Sassafras

 

 

I had some questions about my post yesterday, so I thought I would answer them. Ash and I dug up some yesterday and I wanted to share with you what we do. We dig it up and use the root only, we wash the dirt off with out taking the bark off, then we cut it into about 2 inch lengths, and then dry it in the dehydrator for storage.

There are 3 distinct leaves that make this tree very easy to identify. I took pictures that are above.

The amount of root we were able to get yesterday will last me a year maybe or until fall. It takes me awhile to go through it since I don't drink it all the time. I freeze it in ice cubes and add it to my infusions for a different flavor.

An herbalist I went to last fall told me to drink it everyday. But, I have not and there are alot of things out there that say its good or its bad. It is what was used as root beer and you can buy it online for that. When it is cut it has that old fashion root beer aroma.

I do not drink it daily and I do not drink for anything particular. I have added Wikipedia's small write up on the culinary uses of it. And a link to give you more detail on medicinal. I have checked out a book recently that had it in it, but no longer have the book to quote what it said.

The dried and ground leaves are used to make filé powder, an ingredient used in some types of gumbo.


The roots of Sassafras can be steeped to make tea and were used in the flavoring of traditional root beer until being banned for mass production by the FDA. Laboratory animals that were given oral doses of sassafras tea or sassafras oil that contained large doses of safrole developed permanent liver damage or various types of cancer. In humans liver damage can take years to develop and it may not have obvious signs. Along with commercially available sarsaparilla, sassafras remains an ingredient in use among hobby or microbrew enthusiasts.


In 1960, the FDA banned the use of sassafras oil and safrole in commercially mass produced foods and drugs based on the animal studies and human case reports.[11] Several years later sassafras tea was banned,[11] a ban that lasted until the passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act in 1994.[12] Sassafras root extracts which do not contain safrole or in which the safrole has been removed are permissible, and are still widely used commercially in teas and root beers.


Sassafras tea can also be used as an anticoagulant.


A Modern Herbal

Have a blessed day

Love,

Erika