You’ll need to sterilize four 20-ounce plastic soda or bail-top bottles for this recipe.
In a large pot, bring the water to a boil and add the sassafras root or tea concentrate, sarsaparilla root, licorice root, nutmeg, wintergreen leaves, juniper berries, orange peel, cinnamon stick, and horehound or hops. Turn the heat to simmer and gently heat the ingredients for 30 to 45 minutes.
Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the brown sugar, molasses, honey and maltodextrin. Cool the syrup to room temperature then stir in the yeast. Let the syrup sit for 10 minutes.
Pour the cooled liquid into the bottles and cap them tightly.
Ferment the root beer in a warm, dark place for a day or two, or until the plastic bottles feel hard. Refrigerate the root beer for one to two weeks. Serve in a frosted mug.
* Wintergreen should be avoided by people allergic to aspirin.
1 15-inch piece of young sassafras root or 1/3 cup safrole-free sassafras tea concentrate
2 Tbsp. dried sarsaparilla root
½ tsp. dried licorice root
½ tsp. crushed whole nutmeg
2 Tbsp. wintergreen leaves*
2 juniper berries, crushed
1 tsp. dried orange peel
½ tsp. crushed cinnamon stick
Pinch horehound or hops
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. molasses
1/3 cup honey
2 Tbsp. maltodextrin
1/8 tsp. lager or ale yeast
This article appears in Aug 1-31, 2009.