This aromatic tea is made from the bark of the roots of the native American sassafras tree. The chopped whole smaller roots may be used if you don’t care for the bark-stripping exercise, but avoid thick pieces of larger roots – they lack flavor. Boil the chopped bark or small roots until the liquid is a reddish-amber tint and a heady aroma wafts up; do not make it too strong or it will become bitter. The same bark can be reused several times before losing its potency.
Sassafras tea was used by the American Indians, who introduced it to the early colonists. It was prized as a blood-purifying tonic and gave relief from all manner of ills – rheumatism, colic, bladder ailments, and such.
If summer flies bother your bowl of fresh fruit, place a few pieces of sassafras root in the bowl and the flies will vanish – so they say. Ground sassafras leaves are used in the file powder that seasons and thickens the Creole gumbos of New Orleans.
Sassafras tea was used by the American Indians, who introduced it to the early colonists. It was prized as a blood-purifying tonic and gave relief from all manner of ills – rheumatism, colic, bladder ailments, and such.
If summer flies bother your bowl of fresh fruit, place a few pieces of sassafras root in the bowl and the flies will vanish – so they say. Ground sassafras leaves are used in the file powder that seasons and thickens the Creole gumbos of New Orleans.
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