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Over time, root beer has contained ingredients like allspice, birch bark, coriander seed, ginger and ginger root, hops, burdock root, dandelion root, guaiacum chips, spicewood, wild cherry bark and bitters, wintergreen and wintergreen oil, yellow dock, prickly ash bark and even molasses.
The key ingredient to root beer is sassafras root, which is what produces the tangy, thick brewed flavor that root beer is noted for.
In 1960, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned the use of sassafras oil, labeling it a carcinogen. Root beer makers began experimenting with new and improved recipes, minus the sassafras oil, hoping to find a suitable tasting alternative.
Not long after the ban, the root beer industry was saved when inventors discovered that sassafras could be used afterall, if treated first, to remove the oil.
Root beer is available pretty much everywhere!
For a closer look at this delicious drink here in the valley, you can try the "Pop The Soda Shop" in Scottsdale.
Pop the soda shop has over 40 different Root Beers, Birch Beer, and Sassafras flavors for the "Root" lover.
Pop the Soda Shop website
