On Fri, 11 Jun 2010 00:55:31 -0700, "Bob Terwilliger"
> wrote:

>Sky wrote:
>
>> Since both gumbo file' and rootbeer are derived from sassafras, can they
>> be substituted for each other?
>
>Root beer has more than just sassafras flavor. (Note that the FDA banned
>sassafras in root beer quite a few years ago.) You can REALLY taste the
>wintergreen in some brands of root beer. Birch beer and sarsparilla are
>similar to root beer but not much like gumbo filé. Of course you don't have
>ANY natural flavors in the cheap root beers. (Hmmm... Given that wintergreen
>flavor flavor I mentioned, I wonder how root beer would be as the braising
>liquid for lamb.)
>
>So the bottom line is no, they really can't be substituted for each other;
>they're not very much alike.

Interesting (and frustrating) topic.

About a year ago, I looked into making my own 'root beer', and after
doing considerable research ended up more confused than when I
started.

No two recipes are the same - and seem to contradict each other one
way or the other - then there's the small matter of sourcing some of
the ingredients!

Proper Sassafras is likewise banned here in Australia. Impossible to
find. I *did* find a couple of sources for Wintergreen - but after
doing some reading on wintergreen... I'm not so sure I want to use it.
It doesn't seem to take a lot to reach toxicity levels.

I also really wanted to make a big batch in one of my fermenters -
much like I do with ginger beer, ciders and plain old beer. All the
recipes I've seen call for brewing it in bottles.