Was root beer invented by a pharmacist?!
Answers: If so where and when?
There's nothing quite like a frosty mug of creamy, real, old fashioned root beer. But where did this sweet beverage come from? Though the roots of root beer are so deep, they're more American than apple pie, there are varying theories about just who invented root beer and where it came to be.
FROM THE EARLY AMERICANS TO SHAKESPEARE
There are early historical documents in which Shakespeare is noted to have drank "small beers." This European brew, actually made from an early colonial American recipe, contained 2-12-percent alcohol, and was considered a light, social drink made from herbs, berries and bark. During American Colonial times, root beer was introduced along with other beverages like Birch Beer, Sarsparilla Beer, and Ginger Beer. Only root beer would emerge as a longtime favorite. There are even historical documents which show 18th century farm owners brewing an alcoholic version of root beer in backyard stills for family get-togethers, social events, and parties.
MEDICINAL ORIGINS
Most historians believe that the invention of an actual root beer recipe happened by pure accident, thanks in part to an inventive pharmacist, eager to create a miracle drug. Though people had been drinking an herbal home brewed variety for years, root beer was still just an experiment for the creative and inventive. In 1870, an unknown pharmacist toying with a handful of roots, berries and herbs, came up with a recipe for root beer which consisted of juniper, wintergreen, spikenard, pipsissewa, sarsaparilla, vanilla beans, hops, dog grass, birch bark and licorice. The original drink was quite medicinal in nature, tasting both bitter and sweet. Even though the pharmacist offered the drink to the public as a cure-all, it was never marketed or well-received.
HIRES COMPANY
Meanwhile, Charles Hires, also a pharmacist, was on his honeymoon around the same time when he discovered an herbal tea he simply could not part with. After taking the recipe of herbs, berries and roots home to Philadelphia with him, he began selling a packaged dry mixture to the public made from many of the same ingredients as the original herbal tea. Well received, Hires soon developed a liquid concentrate blended together from more than 25 herbs, berries and roots. The public loved the new drink and as a result, Hires introduced commercial root beer to the public in 1876 at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition. In no time, it became a popular drink of its day. By 1893, the Hires family sold bottled versions of their well-known brew, sealing their place in rootbeer history.
No matter which version of root beer history is true, one thing is for certain: Rootbeer is an original brew, predating colas and other popular sodas.
GOVERNMENT BAN
The key ingredient to root beer is sassafras root, which is what produces the tangy, thick brewed flavor that root beer is noted for. In 1960, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned the use of sassafras oil, labeling it a carcinogen. Root beer makers began experimenting with new and improved recipes, minus the sassafras oil, hoping to find a suitable tasting alternative. Not long after the ban, the root beer industry was saved when inventors discovered that sassafras could be used afterall, if treated first, to remove the oil.
WHAT IS IN ROOTBEER?
There's is no true authentic root beer recipe, since there are so many different combinations and brews. Over time, root beer has contained ingredients like allspice, birch bark, coriander seed, ginger and ginger root, hops, burdock root, dandelion root, guaiacum chips, spicewood, wild cherry bark and bitters, wintergreen and wintergreen oil, yellow dock, prickly ash bark and even, molasses.
Today, root beer is made from a mixture of flavorings, sweeteners and carbonation. Depending on the brew, bottler and manufacturer, root beer still contains a large number of herbs (burdock root, sarsaparilla root, yellow dock root, ginger root, juniper berries, wild cherry bark, birch bark, etc.), oils (anise, lemon, artificial wintergreen, etc.), sweeteners (sugar, molasses, corn sugar, fructose, asparatame, brown sugar, lactose, malt extract, etc.) and carbonation (yeast, artificial, forced carbonation.)
No..root beer was made by ordinary people whose ingredients were restricted. Their skills & knowledge made it possible to make an acceptable alcoholic beer from what they had.
Ingredients
The soft drink version of root beer is non-alcoholic and is generally made using root beer extract or other flavored syrups diluted into carbonated water. This version constitutes about 3% of the American soft drink market.[1]
The alcoholic version is made by fermenting a solution of root beer extract and sugar with yeast. Typically [1] this will yield a beverage with about 0.4% alcohol. The extract may contain a variety of flavors. Bark from the roots of Sassafras tree is the typical flavor in root beer. It can be complimented with other flavorful ingredients, for instance vanilla, cherry tree bark, licorice root, sarsaparilla root, artificial sassafras root bark flavoring (the natural form is mildly carcinogenic), nutmeg, anise, and molasses among other ingredients in some cases including caffeine.
Many local brands of root beer exist, and homemade root beer is made from concentrate[2] or (rarely) from actual roots. Both alcoholic and non-alcoholic root beers have a thick and foamy head when poured.
An extremely easy recipe for making home made root beer[3] calls for adding a cup of table sugar to a 2 liter soft drink bottle, adding 1 Tablespoon of root beer extract and 1/4 teaspoon of yeast (either live bakers or brewers work), capping securely, and letting sit for 24-48 hours at room temperature until the bottle feels hard. IMPORTANT: when the bottle feels hard, move into a refrigerator to chill or it becomes an explosion hazard after a week or two (depending on the temperature).
The resulting brew has a slight yeasty taste in the first week or so of refrigerat
Root beer is a traditional beverage and herbal medicine. Throughout history, the beverage was often alcoholic, usually around 2%. As a medicine it was used for treating cough and mouth sores. Commercially prepared root beer was developed by Charles Elmer Hires on May 16, 1866. He presented root tea powder at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial exhibition. In 1893 he began selling bottled carbonated root beer. There was an upsurge in the popularity of root beer in the United States during the period of prohibition in the early 20th century as local breweries resorted to brewing non-alcoholic root beer since alcoholic beverages were outlawed.[2]
Root Bear Float
The ice cream soda or float is a treat that is typically made by mixing ice cream with either a soft drink or flavored syrup and carbonated water. The microscopic bubbles present in the ice cream act as "nucleation sites" which trigger the formation of large bubbles of carbon dioxide. The drink originated in the United States in the late 19th century, most likely by either Robert M. Green of Philadelphia or Fred Sanders of Detroit.
[edit] Origins
Green's account, published in "Soda Fountain" magazine in 1910, states that while operating a soda fountain at the Franklin Institute's semi-centennial celebration in Philadelphia in 1874, he wanted to create a new treat to attract customers away from another vendor who had a fancier, bigger soda fountain. After some experimenting, he decided to combine ice cream and soda water. During the celebration, he sold vanilla ice cream with 16 different flavors of soda water. The new treat was a sensation, and soon other soda fountains began selling ice cream sodas.
Fred Sanders owned a successful confectionery, the Pavilion of Sweets, in Detroit, first opened in 1875. One night, some customers came in shortly before closing time and ordered sweet cream sodas. Since Sanders had run out of sweet cream, he quickly concocted a new treat by adding ice cream to soda water.
Regardless of its origins, it quickly became very popular, to such a degree that it was almost socially obligatory among teens, although many adults abhorred it. According to legend, it was banned, either entirely or on holy days, by some local governments, giving rise to the ice cream sundae.
[edit] Variations
Variations of the ice cream soda are as countless as the varieties of soda and flavors of ice cream, but some have become more prominent over the years than others.
[edit] Root beer float
Also known as a "brown cow" or "black cow", the root beer float is traditionally made with vanilla ice cream, but can also made with other flavors.
A&W Restaurants are well known for their root beer floats. The Friendly's chain also had a variation known as a "sherbet cooler," which was a combination of orange or rainbow sherbet and seltzer water. (Nowadays it is billed as a "slammer".)
[edit] Boston cooler
A boston cooler is typically composed of ginger ale and vanilla ice cream. Variations abound, however, with club soda, sherbet, rum, milk, sugar, or even coffee sometimes added or substituted for the key ingredients. In Ohio, the root beer floats are also referred to as a Boston cooler.
The origin of the Boston Cooler lies in Detroit, Michigan, the city in which Fred Sanders is credited with inventing the ice cream soda in his shop along Boston Boulevard. It is known that by the 1880s the Boston cooler was being served in Detroit, made with the local Vernor's, an intense golden ginger ale, unlike the common modern dry ginger ales. Whatever the exact origins, the name almost certainly has no connection to Boston, Massachusetts, where the beverage is virtually unknown.
It can be found most often in the Detroit region's many Coney Island style restaurants, which are plentiful because of Detroit's Greektown district influence. National Coney Island is one of the few restaurant chains to list the Boston Cooler in their menu. It is also found at the Detroit Dairy Queens and at Halo Burger, a mid-Michigan fast food chain.
[edit] Snow White
The Snow White is made with 7 Up and vanilla ice cream.
The origins of this dessert is unknown, but it is found in some Asian eateries.
[edit] Coke float
A product served at McDonald's restaurants in several markets that utilizes Coca-Cola brand sodas and soft serve ice cream
Good luck!