America's first big export

Posted by jdemaris on September 20, 2007 at 05:47:25 from (66.218.18.247):

In Reply to: Way O/T Sassafras tea posted by ktheo1 on September 19, 2007 at 18:22:34:

The history of Sassafras is kind of interesting - and usually not taught anywhere.
When I was a kid in New Jersey, we dug it up, boiled the roots, and made our own Root Beer from it. Sassafras was the original main ingredient for Root Beer, whereas the twigs and leaves were mainly used for tea.
Way back, when explorers were first wandering around this country, it was believed the Indians gave them Sassafras as a cure for scurvy (Scorbutis). Jacques Cartier in the 1500s, and Samuel Champlain in the 1600s - both reported having many men fall ill from scurvy - and get cured by a tree branches and roots given to them from the Indians. It was reported to be Sassafras and White Pine - and was given the name of Arbor vitae (tree of life) - which later got attached to a Cedar tree. Cedar, White Pine, Hemlock, Sassafras, etc. all have a lot of vitamin C which cures scurvy. Sassafras became known as a "cure all" for just about anything and became valuable. England kept sending ships over here, cutting it down, and sending it back to sell. Remember Sir Walter Raleigh of tobacco fame? He was one of firt large Sassafras importers - but you don't hear about that much. It has also been alleged that Christopher Columbus got confused when seeking out the "Spice Islands" and mistook Sassafras for certain exotic spices because of the way it tastes and smells. I've got a few illustrated books written in the 1400s that show the Sassafras tree as "good medicine."
And today - yes - if you eat a whole tree, or drink a huge amount of home made Root Beer - or tea - there's some supposed tie to cancer. Personally, I'm not very concerned about it - but the FDA does not allow it to be used as an ingredient in food. They sell Sassafras candy at the museum gift-shop where my wife works - and it has NO sassafras in it.

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