Root Beer? Has it anything to do with roots or beer?!
Answers: Why was it originally called root beer? To me it seems like just carbonated water + caramel flavour.
Originally, root beer was made from sassafras root and a number of other natural ingredients. It is fermented (like beer is), but not for the alcohol prodiuced. In the case of root beer, it is allowed to start fermenting, but then the process is cut short and it is bottled. The fermentation continues for a while in the bottle which traps the carbon dioxide and carbonates the root beer.
It has something to do with sarsaparilla, but I to tired now to look it up
Yes. It was originally made with sassafras root.
heres a link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_beer
my uncle told me that they used to get the flavor from a certain type of tree root, soryr i don't member which one though.
Root Beer was originally made using the root of a sassafras plant (or the bark of a sassafras tree), with sassafras as the primary flavor.
It's also made with ingredients like anise, cinnamon, and ginger. It also has a variety of sugars like molasses.
Root beer is a beverage also sometimes known as Sarsaparilla. Root beer, popularized in North America, comes in two forms: alcoholic and soft drink. The soft drink version of root beer is non-alcoholic and is generally made using extracts or flavored syrups diluted into carbonated water.
The alcoholic version is made by fermenting a solution of extract and sugar with yeast. Typically this will yield a beverage with about 0.4% alcohol, compared to more than 4% for most regular beers.[2]
Root beer extract may contain a variety of flavors. Bark from the roots of the Sassafras tree was the typical flavor in root beer historically, and is the primary flavor most individuals associate with the beverage. Sassafras bark was banned by the FDA due to the carcinogenic properties of its constituent chemical safrole in 1960. A safrole-free variety is now used, with some claiming that it has a weaker flavor than the pre-1960 variety.[3]
There are hundreds of root beer brands in the United States, produced in every U.S. state,[4] and there is no standardized recipe. The primary ingredient, sassafras, is complemented with other flavors, common ones being vanilla, wintergreen, cherry tree bark, licorice root, sarsaparilla root, nutmeg, anise, molasses, cinnamon and clove.
Homemade root beer is usually made from concentrate,[5] though it can also be made from actual herbs and roots. Both alcoholic and non-alcoholic root beers have a thick and foamy head when poured, often enhanced through the addition of yucca extract.
originally made with the bark of sassafras roots, slightly (0.4) alcoholic