Cowboys & Indians Magazine – 6.1.11
AMERICAN ROOT
Root beer is just one of the many culinary wonders for which we owe a debt to the Native Americans. The brew’s origin can be traced back to when Indians taught early colonists to make an herbal remedy out of an assortment of wild roots and herbs, including sassafras, sarsaparilla, wintergreen, and birch bark. Root tea quickly caught on and grew more potent, until Prohibition put an end to the uniquely American spirit. Fortunately this libation survived, in a way.
The botanical booze evolved into root beer, thanks to Philadelphia pharmacist Charles Hires. He removed the alcohol from root tea, mixing it with soda water, and presented what he called “The Temperance Drink” at the 1876 Centennial International Exhibition, claiming that it was “the greatest health-giving beverage in the world.”
While Hires’ revised version quickly became a popular product in American soda shops, it took nearly a century for the original brew to be brought back into production. Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction has finally concocted a reproduction of the early folk recipe using 13 herbs and spices, including smoked black tea, wintergreen, sugar cane, spearmint, clove, anise, orange and lemon peel, cinnamon, nutmeg and birch bark – all organic, just as in the original. The list reads like a yuletide dessert, but the final product is dark and earthy with hints of citrus and licorice-slightly reminiscent of Jagermeister and, of course, root beer.
FYI: 215.922.2600
www.artintheage.com
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Cowboys & Indians Magazine, 6.1.11