Okay now it's almost a series. Alan was slightly ahead of me but I had thought to cover root beer next. Like him my first experience of it was in MacDonald's (Golders Green in my case). In the early years (typical Americans) your choice was root beer, coke or something else. They eventually caught on. It reminded me of the dentists. I'd not realised that taste is cloves. According to Wikipedia root beer is the same as sasparilla (which I thought was going to be next in my series) and is a carbonated beverage originally created from sassafras. Root beer, popularised in North America, comes in two forms: alcoholic and non-alcoholic.
The soft drink version is generally made using extracts or flavoured syrups diluted into carbonated water. It is not as widely popular as other soft drinks and constitutes only 3% of the US soft drink market. 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. Root beer extract may contain a variety of flavours, coming from the wide range of ingredients. Bark from the roots of the sassafras tree was the typical flavour in root beer historically, and is the primary flavour most individuals associate with the beverage. It is slightly red at times. Sassafras bark was banned in the US in 1960 because of the carcinogenic properties of its constituent chemical safrole. A safrole-free variety is now used, with some claiming that it has a weaker flavour than the pre-1960 variety (they would). Acacia is also used.
There are hundreds of root beer brands in the USA, produced in every US state and there is no standardised recipe. The primary ingredient, sassafras, is complemented with other flavours, common ones being vanilla, wintergreen (which is why it tastes like germoline - did you get that Alan?), cherry tree bark,liquorice root, sarsaparilla root, nutmeg, anise, molasses, cinnamon, clove (that;'s what I thought). Homemade root beer is usually made from concentrate, 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.
Root beer was sometimes used as a herbal medicine. Throughout history, the beverage was often mildly alcoholic. As a medicine it was used for treating cough and mouth sores.
Commercial root beer was developed by Charles Elmer Hires in 1866. Hires presented root tea powder at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition, and in 1893 he began selling bottled, carbonated root beer. His choice of a name seemed unfortunate at the time, as the word "beer" drew the wrath of the temperance movement. However, Hires had his product tested by a laboratory, and trumpeted their conclusion that root beer contained less alcohol than bread. His His beer became the "Temperance drink"— among other slogans. There was an upsurge in the popularity of root beer in the US during Prohibition. It was at its most popular in the period during and after prohibition, and has since declined in popularity. Today, root beer is often mixed with ice cream as a root beer float.
The soft drink version is generally made using extracts or flavoured syrups diluted into carbonated water. It is not as widely popular as other soft drinks and constitutes only 3% of the US soft drink market. 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. Root beer extract may contain a variety of flavours, coming from the wide range of ingredients. Bark from the roots of the sassafras tree was the typical flavour in root beer historically, and is the primary flavour most individuals associate with the beverage. It is slightly red at times. Sassafras bark was banned in the US in 1960 because of the carcinogenic properties of its constituent chemical safrole. A safrole-free variety is now used, with some claiming that it has a weaker flavour than the pre-1960 variety (they would). Acacia is also used.
There are hundreds of root beer brands in the USA, produced in every US state and there is no standardised recipe. The primary ingredient, sassafras, is complemented with other flavours, common ones being vanilla, wintergreen (which is why it tastes like germoline - did you get that Alan?), cherry tree bark,liquorice root, sarsaparilla root, nutmeg, anise, molasses, cinnamon, clove (that;'s what I thought). Homemade root beer is usually made from concentrate, 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.
Root beer was sometimes used as a herbal medicine. Throughout history, the beverage was often mildly alcoholic. As a medicine it was used for treating cough and mouth sores.
Commercial root beer was developed by Charles Elmer Hires in 1866. Hires presented root tea powder at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition, and in 1893 he began selling bottled, carbonated root beer. His choice of a name seemed unfortunate at the time, as the word "beer" drew the wrath of the temperance movement. However, Hires had his product tested by a laboratory, and trumpeted their conclusion that root beer contained less alcohol than bread. His His beer became the "Temperance drink"— among other slogans. There was an upsurge in the popularity of root beer in the US during Prohibition. It was at its most popular in the period during and after prohibition, and has since declined in popularity. Today, root beer is often mixed with ice cream as a root beer float.
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