks of any kind can't stand the colas, but I do enjoy about three or four Root Beers a year. THere was an A&W within walking distance of my house when I was growing up. I remember very well sitting in the car and ordering a Teen Burger, Fries & a frosty mug of Root Beer. We would always talk my parents into picking up a gallon jug to take home and would usually make Root Beer Floats. Man I can still taste them. There's no question that the mug made a difference. I see that A&W are making a comeback of sorts here, only they're in the food courts at malls. Is their root beer still the same recipe as it was? There's was so thick and creamy with a great head. It was kind of like the Guinness of Root Beer. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Bullfrog Jones Date: 12 Sep 02 - 12:29 PM Geez, this is making me thirsty! Guess, in the absence of root beer, I'll just have to have a real beer! Slight thread creep, but in a musical direction. does anyone remember a late '60's rock tune called (I think) "Woodsmoke & Sassafrass" I only ever heard it a few times, on a jukebox in a bar in Swanage. I'd love to track it down and hear it again! BJ |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: GUEST,Bill Kennedy Date: 12 Sep 02 - 12:30 PM and a Guinness Float is not bad either |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Steve Latimer Date: 12 Sep 02 - 12:32 PM Bill, please tell me that you're kidding.. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Don Firth Date: 12 Sep 02 - 12:42 PM "Teen Burger, Fries & a frosty mug of Root Beer." There used to be a XXX Drive In a few blocks from where I lived (XXX was just the name of the place and the name of their own brand of root beer. This was before "X-rated" or "XXX" meant what it means now--although in summer watching the the car-hops in shorts fed a few teen-age fantasies). Pulling into the XXX and sitting in the car with the tray on the window and scarfing down a burger, a side of fries, and a mug of root beer was true gourmet dining. McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, etc., just don't measure up to that. Lord, Steve, you've managed to plunge me into severe nostalgia mode! I'm wrecked for the day! Don Firth |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Steve Latimer Date: 12 Sep 02 - 12:51 PM Don, I'm with you on the Nostalgic Mode, it's like I'm back there now. I wonder if it was as great for my parents as I would be crammed into the Plymouth fury with hem and my three sisters and brother. There's a place about fifteen miles north of where I live wha have tried to create the drive-in thing, complete with waitresses on roller skates. I'll have to try that some time. How about Drive-In Movies? They were an experince that my children will never be able to relate to. The snack bars had absolutley the worst food in history, but I sure would like to have one of those awful egg rolls while watching Jaws now. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: gnomad Date: 12 Sep 02 - 02:22 PM Sounds like we Brits could be missing something a bit special here, I have wondered what it was myself but never thought to ask here. But someone please put my mind at rest..Wintergreen chewing gum, please tell me it was a joke? |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Uncle_DaveO Date: 12 Sep 02 - 02:27 PM A year or so ago I attended the National Folk Festival, in Lansing, Michigan. There I heard a talk by a man whose family has been in the root beer making business for four or five generations. He claimed to be the ONLY maker left of "real root beer", because all other root beers are made with artificial flavoring. Sassafras roots of the right type are hard to come by, but more importantly, sassafras is toxic to the liver, it seems. Why he and his family are still allowed to make it, I don't remember. He maintains no-one has been able to make an artificial sassafras flavor that comes very close to the real thing, his own company included. They have tried, and are still trying to do that, and he thinks his company may shortly succeed. Dave Oesterreich |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Catherine Jayne Date: 12 Sep 02 - 02:47 PM Give me Dandelion and Burdock anyday!!!!! Cat |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Desert Dancer Date: 12 Sep 02 - 02:48 PM Gnomad -- to add to your worries, there are Wintergreen LifeSavers (hard candies)! They spark in the dark when you bite 'em!! (Really!) And taste great. Wintergreen is a small (a couple of inches high and wide) Ericaceous plant (same family as heather). The leaves when broken or bitten give off the distinctive odor and taste, which is vaguely akin to mint. I suspect that if you've only ever encountered a "wintergreen" liniment that you've had the wonderful smell adulterated by menthol or something strong and icky like that. At the Farm and Wilderness (summer) Camps in Vermont (a major part of my folkie/hippie youth), the Saltash Mountain campers would make homemade root beer every year for the summer's-end country fair put on by all the camps. They called it Saltash Mountain Dew, of course, and we always sang the old song with the extra word in the name. It seems strange to me to sing it without. (There's your music content for this thread!) I never heard of anyone being affected by the alcohol in the brew, but there are lots of stories of bottles exploding on the way home, or at home before being consumed. *Sigh* More nostalgia! ~ Becky in Tucson |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: GUEST Date: 12 Sep 02 - 03:00 PM Dave O
Lansing, eh? That's my home town. Was the guy from those parts? I'd like to get some of his product. Can't find many good root beers anymore, including the current version of A&W. Stewart's makes a decent one. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 12 Sep 02 - 03:03 PM The A&W Root Beer stand Steve Latimer used to walk to is the same one where I worked as a teenager. May I take your order? :-) Jerry |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Steve Latimer Date: 12 Sep 02 - 03:09 PM Jerry, How about a Chubby Chicken Dinner and a Coke, nope wait, make that a Root Beer. Ginger Beer has a much stronger ginger flavour than Ginger Ale. It makes for a nice shandy on those really hot days, half ginger beer, half real beer. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Don Firth Date: 12 Sep 02 - 03:19 PM Halleloo!!! I just found a can of Trader Joe's root beer in the fridge! But I shall decant it into a glass mug before I drink it. Tastes much better out of a mug than it out of a can. Don Firth |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Lepus Rex Date: 12 Sep 02 - 03:24 PM Interesting, I had no idea that root beer wasn't popular in the UK. Nyah-nyah. Look here for some root beer reviews... We drink a lot of Sprecher Root Beer at my work. :) ---Lepus Rex |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: jimmyt Date: 12 Sep 02 - 03:40 PM What a wacky thread! as strong as wintergreen is, (and I include the linament in this,) I am sure it would not get the tast of Steak and Kidney Pie out of your mouth! Again, must be an acquired taste! |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Uncle_DaveO Date: 12 Sep 02 - 04:03 PM GUEST asked if the maker of "real root beer" was local to Lansing. The answer, regrettably, is no. I don't recall for sure, but I think he was from somewhere in the south--Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi all come vaguely to mind, and I can't remember. As a matter of fact, I'm beginning to doubt my own post. I have an uneasy feeling that he said that they, too, had had to switch to an artificial flavoring, but that his was the only successful imitation of the natural flavor. My vague recollection is that they wouldn't sell it in bottles or kegs, and only sell it by the glass, through their own outlets, lest someone analyze their drink and duplicate it. I just talked with my Beautiful Wife, and she remembers it as this second set of facts: That no-one is allowed to use the real extract, and that only his company had been able to make a convincing substitute, and they guard the formula with their lives, so to speak. Dave Oesterreich |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: jimmyt Date: 12 Sep 02 - 04:12 PM I had an experience in the Czach Republic one time that remends me of root beer! I was sitting in a pub in Pilsen with my brother-in-law, and there were a couple of prostitutes that left periodically, and withina 45 minute period, they would return, go to the bar, order a drink, then sit at a table until the next "client " approached them, and the cycle continued several times over the evening. After watching this several times, I asked the bartender what the concoction he mixed for them was. He told me in his best English,"their usual." "What is that", I asked. "Scotch and root beer," he replied. So, you see, root beer is mor widely ranging than you thought! I have never seen this dirnk sold anywhere else, probably for good reason. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: EBarnacle1 Date: 12 Sep 02 - 04:51 PM Jerry, did you look fetching in your short shorts also? I am surprised that no one has mentioned Stewart's Root Beer. It fights it out with A & W on an equal footing around here, may even be slightly ahead. I've been going to the same 2 or 3 stands for as long as I can remember. And yes, I, too, remember the ice coated mugs of root beer--only a sissy would take a small one. And chili dogs with chili, onions and mustard and the hot dog deep fried. Had to stop for a moment, I'm salivating too hard. Of course, chili and cheese dogs are a whole other plane of existence. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: GUEST,Wordless Woman Date: 12 Sep 02 - 05:02 PM I was just going to mention Stewart's. There's one very near me in NJ almost within sight of Philadelphia (or would be if it weren't for all the TREES here in the US - as was noted on another thread). Think I'll pay Stewart's a visit this week-end. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: GUEST,Just Amy Date: 12 Sep 02 - 05:11 PM Oh, boy, my kind of thread! I spent may hours at the A&W Root Beer stand when I was a girl. Drinking A&W Root Beer, eatting hot dogs and flirting with teenage boys. I just had Homemade brewed root beer at a party in June and it was great! Even better than the A&W - but alas, no more teenage boys to flirt with........ :-( |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: wysiwyg Date: 12 Sep 02 - 05:27 PM Birch Beer is alive and well here in Pennsyltucky. Think I'll go get some. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Steve Latimer Date: 12 Sep 02 - 05:35 PM Hmm, I've never heard of Stewart's up here in the Great White North. Any fellow Canucks tried it? |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Bill D Date: 12 Sep 02 - 05:41 PM Root beer, in the USA has many guises...some are wonderful, some are chemical jokes! One has to try and decide...the WAY up there mentioned IBC brand is not bad...and you can find it in major markets.... there are various little brands of Root beer, Birch beer, Sarsaparilla (correct spelling) around (sort of like micro breweries)...often at gourmet stores. They can be well worth seeking out. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 12 Sep 02 - 06:20 PM Sorry,EBarnacle: no short shorts. They hired guys (and not the top of the line, either) to keep the teenage fantasies well under control. But, I see that Just Amy came there for more than the chili dogs and root beer. Folks remember correectly too, that you could get root beer to take out in Mason jars. (For our U.K. Folks, mason jars were wide-mouthed glass jars primarily used for canning vegetables. Great to drink out of though. If you wanted to do your best James Dean imitation, some of the root beer would run out of the sides of your mouth and down your face. Very cool..... Jerry |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Uncle_DaveO Date: 12 Sep 02 - 06:26 PM "Mason jars" are so called from their manufacturer, the Ball-Mason company, here in Indiana, which was also called Ball Brothers, as I recall (I don't remember which name was first). A "Great Name" in Kokomo, I believe it is. That may not be the exact name of the company, but it should be close. For those few people who still can their own vegetables, I think that it about the only remaining source of jars and caps for home canning in the United States. Dave Oesterreich |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Gloredhel Date: 12 Sep 02 - 06:45 PM Stewarts does make really good root beer, and their ginger beer is quite strong! A word of caution for those not on this side of the pond who might be thinking about trying root beer: no foreign exchange student who ever came to my school could stand even the smell of it. I don't know why, I like the stuff myself, but all the kids from England, France, and Germany thought it was absolutely disgusting. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Lepus Rex Date: 12 Sep 02 - 06:51 PM Click the link in my earlier post... They've got Stewarts reviews, too. :) I friggin' love their key lime... ---Lepus Rex |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Steve Latimer Date: 12 Sep 02 - 07:18 PM Looked at the reviews, looks good. Dad's is being marketed in Canada as a premium Old Fashioned Root Beer, tried one a few years ago and thought it was pretty good. I'll be in New York next weekend, I'll look for Stewart's. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Alice Date: 12 Sep 02 - 07:51 PM Gnomad, send me your address by Personal Message and I will mail a package of wintergreen gum to you (or wintergreen Life Savers if you prefer).
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Alice Date: 12 Sep 02 - 08:00 PM I just checked on who owns the domain name "root beer", and it is A&W. click here www.rootbeer.com Alice |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 12 Sep 02 - 08:11 PM Ah yes, Dad's Old Fashioned Root Beer... the commercial was just that sentence repeated over and over again with kind of a mambo beat. It came in three sizes of dark brown bottles... Poppa, Momma and Junior. Twenty years ago, I was home in Southern Wisconsin visiting my family and took my youngest son (who was about six at the time) down town, walking along the railroad tracks and across the railroad bridge. The only way to go. When we were coming home, I noticed a glint of light along the banks next to the tracks and went over to see what it was. It was a perfectly preserve "Junior" sized Dad's Old Fashioned Root Beer bottle. When we got back to the house, I showed it to my oldest son (14 at the time,) and he thought it was almost as cool as a Led Zeppelin, and wanted to go back and get one for himself. I told him that I hadn't found a cache, but he insisted, so we went back and combed the area, finding nothing. I still have the bottle.
Root beer, like beer and just about everything else you drink tastes better in a glass or bottle than in a can. Jerry |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: wysiwyg Date: 12 Sep 02 - 08:45 PM Stewart's is not unlike Hank's. IMO the orange cream is their best flavor-- like a dreamsicle. Do you have that Up There? ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Steve Latimer Date: 12 Sep 02 - 10:49 PM Haven't heard of Hank's either. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: wysiwyg Date: 12 Sep 02 - 10:59 PM Have to come to our next Mudcat gathering then and we will do a taste-test between Hank's and Stewart's. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Steve Latimer Date: 12 Sep 02 - 11:03 PM Now there's a reason!!! |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: GUEST Date: 12 Sep 02 - 11:43 PM Hires was the original root beer purveyer. It was sold from a kiosk shaped like a huge beer keg. When I was a child, I wouldn't let my parents pass one. This was in the 1930s. At the time , sassafras root was used in the mix, but that is one of the ingredients that was taken out because of cancer scares. Sassafras is still available in so-called nature remedies A type is also used in Louisiana gumbo (filé). A & W only has the rights to root beer if it is preceded by A & W. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: GUEST,weeping with nostalgia Date: 13 Sep 02 - 12:47 AM My non-american wife can't abide root beer. Thinks peanut butter looks like -- well, it DOES look like it, but she complains about the taste, too. And don't even get her started on Jell-O, corn dogs, corn bread (with molasses, another aversion). And after I had the decency to develop a taste for Marmite. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Haruo Date: 13 Sep 02 - 01:36 AM Spruce beer is my favorite (of the non-alcoholic beers). Almost impossible to find. And I don't know a good recipe or I'd make some of my own. Best I ever had was in Montreal ca. 1973. Mystic Seaport makes or made a version, but not as good as my memory of the Québecois product. Haruo |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Allan Dennehy Date: 13 Sep 02 - 08:04 AM Wow! I expected maybe half a dozen answers on this one, but now I feel like an expert in this field. Still haven't tasted the stuff though, although it would appear that it doesn't appeal to the European tongue. Is the USA the only country that has it widely available? What about Canada or Mexico? Thanks everybody for satisfying my couriosity. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: JudeL Date: 13 Sep 02 - 10:18 AM Don't know if it's still there but something I remember fondly from 20 years ago is the "Sarsparella Shop" (sorry about the spelling) in one of the arcades in Cardiff, Wales. It used to sell this sweet drink with a taste reminiscent of aniseed either cold and fizzy or they also sold it hot served like a tea. I've not seen it sold anywhere else since - and I don't know if the shop is still going . I seem to remember the people who ran it then all talked with what sounded like an Italian accent - not that that means a lot. It was just somewhere different to go that always seemed to be filled with teenagers. It'd be interesting to know if it's still there. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: pattyClink Date: 13 Sep 02 - 12:04 PM Uncle Dave, regarding your mysterious brewmeister. I was going to shout out "Barq's, he must be talking about Barq's!" which is a good rootbeer made perhaps in the deep South. But when you said it was only sold on draft, well, that scotched Barq's. We do have a little chain of burger restaurants called "Ward's" which sells ootbeer in thick iced glass mugs. It never crossed my mind they might be brewing their own, but it is certainly tasty stuff. Does "Ward's" ring a bell? |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: open mike Date: 13 Sep 02 - 12:42 PM wintergreen--one of my favorite flavors-- they also make rubbing alcohol with this scent or flavor in it...and tooth paste- and chap stick---and little patches you can stick on to strains and sprains... sassafrass root is used as a spring tonic in the Ozarks and the south--to cleanse your system and give it a fresh start for the year-- Henry Weinhard's makes a killer root beer and a vanilla cream soda that is delicious. as for gignger beer--Reed's is the best and the ginger-y-est..they also have apple ginger beer, and raspberry and maybe more.... ginger (when it is dried and sugared- candied) is also said to be a good cure for sea sickness.. I thought a brown cow was when you put root beer and ice cream in the blender and whizzed them up together...when you make a float sometimes you have to pour root beer in the glass several times to be able to melt the ice cream down--they serve it with a spoon and a straw so you can sip root beer and scoop ice cream . there is a double use utensil for sipping and scooping wonder if they call them spaw? or a stroon? (like the spoon/fork combo tool is called a spork)
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: GUEST,guest Date: 13 Sep 02 - 12:58 PM Sarsaparella (sp.?) was popular in the States up to about 1930, then seems to have died out as a soda fountain (remember them?) drink. One of the old versions had sassafras root and European birch bark oil in the mix as well. Wards? Haven't heard of them, but someone should bring the real stuff back. A & W has artificial flavoring, and is terrible. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: EBarnacle1 Date: 13 Sep 02 - 01:13 PM For those wishing to make your own, please remember that Sassafras root tea is also used as a purge, as I learned to my childhood discomfort. Some things you don't forget. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: GUEST,guest Date: 13 Sep 02 - 01:14 PM In temperate, moist climates (Maine to Florida), grow your own sassafras! It is a nice, smaller tree. This site (Ohio) has good tree descriptions. Hope I get it right: Sassafras |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: InOBU Date: 13 Sep 02 - 01:24 PM Funny thing... Root Beer is an aquired taste! For most American's this seems rediculous, but we all started on the stuff young. I have seen the same reaction from almost every visitor from England who has never tried it, they drink Coke, all the other sweet stuff, but the surprise of Root Beer, I suppose is the soapy taste, that is so unique, if you don't start on it young, you never get the taste of it. CHeers Larry |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: EBarnacle1 Date: 13 Sep 02 - 04:44 PM What can you expect of people who eat Brussels sprouts? |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Alice Date: 13 Sep 02 - 05:19 PM Soapy taste? Larry... I've never had root beer that tasted like soap. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: GUEST,adavis@truman.edu Date: 13 Sep 02 - 05:25 PM Barq's is available in cans in Missouri, anyway. I can never take the kids to the store without buying each of them a dose. Sassafras is a highly invasive species that likes the edges of fields. I find it hard to imagine anybody objecting to your uprooting it -- "Say, sir, would you mind terribly if I took just a little tiny piece of that kudzu?" Adam |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 13 Sep 02 - 06:19 PM catsPHiddle mentioned Dandelion and Burdock. Very pleasant drink. More kick to it than lemonade, and doesn't taste like Cola, thank God.
Some people think it tastes a bit like medicine. I've always rather assumed that root beer might be rather like it. Do they have have it in the States. I see from this that they make a version in Canada. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: GUEST,guest Date: 13 Sep 02 - 06:54 PM There was an old lady--- yes, there was! Her entire yard was solid dandelions. She harvested the flowers to make wine and the greens for a vegetable. The wine was an acquired taste as well. This was back in the 1930s, and no one objected to the dandelions. Now the pure lawn society would have her up for violating bylaws against weeds. I have seen the occasional article praising the dandelion; mayhaps its time will come again. Sassafras trees were uncommon where I was raised, so never heard of them being invasive. We have a weak tree here called the Manitoba maple which seeds all over the place; along with the chokecherry it tends to be "invasive." |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Alice Date: 13 Sep 02 - 07:08 PM According to www.andibradley.com, root beer was invented in Biloxi, Mississippi, in 1898 by Edward Adolf Barq, Sr. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 13 Sep 02 - 07:12 PM "Now the pure lawn society would have her up for violating bylaws against weeds." You do seem to have some funny laws for a country that prides itself on its liberties, American cousins. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Haruo Date: 13 Sep 02 - 07:54 PM A&W. XXX. (in the Root Beer sense, nothing off-color) It's spelled "sarsaparilla" with an I, but pronounced "sasparilla", the first syllable to rhyme with "gasp", the entirety with "Godzilla" [from the Japanese for "whale", fwiw]. Green River anyone? Haruo aka Leland, ex-Liland |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: GUEST Date: 13 Sep 02 - 08:53 PM I was talking about Canada, McGrath of Harlow, and local city by-laws here, but yes, they are all over the USA as well. These regulations on weeds are nearly all city by-laws, except for those on some particluarly vicious plants where the law may be state- or province- enforced. Doesn't London have by-laws against noxious weeds and regulations enforcing their clean-up? I think they, and most other English cities, do! Alice, we are both wrong. Root beer was made in the American colonies, according to documented records. Dates for its manufacture in England go back to 1843. Sassafras was shipped to England long before that, but apparently was only used in teas and mead. Hires root beer debuted in Philadelphia at the 1876 US Centennial Exhibition. root beer It gives 1960 as the date the FDA outlawed sassafras in foods. Here is an old-fashioned recipe from Fleishman's yeast: 1912 recipe Someone mentioned a "soapy" taste. It could have been from the yeast. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 13 Sep 02 - 09:32 PM Well, you're still in North America, and I'm sure Canadians are just as much into freedom and so forth.
I think Hogweed is frowned on by the law here, and so is ragwort. But I can't imagine any hassles over dandelions, not round here anyway.
Every spring we've got great displays of daffodils on roadside verges in Harlow, planted by voluntary groups raising funds, with the local council paying a bounty for each bulb planted.
As soon as they die dowm, the dandelions spring up in their place, keeping the gold and green display going for a few more weeks. Nobody planted them, they're a bonus. They don't seem to interfere with the daffodils. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Don Firth Date: 13 Sep 02 - 10:10 PM Still on the nostalgia trip. Anybody remember soda fountains? Almost every drug store of any size had one. You'd sit at the counter and you could order light lunches (sandwiches, pie--and shakes or malts made with real milk, ice cream, and flavored syrups mixed in a big metal can from which you could fill the big glass a couple of times). And almost all the soft drinks--including Coke--were made with a squirt or two of syrup and carbonated water on tap. You could even have a couple of different syrups, say, like a chocolate Coke. Whatever crazy combination you could think up; a nickel a squirt, as I recall. I used to like Green River (greenish colored syrup and carbonated water), but I never really knew what the heck it was. Tasted good, though. Anybody know? Don Firth |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: InOBU Date: 13 Sep 02 - 11:44 PM As to the soapy taste, I never noticed it as such, until the poplular halfwit, our mudcat brother in Wiltshire came to the US and tried it... that was his decription, and I think it is the softness that made him use that term, so I understand what he means, though to me, it is not soapy it is soft... kinda... but I can understand if you never tasted anything like it how it could seem to taste soapy... Cheers, Larry |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: GUEST,adavis@truman.edu Date: 13 Sep 02 - 11:52 PM There is a gen-u-ine, not retro or repro, 1950s soda fountain still in operation in a drugstore in Macon MO, on Hwy 63 about 45 min. north of Columbia. Same town still has a vintage 1952 drive-in movie. And you get good root beer in both places. I like Macon. Anybody else know of such a timewarp town? Adam |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: mmm1a Date: 13 Sep 02 - 11:57 PM A Black Cow was a pepsi and a scoop of chocolate ice cream, not a root beer float. I use to love them when I was a kid .Of coarse I grew up in California so it may be different in other parts of the country. mmm |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: GUEST Date: 14 Sep 02 - 12:21 AM We called a root beer float a brown cow. Precise terminology probably varied from region to region. I don't remember Pepsi from my childhood soda fountains- prob. not popular yet. They destroyed one of the old soda fountains in a town where I once worked. I bought two of the verde antique marble counter slabs for use with a fireplace, each about 7 feet long and almost 2 inches thick- they literally weighed a ton. A moving company smashed one, but I still have the other. Don Firth, all I remember is: "He watered the green stuff in his glass, and the drops fell one by one---." Don't recall your "green river" but I do remember that for a while, we had "ammonia coke." The soda fountain jockey put a few drops of ammonia in the coke with an eye dropper. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Steve Latimer Date: 14 Sep 02 - 09:38 AM Ammonia Coke?? What the heck for. We used to get a kick out of ordering a "Garbage Can", which was a splash of all the different kinds of pop that they had. In hindsight, I'm sure they were disgusting, but we felt pretty cool ordering them.
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Alice Date: 14 Sep 02 - 10:46 AM McGrath, there are huge regions of land here being invaded by non-native plants that take over the habitat, crowding out native plants and destroying wildlife and livestock forage. Kudzu was referred to earlier in the thread. Two of the main noxious weeds in Montana are spotted knapweed and leafy spurge. Sometimes non-native plants are poisonous to livestock, sometimes they just choke out all the healthy native plants. More info at this site CLICK "Areas dominated by leafy spurge receive much less use by deer (3 times less use) and bison (4 times less use) compared with similar uninfested areas. On native bunchgrass sites in Montana, dense spotted knapweed populations reduce available winter forage for elk by 50 to 90 percent." |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 14 Sep 02 - 11:42 AM So are dandelions native to the USA? |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: GUEST,guest Date: 14 Sep 02 - 01:28 PM More digression- Some botanists thought that the dandelion was brought over from Europe. Later research suggested that the plant is holarctic (distributed around the northern part of the northern hemisphere) and that it was in the western USA and Canada before the white man. The dandelion is probably more beneficial in nature than a danger; it has its place in the seasonal progression as McGrath suggests. With the growing shortage of water, it is time to consider tearing out lawns where water is brought in and replacing them with hardy, native plants. Some terrible mistakes have been made with importation of plants such as kudzu (brought in to control erosion, I believe), now choking out the natural vegetation. Tremendous effort has been expended to remove the imported water hyacinth from southern American waterways(chokes and destroys streams). Back to the subject- Sassafras is replaced by artificial and other substitutes in all nationally sold root beer in the USA and Canada because of the FDA action in 1960. Sassafras is still sold as a "remedy" in so-called health or naturopathic stores. Do any of you know of root beer being sold on which the label definitely states the presence of sassafras? As far as I know, root beer with the pre-1960 taste is unavailable. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 14 Sep 02 - 01:36 PM Mind, it must surely be admitted that the plants in question have not been as destructive of the native ecology as the human beings who who accompanied them to the New World. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Allan Dennehy Date: 14 Sep 02 - 07:27 PM Seems like I opened a can of worms with this thread. Mind you, it would appear that root beer tastes a bit like a can of worms to the European palate. I still hope to try it some day. While we're at it, what other foodstuffs do the yanks have that we know nothing about? |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: jimmyt Date: 14 Sep 02 - 07:55 PM We've never really developed a keen palate for prawn flavored crisps here in the states! |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: GUEST Date: 14 Sep 02 - 07:56 PM Allan, this should be another thread. Probably not many foods that we do not share, but the cooking, names and frequency of use may vary. The distinctions are becoming less and less as we both have adopted Indian, Chinese, Hungarian, Indian (East), Mexican, Indonesian, Indo-Chinese, Japanese etc. etc. cuisines for our restaurant and/or take-out meals. Nothing like a good Chinese stir-fry with mangos on the side, Baklava for desert and perhaps an espresso! Of course English "chips"=American "French fries" soldiers on. In the past, Marmite was considered English, but now that the Best Foods cgl. owns the name, it is on all the grocers shelves here as well. But getting back to root beer- not handled in MacDonalds, Taco Bell or Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets, so has largely disappeared. This is the REAL international cuisine! |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Mark Cohen Date: 14 Sep 02 - 08:21 PM Barq's (The one with bite!) is one of the most popular brands of root beer in Hawaii. It's also one of the few root beers that contains caffeine. True story: A few months ago I was called to the emergency room to see a one-year-old who appeared to be having severe abdominal pain. When she went for her x-ray, the mother said that the pain seemed to occur when she was lying flat on the table and not when they sat her up. I suspected that she might be having symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux (popularly known these days as GERD); but that's uncommon in babies more than a few months old. When I asked her mother if there had been any recent change in her own diet (she was still nursing), she recalled that the day before she had stopped into a 7-11 and had a large root beer. I happened to know that the only root beer sold in 7-11 is Barq's (The one with caffeine!), and that caffeine can trigger symptoms of reflux. Sure enough, the baby's crying episodes disappeared by that evening. The father said, "Do you mean we brought our baby to the emergency room for heartburn?" I told him that quite a few people come to the ER thinking they're having a heart attack, and turn out to have heartburn. (And vice versa, of course.) A few days later, the grateful parents brought a package to my office: a 6-pack of non-caffeinated root beer! In Philadelphia, birch beer was not as common as root beer. It was red, while root beer was brown. I was always told that "authentic" birch beer was a Pennsylvania Dutch creation. I still remember a cartoon from the Saturday Evening Post showing two boys behind what looked like a homemade lemonade stand, but the sign said "Beer, 5 cents." A man had just finished his glass and had a perplexed look on his face, and one boy was saying to him, "Sure, it's root. What other kind is there?" Aloha, Mark |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Steve Latimer Date: 14 Sep 02 - 09:43 PM Here in Canada McDonald's & Taco Bell carry Root Beer. I was so moved by this thread that I had a Dad's with Dinner tonight. It's not the old creamy old A&W that I remember, but it's not bad. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: InOBU Date: 14 Sep 02 - 09:55 PM Dear Guest: Well, here in the US we have a napolita salad, made from a form of cactus... very good. Also, Maple syrup, now available in big markets in England, the popular halfwit first tried it here... maple candy ... maple trees... come over and do a bit of gastronomic research! Bring Murry Mints... we don't have 'em here... Cheers, Larry |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: GUEST,Katlinel Date: 14 Sep 02 - 11:29 PM I can't stand cola, and really don't care much for any soda, but a good cold root beer or birch beer (even better) does hit the spot. A & W is OK, but Stewarts and Barq's are much better. The truly good brews of either sort are found in health food stores--typically brewed in small batches. As for wintergreen, I love it. We have the infamous wintergreen lifesavers, and wintergreen gum, but we also now have wintergreen Altoids. :) When I was a kid we would always chew checkerberry gum if we had a tummy ache, but I can't seem to find that anywhere but up in Maine. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: GUEST Date: 14 Sep 02 - 11:59 PM Never heard of checkerberry so: Gaultheria procumbens |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Jim Dixon Date: 15 Sep 02 - 12:05 AM When I was growing up in St. Louis, MO, in the 1950's you could buy sassafras root in the local grocery store. It was in the form of little shavings or wood chips that were reddish in color. It has now disappeared from ordinary grocery stores but I think you can buy it in some health food stores. It was used to brew a tea, pink in color, that had a pleasant taste, although not sweet unless you added sugar. My father, who grew up on a farm in Kentucky (born in 1899) believed that sassafras tea was good for "thinning the blood." According to him, people's blood grew thick and sluggish during the winter and should be thinned in the spring, to make you more vigorous and energetic, and able to do the coming season's hard labor. So every spring he bought a little package of sassafras root and made tea. My father also knew how to recognize sassafras trees in the woods, but I don't think he ever tried to harvest it himself, not during my lifetime anyway. I don't think sassafras trees grow in Minnesota, where I live now, and therefore I have never become familiar with them myself. I can, and have recognized wintergreen, however. Wintergreen is so called because it stays green during the winter. It is easily found in the woods in Minnesota or Wisconsin early in spring when it's nearly the only thing on the ground that's green. Those of you who think of wintergreen smell as something repellent are probably acquainted only with a very concentrated extract from the plant. The smell of the plant itself, when you crush a leaf between your fingers, is not overpowering and very pleasant. I have never tried making tea from it, though. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Mark Cohen Date: 15 Sep 02 - 05:51 AM Jim, that site mentions that an overdose of oil of wintergreen "can be toxic." That's a bit of an understatement. Oil of wintergreen is very highly concentrated methylsalicylate (aspirin is acetyl salicylate). A teaspoon of the oil taken internally would most likely be enough to kill an adult. If you have kids in the house, and you have oil of wintergreen in your medicine chest, get rid of it. Aloha, Mark |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: wysiwyg Date: 15 Sep 02 - 07:11 AM Thanks, Dr. Mark. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Alice Date: 15 Sep 02 - 10:58 AM ...what other foodstuffs do the yanks have that we know nothing about? bison jerky |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 15 Sep 02 - 11:52 AM "We've never really developed a keen palate for prawn flavored crisps here in the states!"
Has anybody anywhere? How many times have I heard people in pubs say "And a bag of crisps. Any flavour. Except prawn." |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Dave the Gnome Date: 15 Sep 02 - 04:36 PM I'd agree with the sentiments on D&B - I've tried both and give me Randylion and Birdmuck anyday! I quite like prawn crisps. Not as good a Skips though. Ever been into a shop or bar and asked for helicopter flavoured crisps? When they say no, say 'OK, I'll have plain...' Cheers DtF |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Mr Happy Date: 16 Sep 02 - 03:40 AM fortified TCP! 8-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Allan Dennehy Date: 16 Sep 02 - 09:52 AM Nice one Alice! What does jerky taste like anyway? Is it like a very dry salami only chewier? Is it widely available or is it only old timers that eat it? Is ti expensive? |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Alice Date: 16 Sep 02 - 10:52 AM I suppose you could imagine thinly sliced salami that you dehydrate until it is completely hard and you'd have something close to jerky. Its availability varies depending on the region of the US that you're talking about. Beef jerky is more common than bison jerky. Here in the west where there are bison herds, bison (buffalo) jerky has become a tourist product. |
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Subject: RE: BS: What's root beer? From: Les from Hull Date: 16 Sep 02 - 06:04 PM There's a root beer flavour Jelly Belly Jelly Bean (available in the UK). There the ones I throw away! Taste exactly like TCP. Dandelion and Burdock, Sasparilla and ginger beer (not ginger ale!) are just wonderful though. But what was that Nettle Beer everyone in Heysham sold in the 50s all about? Please continue at BS: Rootbeer thread ? |