spamtrap1888 wrote:
> "Jean B." > wrote:
>
>> The sassafras is my major sticking point. *OTOH, as I was looking
>> into sarsaparilla flavor again, I am seeing varying reports re its
>> palatability. *I am beginning to suspect that sassafras is the
>> flavor that is associated with all such things, no matter what
>> they name may be.

The artificial root beer flavorings sold at home brew shops are all
attempts to imitiate the saferol of sassafras without being
carcinogenic.

> It's just a little carcinogenic. Probably a case of root beer would
> add up to one cigarette.

After I spent time in the botany section of the university library
studying the effects of saferol I concluded that the amount of sugar in
full sugar sodas would be more likely to kill me from diabetes than the
saferol would be to kill me from cancer.

I do home brewed ale and mead that I target as dry not sweet. I might
be interested in experimenting to make a dry root beer with alcohol not
sugar. Or I might be interested in tinkering to make a diet root beer
using liquid splenda added when it is bottled.