In the Ozarks these trees are rather small bushes and tend to sprout up on cleared land. There is no more lovely sight to see than a group of these in the fall after the first frost. The leaves turn bright red and they usually grow in groups so that it is not uncommon to see hills in the distant covered with a red glow.
When I was a child we would dig the roots in the spring and after washing my mother would put them in a large pot to boil on our wood heating stove. We added sugar and drank Sassafras tea. The old timers considered the tea to be a blood thinner and thought it was a tonic for all sorts of aliments.
In the last few years the government has said there is a cancer causing agent in the sassafras tea but I would drink a cup of the tea now if I had it.
The flavor is something like root beer. Our house would have the best aroma while the pot of roots were boiling on the stove.
5 comments:
Interesting. I can remember the smell but I don't recognize the plant. It's beautiful tho. I wonder if that's what they make root beer from.
I have enjoyed these last three posts so much. Never having seen a chicory plant, it was good to finally know what it looks like. What a pretty flower. I love to drink New Orleans cafe au lait, chicory coffee with steamed milk. Sometimes I make it at home since I can't just drop in to a New Orleans cafe. And I have always loved the sassafras bushes in the Ozarks. They are lovely. I've never had sassafras tea but I've enjoyed the taste-alike,home made root beer.
Fleta better lock her door now that everyone has seen that rocker.
I think we only drank the tea in the spring. The flavor was all in the roots before the sap went into
the trunk and limbs of the bush.
Is that right? Is that why we only drank it in the spring? It was said to purify the blood. I do remember it smelling so good and tasting the same way.
Annie, all this talk of sassafras and root beer reminded me of that home made root beer so I wrote about it on my blog today.
I'd forgotten all about sassafras tea, but we used to drink it, too. I remember the flavor and the pretty pink color.
Post a Comment