Editing Root beer

{{Short description|North American carbonated beverage}}
{{pp-semi-indef|small=yes}}
{{Distinguish|Beer}}
{{Infobox beverage
| name = Root beer
| image = Root beer in glass mug.jpg
| image_size        = 300
| caption = Freshly poured root beer in a glass mug
| type = [[Soft drink]]
| ingredients = 
| variants = 
| related = 
| region = [[North America]]
| color = [[Caramel color|Caramel]] (dark)
| year = {{circa|18th century}}
}}
{{Use American English|date=October 2018}}

'''Root beer''' is a sweet North American [[soft drink]] traditionally made using the root bark of the sassafras tree ''[[Sassafras albidum]]'' or the vine of ''[[Smilax ornata]]'' (known as sarsaparilla; also used to make a soft drink called [[Sarsaparilla (soft drink)|sarsaparilla]]) as the primary flavor. Root beer is typically, but not exclusively, [[non-alcoholic]], [[Decaffeination|caffeine-free]], sweet, and [[carbonation|carbonated]]. Like [[cola]], it usually has a thick and foamy [[Beer head|head]]. A common use is to add [[vanilla ice cream]] to make a [[root beer float]].

Since [[safrole]], a key component of sassafras, was banned by the [[U.S. Food and Drug Administration]] in 1960 due to its [[carcinogen]]icity, most commercial root beers have been flavored using [[artificial flavor|artificial]] sassafras flavoring,<ref name="dietz" /><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.drugs.com/npp/sassafras.html |title=Sassafras Uses, Benefits & Dosage - Herbal Database |work=Drugs.com |access-date=2016-08-27 |archive-date=2021-03-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210319172022/https://www.drugs.com/npp/sassafras.html |url-status=live }}</ref> but a few (e.g. Hansen's)<!--E.g. Hansen's (http://www.hansens.com/images/nutrition/NutritionLabels_Creamy%20Root%20Beer.jpg)--> use a safrole-free sassafras extract.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.chowhound.com/food-news/53525/your-sassafras-has-been-neutered |title=Your Sassafras Has Been Neutered |website=chowhound.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220328182715/https://www.chowhound.com/food-news/53525/your-sassafras-has-been-neutered |archive-date=28 March 2022 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Major root beer producers include [[Mug Root Beer|PepsiCo]], [[Barq's|Coca-Cola Company]], [[Dad's Root Beer|Dad's]], [[Hires Root Beer|Keurig Dr. Pepper]], [[Sprecher Brewery|Sprecher]], and [[A&W Root Beer|A&W]].

==History==
Root beer has been drunk in the United States since at least the eighteenth century. It has been sold in confectionery stores since at least the 1840s, and written recipes for root beer have been documented since the 1830s.<ref name="Beach-1833">{{cite book| year=1833 |last=Beach |first=Wooster |title=The American Practice of Medicine: Being a Treatise on the Character, Causes, Symptoms, Morbid Appearances and Treatment of the Diseases of Men, Women and Children, of All Climates, on Vegetable Or Botanical Principles |volume=1 |location=New York |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hx80AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA32}}</ref>{{rp|32}} In the nineteenth century, it was often consumed hot and was often used with [[herbal medicine|medicinal intent]]. It was combined with soda as early as the 1850s; at that time it was sold as a syrup rather than a ready-made beverage.<ref>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Andrew |date=August 30, 2006 |title=Encyclopedia of Junk Food and Fast Food |publisher=Greenwood |pages=231–232 |isbn=978-0313335273}}</ref>

Beyond its aromatic qualities, the medicinal benefits of sassafras were well known to both Native Americans and Europeans, and druggists began marketing root beer for its medicinal qualities.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cresswell |first=Stephen |date=January 6, 1998 |title=Homemade Root Beer, Soda & Pop |publisher=Storey Publishing |page=4 |isbn=978-1580170529}}</ref>

[[File:All gone Could I have another glass of that Hires' Rootbeer.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Drawing of a boy holding an empty glass asking for more root beer, evidenced by bad contrast superimposed text|A Hires' root beer advertisement from 1894]]
Pharmacist [[Charles Elmer Hires]] was the first to successfully market a commercial brand of root beer. Hires developed his [[wikt:root tea|root tea]] made from sassafras in 1875, debuted a commercial version of root beer at the Philadelphia [[Centennial Exposition]] in 1876, and began selling his extract. Hires was a [[teetotaler]] who wanted to call the beverage "root tea". However, his desire to market the product to Pennsylvania coal miners caused him to call his product "root beer", instead.<ref>{{cite book |last=Funderburg |first=Anne Cooper |title=Sundae Best: A History of Soda Fountains |year=2002 |publisher=[[Popular Press]] |isbn=978-0879728540 |pages=93–95 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wr_yPYvkNWwC&pg=PA93 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://gourmetrootbeer.com/history.html |title=Eric's Gourmet Root Beer Site - History |website=gourmetrootbeer.com |access-date=8 February 2015 |archive-date=11 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211173348/http://www.gourmetrootbeer.com/history.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1886, Hires began to bottle a beverage made from his famous extract. By 1893, root beer was distributed widely across the United States. Non-alcoholic versions of root beer became commercially successful, especially during [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]].<ref name=Smith2012>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Andrew |date=November 30, 2012 |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America |pages=1, 188 |publisher=Oup USA |isbn=978-0199734962}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gourmetrootbeer.com/history.html#hires |title=Local Historians Argue Over the Root of Hires |first=Eileen |last=Bennett |date=June 28, 1998 |work=[[The Press of Atlantic City]] |access-date=April 5, 2015 |archive-date=March 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190302221419/http://gourmetrootbeer.com/history.html#hires |url-status=live }}</ref>

Not all traditional or commercial root beers were sassafras-based. One of Hires's early competitors was [[Barq's]], which began selling its sarsaparilla-based root beer in 1898 and was labeled simply as "Barq's".<ref>{{cite book |last=Boudreaux |first=Edmond |date=February 5, 2013 |title=Legends and Lore of the Mississippi Golden Gulf Coast |publisher=The History Press |page=145 |asin=B00BBXFJOC}}</ref>

In 1919, Roy Allen opened his root-beer stand in [[Lodi, California]], which led to the development of A&W Root Beer. One of Allen's innovations was that he served his homemade root beer in cold, frosty mugs. [[IBC Root Beer]] is another brand of commercially produced root beer that emerged during this period and is still well-known today.<ref name=Smith2012/>

[[Safrole]], the aromatic oil found in [[sassafras albidum|sassafras roots and bark]] that gave traditional root beer its distinctive flavor, was banned in commercially mass-produced foods and drugs by the [[U.S. Food and Drug Administration|FDA]] in 1960.<ref name="dietz">{{Cite journal |doi=10.1021/tx7000527 |pmc=2504026 |date=April 2007 |author1=Dietz, B |author2=Bolton, Jl |title=Botanical dietary supplements gone bad. |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=586–90 |issn=0893-228X |pmid=17362034 |journal=[[Chemical Research in Toxicology]]}}</ref> Laboratory animals that were given oral doses of sassafras tea or sassafras oil that contained large doses of safrole developed permanent [[liver]] damage or various types of [[cancer]].<ref name="dietz" /> While sassafras is no longer used in commercially produced root beer and is sometimes replaced with artificial flavors, natural extracts with the safrole distilled and removed are available.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfCFR/CFRSearch.cfm?fr=172.580 |title=CFR - Code of Federal Regulations Title 21 |website=fda.gov |access-date=21 March 2017 |archive-date=29 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729051147/https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfCFR/CFRSearch.cfm?fr=172.580 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Higgins |first=Nadia |date=August 1, 2013 |title=Fun Food Inventions (Awesome Inventions You Use Every Day) |url=https://archive.org/details/funfoodinvention0000higg/page/30 |publisher=21st Century |page=30 |isbn=978-1467710916 |url-access=registration}}</ref>

==Traditional method==
One traditional recipe for making root beer involves cooking a syrup from molasses and water, letting the syrup cool for three hours, and combining it with the root ingredients (including sassafras root, sassafras bark, and [[wintergreen]]). [[Brewer's yeast|Yeast]] was added, and the beverage was left to [[fermentation|ferment]] for 12 hours, after which it was strained and rebottled for secondary fermentation. This recipe usually resulted in a beverage of 2% alcohol or less, although the recipe could be modified to produce a more alcoholic beverage (such variation is called "hard root beer").<ref name=Sokolov>{{cite book |last=Sokolov |first=Raymond |date=April 5, 1993 |title=Why We Eat What We Eat: How Columbus Changed the Way the World Eats |publisher=Touchstone |page=174 |isbn=978-0671797911}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://allaboutbeer.com/hard-root-beer/ | title=Buzzworthy: Hard Root Beer Takes off - All About Beer | date=23 June 2015 }}</ref>

==Foam==
Root beer was originally made with [[sassafras]] root and bark which, due to its mucilaginous properties, formed a natural, long lasting foam, a characteristic feature of the beverage. Root beer was originally carbonated by fermentation. As demand and technology changed, carbonated water was used.  Some manufacturers used small amounts of starch (e.g. from [[cassava]]) with natural [[surfactant]]s to reproduce the familiar foaming character of sassafras-based root beer. Some brands of root beer have distinctive foaming behaviors, which has been used as part of their marketing identity.<ref>{{Cite web| url=https://www.foodreference.com/html/frootbeer.html| title=Root beer: why does it foam so much?| last=Ehler| first=James| website=FoodReference.com| date=2022| access-date=21 April 2022| archive-date=12 November 2020| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112031420/http://www.foodreference.com/html/frootbeer.html| url-status=live}}</ref>

==Ingredients==
Commercial root beer is now produced in Canada and every U.S. state.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.root-beer.org/modules.php?name=Brands |title=Brands - A World of Root Beer Resources - Root Beer World |access-date=8 February 2015 |archive-date=25 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125104612/http://www.root-beer.org/modules.php?name=Brands |url-status=live }}</ref>  Although this beverage's popularity is greatest in North America, some brands are produced in or imported by other countries, including Australia, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Argentina, Germany, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Indonesia, Sweden, Vietnam,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.root-beer.org/modules.php?name=Brands |title=Brands - A World of Root Beer Resources |work=Root Beer World |access-date=2009-02-22 |archive-date=2021-01-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125104612/http://www.root-beer.org/modules.php?name=Brands |url-status=live }}</ref> and Thailand. The flavor of these beverages may vary from typical North American versions,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rootbeerbarrel.com/ |title=anthony's root beer barrel |access-date=8 February 2015 |archive-date=9 August 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060809231140/http://www.rootbeerbarrel.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref> or be similar to those found in North America. While no standard recipe exists, the primary ingredients in modern root beer are filtered water, sugar, and safrole-free sassafras extract, which complements other flavors. Common flavorings are [[vanilla]], [[caramel]], [[wintergreen]], [[black cherry]] bark, [[liquorice|licorice root]], [[Smilax regelii|sarsaparilla root]], [[nutmeg]], [[acacia]], [[anise]], [[molasses]], [[cinnamon]], [[sweet birch]], and [[honey]]. Soybean protein or [[yucca]] are sometimes used to create a foamy quality, and caramel coloring is used to make the beverage brown.<ref name=Sokolov/>

Ingredients in early and traditional root beers include allspice, birch bark, [[coriander]], [[juniper]], [[ginger]], wintergreen, hops, [[Arctium|burdock]] root, [[Taraxacum officinale|dandelion]] root, [[spikenard]], [[pipsissewa]], [[guaiacum]] chips, sarsaparilla, spicewood, [[Prunus serotina|wild cherry]] bark, [[yellow dock]], [[Aralia spinosa|prickly ash]] bark, sassafras root, vanilla beans, dog grass, molasses and licorice.<ref>Bellis, Mary. "The History of Root Beer." About Money. Web. 5 March 2015.</ref> Many of these ingredients are still used in traditional and commercially produced root beer today, which is often thickened, foamed or carbonated.

Most major brands other than Barq's are [[caffeine]]-free (Barq's contains about 1.8 mg of caffeine per fluid ounce).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://rootbeerbarrel.com/faqs/#caffeine |title=F.A.Qs |work=anthony’s root beer barrel |date=28 November 2007 |access-date=8 February 2015 |archive-date=24 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124195955/https://rootbeerbarrel.com/faqs/#caffeine |url-status=live }}</ref>

Root beer can be made at home with processed extract obtained from a factory,<ref name="Root Beer">{{cite web |url=http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Cheese/ROOTBEER_Jn0.htm |title=MAKING ROOT BEER AT HOME |first=David B. |last=Fankhauser |website=biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071019025729/http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/cheese/ROOTBEER_Jn0.htm |archive-date=2007-10-19}}</ref> or it can also be made from herbs and roots that have not yet been processed. Alcoholic and non-alcoholic traditional root beers make a thick and foamy head when poured, often enhanced by the addition of yucca extract, soybean protein, or other thickeners.

Alcoholic root beers produced in the 2000s have included [[Small Town Brewery]]'s Not Your Father's Root Beer; [[Coney Island Brewing Co.]]'s hard root beer; and Best Damn Brewing Co.'s Best Damn Root Beer.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/millercoors-seeks-sales-pop-gen-xers-hard-soda/302258 |title=MillerCoors Seeks Sales Pop from Gen-Xers with Hard Soda |date=22 January 2016 |work=[[Ad Age]] |access-date=22 July 2019 |archive-date=18 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221018194001/https://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/millercoors-seeks-sales-pop-gen-xers-hard-soda/302258 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Common ingredients===

====Roots and herbs====
{{columns-list|colwidth=25em|1= 
* ''[[Sassafras albidum]]'' – sassafras roots and bark (or artificial [[safrole]] substitute)
* ''Smilax regelii'' – [[Smilax regelii|sarsaparilla]]
* ''Smilax glyciphylla'' – [[sweet sarsaparilla]]
* ''Piper auritum'' – root beer plant or [[hoja santa]]
* ''Glycyrrhiza glabra'' – [[licorice]] (root)
* ''[[Aralia nudicaulis]]'' – wild sarsaparilla or "rabbit root"
* ''Gaultheria procumbens'' – [[wintergreen]] (leaves and berries)
* ''Betula lenta'' – [[sweet birch]] (sap/syrup/resin)
* ''Betula nigra'' – [[Betula nigra|black birch]] (sap/syrup/resin)
* ''Prunus serotina'' – [[Prunus serotina|black cherry]] (wood)
* ''Picea rubens'' – [[red spruce]]
* ''Picea mariana'' – [[black spruce]]
* ''Picea sitchensis'' – [[Sitka spruce]]
* ''Arctium lappa'' – [[burdock]] (root)
* ''Taraxacum officinale'' – [[dandelion]] (root)
* ''[[Quillaja saponaria]]'' – soapbark, a [[foaming agent]]
* ''[[Yucca]]'' – a foaming agent
}}

====Spices====
{{columns-list|colwidth=25em|1= 
* ''Pimenta dioica'' – [[allspice]]
* ''Theobroma cacao'' – [[chocolate]]
* ''Trigonella foenum-graecum'' – [[fenugreek]]
* ''Myroxylon balsamum'' – [[Tolu balsam]]
* ''Abies balsamea'' – [[balsam fir]]
* ''Myristica fragrans'' – [[nutmeg]]
* ''Cinnamomum verum'' – [[cinnamon]] (bark)
* ''Cinnamomum aromaticum'' – [[Cinnamomum aromaticum|cassia]] (bark)
* ''Syzygium aromaticum'' – [[clove]]
* ''Foeniculum vulgare'' – [[fennel]] (seed)
* ''Zingiber officinale'' – [[ginger]] (stem/rhizome)
* ''Illicium verum'' – [[star anise]]
* ''Pimpinella anisum'' – [[anise]]
* ''Humulus lupulus'' – [[hops]]
* ''Mentha'' species – [[Mentha|mint]]
}}

====Other ingredients====
{{columns-list|colwidth=25em|1= 
* [[carbonated water]]
* ''Hordeum vulgare'' – [[barley]] ([[malt]]ed)
* ''Hypericum perforatum'' – [[St. John's wort]]
* [[sugar]]
* [[molasses]]
* [[yeast]]
}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Drink|Philadelphia}}
{{div col|colwidth=25em}}
<!-- Please respect alphabetical order -->
* [[Apple Beer]]
* [[Beer]]
* [[Beverage]]
* [[Birch beer]]
* [[:Category:Root beer stands]]
* [[Cream soda]]
* [[Dandelion and burdock]]
* [[Ginger beer]]
* [[Horehound beer]]
* [[Julmust]]
* [[List of brand name soft drinks products]]
* [[List of soft drink flavors]]
* [[Malta (soft drink)]]
* [[Malzbier]]
* [[Moxie]]
* [[Root beer float]]
* [[Sarsaparilla (soft drink)]] – a similar, although distinct, beverage
* [[Spruce beer]]
* [[Tarkhuna]]
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Wiktionary inline|root beer}}
* {{Commons category-inline}}

{{root beer brands}}
{{Soft drink}}
{{colas}}
{{Non-timber forest products}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Root Beer}}
[[Category:Root beer| ]]
[[Category:American drinks]]
[[Category:Canadian drinks]]
[[Category:Non-timber forest products]]
[[Category:Cuisine of Philadelphia]]