Sassafras flavor / alternatives

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FlyingDutchman

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In all my searching, I have yet to find a good answer to this one (maybe there isn't one). Most of the time these questions just digress into the carcinogenic (or perceived lack thereof) effects of safrole. I am not going to go into my reasoning. Let's just say, for the sake of this thread, that there is NO WAY anyone is going to convince me to use Sassafras so if all you are going to do is try to convince me it is safe, please don't post because I would like to keep this on topic.

That being said, is there any way to describe the flavor of sassafras and what alternatives are there - besides extracts and wintergreen since I have heard it is not really a good substitute but rather a different flavor profile.

Again, this thread is NOT ABOUT THE SAFETY OF USING SASSAFRAS. I am looking for alternatives, not anecdotal evidence of its safety.


Thanks,
 
Again, this thread is NOT ABOUT THE SAFETY OF USING SASSAFRAS. I am looking for alternatives, not anecdotal evidence of its safety.

You've already discarded the alternatives, so there's really nothing to discuss.

If you're interested in scientific evidence of the safety of sassafras, that exists. It sounds like you aren't interested though. If you're scared about getting cancer from sassafras, I'll point out that many other foods contain the same chemical (e.g. basil or pepper).
 
I would argue that there is plenty to discuss. It just seems that your compassion for attempting to prove safrole is safe has clouded your objectivity. I have not discarded any alternatives. In fact I offered an alternative and asked if it was truly an alternative. I am sorry if you did not read it that way and will try to ask it differently:

-I know wintergreen has been used as an alternative; however, I have heard this is not a good alternative but rather a different flavor. Is this the case or is it an exact substitute?
-If it is the case, why is sassafras still used?
-There has got to be some difference. What is it that makes people continue to come back to sassafras?
-If you had to describe the flavor without saying "It tastes like sassafras" how would you describe it?
-Does it taste like chicken?
-You mention safrole is contained in basil, black pepper, and I'd add nutmeg. These obviously do not taste at all similar, but is there a hint of some of these flavors in sassafras?



I realize this is a contemptable issue and that everyone thinks the government screwed the general public out of a wonderful flavoring component for absolutely no reason. Unfortunately that is not the case. I would be more than happy to hear about any SCIENTIFIC, quantifiable evidence that safrole is safe; I am first and foremost a scientist and if there are any objective studies out there that are reproducable I would love to be proven wrong. Until then all I have is "Absorption, metabolism and excretion of safrole in the rat and man" PMID: 14422. Which clearly spells out the dangers of safrole to the point that the FDA felt it necessary to step in and once again try to save us from ourselves.

THIS IS NOT THE THREAD FOR THAT THOUGH. I have made this point abundantly clear. PLEASE respect my wishes and the rules of this discussion board. DO NOT REPLY if you are only trying to hijack this thread and have nothing meaningful AND on topic to add.

It is interesting that someone can claim he/she do not naturally carbonate beverages for religious reasons and nobody tries to change his/her mind but rather engage in a perfectly civil discusion on the alternatives even though the proportion of ABV is inconcievably low. When it comes to a mutagenic substance that is persistent in the system in any quantity however, people will not accept that maybe there are individuals who prefer not to use it but still want to use natural ingredients. So how about we say this. I am opening a restaurant whose customers belong to a religious order that requires the use of all natural ingredients and are not allowed to use sassafras. (And please don't get me wrong, I am not trying to offend anyone, just trying to find answers to my questions)


Furthermore, this is a community of creative individuals; capable of coming up with new and unique methods. I know the majority here are not mindless robots that can only spout the same old rhetoric. Please, creative people, I know your out there.
 
You might try this:

http://www.sassafrastea.com/home/
it claims to be safrole free. Yes there are ways to remove safrole. I don't know for sure, but I'd imagine it's a similar process to decaffeination of coffee.

In my opinion, wintergreen is not really even a close substitute. People think it's used as a one for one replacement, but I think that's a fallacy. (I have it on good authority that camphor however, is used as a substitute, but I wouldn't really go looking for that full strength either.) Wintergreen is used as a component to a root beer flavor, though. I believe that some people think root beer is just a single flavor like vanilla is a single flavor, but it's not. It's a complex blend of flavors, one of the notes of which can be wintergreen, one of which can be sassafrass.

I would also add that sarsparilla is a somewhat suitable substitute. I believe it's the closest thing you'll find to sassafrass, but to describe how they are different would be similar to how one might describe the difference between spearmint and peppermint, it's tough unless you're tasting them at the time you're describing it.

That being said, sarsparilla is somewhat more spicy, with some notes that I would describe as "fuzzy" for lack of a better term. It also has some vanilla-like notes that remind me more of an A&W style root beer. This was my dad's favorite, so that's what I grew up with as the quintessential root beer flavor.
 
I would have to agree that Sarsaparlla would be a good sub for sassafras. I tried using wintergreen and did nt the like the flavor profile. I have made a few different batches some with and some with out sassafras never using more than a 1- 1 1/2 oz for a 5 gallon batch and to be honest you can not rely taste the difference. Use lots of sarsaparilla it makes a nice flavor. But I have not come apron anything that "taste" like sassafras. You best bet is to play around with different things and have fun with it. U may find something that you like, have fun with it.
 
I would try Sarsaparlla, Wintergreen Root, and Licorice root and use at least 1/2 brown sugar for your sugar. That should give you a nice, complex and similar flavor. Good vanilla is nice in my opinion too.
 
I am first and foremost a scientist
Then you should be able to identify the scientific and methodological issues in that study that you cite.
It is interesting that someone can claim he/she do not naturally carbonate beverages for religious reasons and nobody tries to change his/her mind but rather engage in a perfectly civil discusion on the alternatives even though the proportion of ABV is inconcievably low.
Of course this has nothing to do with the fact that an easy, cheap, effective and virtually indistinguishable replacement for natural carbonation exists, which it does not for sassafras.

Yes, there are alternatives. No, none of them taste the same, and it sounds like you already know that. If your goal is to make a root beer that tastes like an old-fashioned sassafras brew, then you already know how to do that. If you absolutely won't use the stuff, then there are plenty of recipes out there that don't use it and won't taste like they do. It's just like vegetarians looking for a meat substitute- nothing is quite the same.

And finally, just because it's bugging the heck out of me:
...your compassion for attempting...
...this is a contemptable issue...
I'm not sure that those bolded words mean what you think they mean.
 
First of all, thank you to everyone who stayed on topic. I have ordered a bunch of roots, spices, and other stuff from Monterey Bay Spice, including sassafras, so I have a baseline. I have also purchased some of the bottled sassafras tea to see how it compares. It is time to start experimenting to come up with my own brew. I will post the results if I find anything good.



As for the borderline flamers and trollers:

Please Stop. As evidenced by the first two replies, it was apparently necessary to "lecture" (as you want to call it) everyone in order to stay on track. However, I would say ignoring the original purpose of the thread, quoting out of context, not contributing anything new, and trying to cause an arguement is more rude than attempting to keep the thread on track.

I have not tried to pursuade anyone that they should not use sassafras. What you are doing is trying to force your opinion on me and then attempting to insult me to shut me up (similar to what the FDA did when they banned sassafras commercially). It is clear to me that you find this issue contemptible and your compassion (Both used correctly again) for the issue is clouding your judgement and not allowing you to carry on a civil conversation.

Dwarven_Stout, You have repeatedly attempted to hijack this thread. I am warning you now if you continue, I will report you for violation of the message board rules. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/faq.php?faq=vb3_board_faq#faq_rules_regulations
 
As for the borderline flamers and trollers
I think you're thinking of the now-defunct Green Board.
It is clear to me that you find this issue contemptible and your compassion (Both used correctly again) for the issue

Ok, since this is apparently what you want to engage on....

compassion [kuhm-pash-uhn]  
noun
1. a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.

verb (used with object)
2. Archaic . to compassionate.

"Compassion" is a noun that refers to an individual. You're using it as an indirect object of "attempting". It is incorrect to say "your compassion for attempting to prove.". To use your other word properly in a sentence, "Your misuse of 'compassion' is contemptible."

Dwarven_Stout, You have repeatedly attempted to hijack this thread.

Uh-oh, hall monitor's gonna get me.

Dude, you started off by hijacking your own thread. Let me sum up your original post: "Hi, I want to make a sassafras root beer but I won't use sassafras. Don't tell me to use sassafras because I won't. STOP TELLING ME TO USE SASSAFRAS!" All that happened before anyone else said anything.

Then you follow with this:
I have ordered a bunch of roots, spices, and other stuff from Monterey Bay Spice, including sassafras, so I have a baseline.
, which indicates to me that all your OP drama was unnecessary and distracting to the point that (I think) you were trying to make.
 
FlyingDutchman, you are attempting to restrict discussion on a valid topic. Let me handle the moderation.

dwarven stout, there is no need to go on the offense, either.
 
Well its clear that the original point of my question never sunk in. Is it impossible to discuss the possible alternatives to sassafras without digressing down that same old tired path of "saffrole is not really that bad".

I apologize for goading you on about semantics and what not. It was completely unproductive and only managed to steer this thread away from where I wanted it to go.



Lets try taking a less objectionable approach: I was hoping that, since the FDA has no desire to change their mind on this issue, we could work as a community to try to better reproduce the original flavor of sassafras. We all know that wintergreen is what many producers have chosen to rely on heavily. We also know that this is not really a good alternative. I know this is kind of like making meat flavored tofu, but has anyone tried to experiment with other flavor combinations to try to get a better reproduction of sassafras that does not rely on tons of artificial flavors that are probably less healthy than a little sassafras?
 
My chemist friend firmly believes that safrole was banned because it's so very easy to make methamphetamines out of it.

I'd ask him to suggest an alternative but he would probably just tell me to use wintergreen leaf.

Have you tried consulting the merck index? a local library may have a copy.
 
Hmmm... interesting thought.
I'm a scoutmaster and we just had a presentation from a State Trooper about signs of meth use/manufacture.
I did see something about isosafrole in the presentation, but I didn't readily make the connection.

Unless your chemist friend works in the flavor industry, (which if that's the case, I'd be glad to hear about any job openings so I can be closer to family. I searched high and low for flavor related jobs before leaving Utah.) he may not be readily familiar with flavoring substitutes.

We're looking for a substitute for the flavor, not necessarily for safrole. I don't believe the safrole itself is the main flavoring component, so while the Merck index may be helpful, it may not be the best place to look.

I'd suggest some cross-refrencing of Fenaroli's Handbook to be a better use of your time. A university with a hearty food science program would likely have a copy. Find what other components contribute to sassafras flavor, then find out what other sources those occur in. Probably easier said than done. I'm sure it's been done in industry, but probably less likely to have been done by the homebrewer.
 
I've heard of the safrole thing with meth however I'm fresh out of recipes so I can't really say one way or another... I guess that could bump the conspiracy-o-meter up a notch though.

My wife has a chance to post-doc at UC Davis. I have not really wanted to push her that way so far (I'm not a big fan of CA) but I May have to just so I can get in good with the food lab people there. As for now, I'll have to get hold of my old friends at MI State and see what references they have available. They're more of an agricultural school, but they may have something.
 
FlyingDutchman, did you ever experiment with all of those herbs? Can you update us with a description of each? I am on the same quest. Due to a lack of either printed or online information, my next move was to also just order a little of everything and try to describe each one in my own words, then start experimenting with different combinations. :mug:
 
Sorry life got in the way and I was never able to set up my experiments. Hopefully I will have time after the beginning of the new year... If you end up doing the tests though, I would love to hear your results. :ban::ban:

Thanks.
 
Boy, does this thread make me feel my age. I'm old enough to have enjoyed sassafras candy whenever I could get my greedy, sticky little hands on it as a child. It's been awhile...

As a (long-ago) lover of the flavor of sassafras, I can't quite imagine wintergreen doing the trick. Of course, we're talking about something similar, not somehow identical, but still, wintergreen just says "GUM" to me. Somebody suggested a blend of several things, including wintergreen, and I think I'd go with that. Sort the "Dr. Pepper" approach...it's not really prune soda, but everyone I know thinks it tastes like prune soda, without a prune in sight.

Let me know how it turns out. Now you've got me craving the stuff again and unless I go wild root digging up in the Ozarks I wouldn't even know where to look for it. Sigh.

EVERYTHING yummy gives us cancer. Snark. :eek:
 
I just made six single-flavor sodas, including: Sassafras, Sarsaparilla, Star Anise, Licorice Root, wintergreen, and molasses. My nose and taste buds are pretty much pegged at this point, so will have do a more thorough evaluation tomorrow...but here is what I came up with so far:

Wintergreen: Distinct "grassy" aroma and flavor. While not unpleasant, I'm having trouble figuring out how this will contribute to the traditional expectation of root beer flavor.

Sassafras: I think I made it a little too strong...as it totally wiped out my taste buds after a small sip. Definitely had a spicy, astringent quality to it. However, the flavor and aroma definitely are on the right track for root beer. I'll try diluting it a bit tomorrow and see if it tastes better.

Sarsaparilla: This was one of my favorites. Has a distinct earthy, creamy aroma and flavor...kind of a cross between root beer and cream soda.

Star Anise: Fantastic licorice candy aroma and flavor. I can see a bit of Star Anise and Sarsaparilla possibly making a good substitute for sassafras, but will experiment with blending ingredients tomorrow.

Licorice Root: Distinct woody, earthy aroma and flavor. There is a faint licorice aftertaste at the back of the tongue. I really didn't like the aroma or flavor of this at all. Once mixed with the same amount of sugar as the other sodas, it was distinctly sweeter though...so the "myth" that licorice is sweeter than table sugar appears to be true...or at least it contributes to the sweetness...so if added to a recipe, the amount of sugar could be significantly reduced and still maintain the same level of sweetness.

Molasses: Distinct Gingerbread Cookie aroma and flavor.

My preliminary guess is that a decent first run root beer could be made by a combination of the following:

1-gallon batch:
1.0 oz Dried Sarsaparilla Root (Smooth, creamy earthy flavor as foundation)
0.75 oz Dried Star Anise (sharp, sweet bite to add some high-notes to the flavor)
1 tsp Molasses (full, nutty, caramelly, somewhat spicy and earthy to fill out the flavor profile.)
2 cups table sugar
 
ryan, please post your method for creating the sodas you used for comparison. Do you grind the roots? Use them whole? Boil? Steep? Make a syrup and dilute?
 
I got the ingredients from my local homebrew shop. They were all dried roots, bark and leaves that had already been chopped.

I did not grind any of them, as it seemed unnecessary...except for the star anise that possibly could have benefited from being chopped up or ground a bit.

I simmered each of the ingredients for about 20 minutes at a low boil. My batch volume was 1/2 liter, which required topping back up after evaporation...this also allowed the convenient use of ice-cubes to rapidly cool and simultaneously replace the lost liquid.

I simply used a stainless sieve to screen out most of the chunks after the boil. The remainder of small particles that made it through the seive typically just settled to the bottom of the pan, and then I decanted off them after letting it cool for a few minutes.
 
I used a quarter cup in a half liter of water and it seemed about right to me. Scaled up, thats about 1.5 to 2 cups per gallon.
 
I did a small batch mixing some of the ingredients, and it turned out pretty good (very drinkable). It's definitely root beer, but not quite where it needs to be yet. Here is what I made:

0.5 liter batch:
0.13 oz Dried Sarsaparilla Root
0.13 oz Dried Star Anise
0.25 tsp Molasses
0.25 cup table sugar

The anise was a little too strong, so will back that off a little on the next batch. Also, the backbone of the beverage was somewhat lacking that "sassafras" punch though...still working on how to add that. Perhaps more sarsaparilla and/or molasses.

Also, after much online research, I discovered that wintergreen leaves must be "fermented" before the wintergreen flavor comes out...so the previous wintergreen soda that I made may not be (and hopefully wasn't) representative of what wintergreen tastes like (previous batch smelled and tasted like hay/straw!).

I have a bit of the dried wintergreen leaves steeping in water right now. Apparently it takes a day or two for the enzymes to convert something into methyl salicylate, aka "Wintergreen oil." I'm also going to see if I can find a bottle of wintergreen oil at the local health food store...in case I can't get the results I want from the dried leaves. That may be the missing flavor that the root beer recipe needs.
 
I wonder if a little fresh ginger would punch it up a bit? Need to be careful with it or you'll just have weird ginger ale. But the spiciness/heat may work wonders in bringing out the other flavors if added judiciously.
 
I just met with my brew club, and the consensus is that I got some "barn yard" wintergreen...I am going to work on procuring some fresh (dried and vacuum packed) wintergreen and see if the aroma and flavor are any better. I am NOT getting ANY "minty" flavors out of this dried wintergreen...only HAY...so I'm going to reserve judgement until I get some good stuff, then see how that incorporates with the root beer recipe that I previously did.

Also, after cooling, I would say that both the sarsaparilla and molasses contributions were less than desired. The cold root beer was considerably less flavorful than the warm version. While the anise flavor seemed like too much, I think actually it was probably about right, it was just the other flavors that were subdued.

I was unable to find wintergreen essential oil locally, so it'll probably take me a week or two to get some fresh-"ish" wintergreen leaves. I'll come back in a week or two and let you know how it worked out.

For what it's worth though, both kids gave it a thumbs up, as is... ;)
 
...okay, so I gave up trying to find a local source of fresh wintergreen leaves or oil...they are both surprisingly difficult to find! However, I did actually come up with an even better idea (IMO). I ended up going to the local garden supply store and picked up an actual Wintergreen plant (Gaultheria Procumbens). Doesn't get any fresher than this!

The leaves do not have any smell until you break them, then they have a slight "clean" evergreen kind of aroma...a very faint "foresty" smell. Upon chewing a leaf, I first noticed that they have a fairly high astringency, followed by a very distinct, minty wintergreen chewing gum flavor.

I am currently steeping some leaves to verify the online info that states that enzymatic conversion to methyl salycilate is necessary.
See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaultheria_procumbens
Edibility
The fruits are edible, with a minty flavor,[7] and the leaves and branches make a fine herbal tea, through normal drying and infusion process. For the leaves to yield significant amounts of their essential oil, they need to be fermented for at least 3 days.[8]

From everything I've read, the "fermentation" that is referred to has nothing to do with yeast or bacteria, and is simply an enzymatic reaction of some sort, much like mashing grains to make beer. I would like to find out what the chemistry behind this process is, and what the ideal enzymatic conversion temperature/environment is...which would probably significantly speed up the process. Any Bio Chemists out there that could help?

I'll try to make a wintergreen only brew first, then try making a blended recipe.
 
Just as well that you couldn't find oil of wintergreen. The toxicity is impressive, even in small amounts. It metabolizes into salicylic acid (aspirin) and just a teaspoonful is the equivalent of 300 aspirin tablets...with the obvious outcome if ingested.

It's also what gives Ben-Gay ointment that smell.

Not to start (or restart) a tussle but I have to say, I think I'd be of a mind to use sarsaparilla or sassafras (maybe Pappy's extract? It has the nasty stuff taken out) than to mess around with methyl salicylate.
 
...okay, so I gave up trying to find a local source of fresh wintergreen leaves or oil...they are both surprisingly difficult to find! However, I did actually come up with an even better idea (IMO). I ended up going to the local garden supply store and picked up an actual Wintergreen plant (Gaultheria Procumbens). Doesn't get any fresher than this!

The leaves do not have any smell until you break them, then they have a slight "clean" evergreen kind of aroma...a very faint "foresty" smell. Upon chewing a leaf, I first noticed that they have a fairly high astringency, followed by a very distinct, minty wintergreen chewing gum flavor.

I am currently steeping some leaves to verify the online info that states that enzymatic conversion to methyl salycilate is necessary.
See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaultheria_procumbens
Edibility
The fruits are edible, with a minty flavor,[7] and the leaves and branches make a fine herbal tea, through normal drying and infusion process. For the leaves to yield significant amounts of their essential oil, they need to be fermented for at least 3 days.[8]

From everything I've read, the "fermentation" that is referred to has nothing to do with yeast or bacteria, and is simply an enzymatic reaction of some sort, much like mashing grains to make beer. I would like to find out what the chemistry behind this process is, and what the ideal enzymatic conversion temperature/environment is...which would probably significantly speed up the process. Any Bio Chemists out there that could help?

I'll try to make a wintergreen only brew first, then try making a blended recipe.

It sounds like you are on the right track with what you are doing. I suspect there will be something about the wintergreen, maybe just a small amount, in the mix that makes it more "root beer" like, at least in comparison to modern renditions. Nobody is saying just go ahead and use only wintergreen. Most recipes I've seen that contain sassafras also contained other flavor components. I don't know why that would be any different with recipes using wintergreen.
 
SpringMom, 10-4 on the toxicity. Someone can correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that if the flavor of the wintergreen is reasonable (ie. less strong than chewing a piece of wintergreen gum, which uses methyl salicylate as flavoring) it's probably fine. Where the problem comes in is if I were to over-dose the soda in such a way that the concentration of methyl salicylate would be so strong that it would make anything even resembling root beer...perhaps a mouthful of Bengay? ;) I would think that using a handful of fresh wintergreen leaves would be pretty safe...? I mean, they used to make tea out of it...but then, they also used to make sassafras tea... ;)

Also, I'm not ruling out the Pappy's extract, I'd just rather find a combination of raw ingredients other than sassafras that works.

Shooter, yeah, I just want to make a straight wintergreen soda for experimental purposes. I have single flavor sodas of each of the other flavors, so as I'm developing the recipe, I can more easily recognize which flavor component needs to be adjusted.

It also helps me set a benchmark for single ingredient proportion. For example, the sassafras soda that I made was WAY too strong, whereas most of the others were pretty close to ideal. Now I have a benchmark for how much of each component to add.
 
Dihydroanethol tastes like a mixture of sassafras and anise oils. As such, it can replace the combination in most root beer recipes that use both. See http://www.thegoodscentscompany.com/data/rw1024292.html .

For example, a commercially viable recipe (minus sweetener, coloring, foaming agent, etc.) might be:

Ethyl Vanillin, 100 parts per million (ppm)
Methyl Salicylate, 25 ppm
Dihydroanethol, 3 ppm
 
Is this available somewhere in small quantities?
I would like to try (& smell) it.

I wonder if Pappy's contains this compound?

Pappy's certainly is the only non-safrole containing sassafras like material I have found.

Blue-Frog
 
Is this available somewhere in small quantities?
I would like to try (& smell) it.

I wonder if Pappy's contains this compound?

Pappy's certainly is the only non-safrole containing sassafras like material I have found.

Blue-Frog

There is a problem in that food grade (FCC) dihydroanethol is difficult to buy retail. Sigma Aldridge sells it wholesale here, http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/catalog/product/aldrich/w293008?lang=en&region=US .

I purchased 25 g. of perfume grade dihydroanethol online at http://www.thegoodscentscompany.com/pricoffr.html but I am uncertain whether they will sell to anyone.
 
Is this available somewhere in small quantities?
I would like to try (& smell) it.

I wonder if Pappy's contains this compound?

Pappy's certainly is the only non-safrole containing sassafras like material I have found.

Blue-Frog

Dihydroanethol would have to be listed on the label as "artificial flavoring." I have not tried Pappy's Sassafras Tea but according to

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51FGO+QHN9L.jpg

all of the ingredients are natural. Also, according to one negative review, it tastes too much like root beer instead of sassafras:

http://www.amazon.com/Pappys-Sassaf...iewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

So, did you have any luck buying dihydroanethol? Sooner or later some retail online store will sell it to anyone with a credit card.
 
Dihydroanethol would have to be listed on the label as "artificial flavoring." I have not tried Pappy's Sassafras Tea but according to

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51FGO+QHN9L.jpg

all of the ingredients are natural. Also, according to one negative review, it tastes too much like root beer instead of sassafras:

http://www.amazon.com/Pappys-Sassaf...iewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

So, did you have any luck buying dihydroanethol? Sooner or later some retail online store will sell it to anyone with a credit card.


Well one of the detractors clearly states "I am use to tea like Lipton's Ice Tea" and so obviously had no idea what they were buying; another person wrote: "This tastes mostly like root beer, or sasparilla, not sassafras. Great if you like root beer, which I hate." again displaying a lack of affection for the concept!

Also, if you have used sassafras yourself, you will no doubt have observed that Sassafras keeps on giving... so for someone used to drinking homebrewed concentrated sassafras tea, Pappy's could indeed be considered too weak....

but all said, I haven't tried it since they were supposed to have removed the goodness from it, but well, it could have changed.

Humm, actually, I think I have had it once since then, and found it very sasisfactory, but I am not quite sure - it's all a bit fuzzy!

OTOH, I tried Lorann Oils Sassafras maybe 2 years back and that was NOT sassafras like at all. It actually tasted like one of my own formulations.... It was very dissapointing to learn that the best they could do... was no better than the best I could do.

They also have a root beer flavor, but I did not bother trying it....

As far as DHA goes,
I am in the sap-like flow from one location to another, while rebuilding etc. our home & garden so I haven't had time to look into it. I am sure I will as soon as we get settled in to the new place!

but,

are you sure dihydroanethol doesn't exist in nature?

Blue-Frog
 
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