Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
Saturday, August 21, 2010 at 11:02AM Root! Yes, this is alcoholic. Yes, you can drink it- assuming you are over 21. Yes, it is delicious and all natural!
The fantastic artisans at Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction have brewed up the original recipe for rootbeer and it is available in most parts of PA and some parts of North Carolina.
Birch Bark
Just like the Root Teas that came before it, birch bark gives ROOT its pleasantly strong backbone of full-bodied aroma and flavor. Harvested from white birch trees, the bark is first subjected to a slow destructive distillation process that yields a crude birch tar. This tar is then steam distilled to produce a pure sap that is mixed in with ROOT’s cane sugar base.
Native American uses for Birch Bark
Varieties of birch bark - Wikipedia
Smoked Black Tea
Our smoked black tea gives ROOT its distinctive tea notes, burnished rose-gold hue, and delicate hints of smokiness. Instead of being dried in the sun like most other teas, the organic lapsang souchong tea we use is smoked over a pine fire to impart the necessary flavor requirements.
Black tea varieties from English Tea Store
Sugarcane
ROOT is distilled from a pure organic cane sugar base. Not excessively sugary, the cane sugar allows for great clarity in the finished spirit and accommodates ROOT’s earthier, slightly bitter undertones and its clean finish.
The American Sugar Cane League
Essence of Sassafras
A couple hundred years ago, all the colonists made their Root Teas with sassafras root. However, scientists later found that the ingredient posed certain risks to the liver, and the FDA banned it as a food ingredient in the 1960s. No worries though, we’ve mighty close to approximating sassafras unique flavor with a mixture of organic citrus fruits, spearmint, and wintergreen.
Sassafras History Blog - Why ban?
Sassafras as alternative medicine
Orange and Lemon Peel
We use American-grown, pesticide-free, certified-organic lemons and oranges to give ROOT a subtle touch of citrus aroma and flavor that comes out when mixed, and to closely mimic the taste of sassafras root.
Tips on growing organic citrus fruits
How to dry your own lemon or orange peels
Allspice
Produced from the dried, unripe fruit of the Pimenta diocia plant, allspice was a favorite of many colonists who felt that the spice combined the flavors of several aromatic spices and added a desired layer of complexity to their Root Teas.
Uses & Recipes from The Encyclopedia of Spices
Recipes and nutritional info from The Gourmet Sleuth
Anise
Aniseeds lends ROOT its licorice notes, which combine especially well with the sprits birch and sassafras flavors.
Illustrations & History of Anise from Botanical.com
Uses & Recipes from The Encyclopedia of Spices
Cloves
A spice produced from the dried flower buds of clove trees, clove was another favorite ingredient in colonists’ highly spiced Root Teas. Native Americans also found the spice to relieve tooth pain.
Medicinal findings on cloves from the National Library of Medicine
Cinnamon
Cinnamon, much like ROOT’s birch flavoring, is harvested from the bark of the cinnamon tree through a similar process. Along with clove and nutmeg, it gives ROOT its pleasant baking spice flavors.
Health Benefits of Ground Cinnamon
Home Cooking: The History of Cinnamon
Cardamom
A member of the ginger family, cardamom’s strong, unique flavor is a welcome addition to ROOT’s well-rounded spiciness.
Uses & Recipes from The Encyclopedia of Spices
Plant Cultures: Cardamom Article
Nutmeg
The seed of a type of evergreen tree, nutmug, along with clove and cinnamon, contributes heavily to ROOT’s distinctive, highly spiced taste.
They have also made SNAP!
What would happen, we asked,if we took a traditional German “Lebkuchen” and distilled the ingredients into an organic spirit? What is a lebkuchen, you ask? A ginger snap!
But not the mass-market, high-fructose junk at the supermarket. We’re talking a real Pennsylvania Dutch (which actually means Pennsylvania German, not Dutch. Many years ago, someone apparently misheard “deutsch” for “dutch”) ginger snap made with hearty blackstrap molasses and fresh ginger. The kind our mothers, grandmothers, and great-great-great-grandmothers used to make.
Reader Comments (2)
Where did you get the drawings for this? I particularly love the one of cardamom.
I borrowed them from their website. I am assuming that one of their artists made the drawings.