Homemade Root Beer Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret ingredient in root beer? ›

The main ingredients in root beer are pretty much the same as any other soda: water, high fructose corn syrup, caramel coloring, and flavoring, both natural and artificial. However, root beer's unique flavor comes from sassafras, a tree root native to the United States.

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).

Best Extract for Homemade Root Beer

I won't dissuade you from using widely-recognized brands out there, but I will tell you that my favorite extracts are Watkins root beer extract or Zatarains root beer extract. Both of these extracts are extremely delicious and have an intense but well-balanced root beer flavor.

From the Package

CARBONATED WATER, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, CARAMEL COLOR, SODIUM BENZOATE (PRESERVATIVE), NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVORS, QUILLAIA EXTRACT.

The Origins of Root Beer

Indigenous peoples in the Americas have long been using sassafras and sarsaparilla—the central ingredients to root beer—for culinary and medicinal purposes, including infused beverages.

Some describe root beer as an 'adulterated sarsaparilla' because it contains a mix of flavour enhancing ingredients. Most brewers choose to add vanilla, wintergreen, liquorice root, nutmeg, acacia, anise, molasses, cinnamon, clove or honey to their recipes.

Safrole was found to contribute to liver cancer in rats when given in high doses, and thus it and sassafras or sarsaparilla-containing products were banned.

Colonists used Sassafras and Sarsaparilla roots—among other local plants—to brew a type of small beer they (unimaginatively) named root beer. Generally, colonists did not drink root beer to get drunk.

The modern versions of root beer and sarsaparilla are nearly identical, the difference lies in the combination of ingredients and brewing technique. Each brand has a unique combination of ingredients and techniques to ensure a satisfying sip.

It gives it a unique flavor that is both sweet and minty. In my recipe, I use both birch essential oil and sarsaparilla in addition to other classic root beer flavors like wintergreen leaf, orange peel, and sassafras. All of these flavors result in an absolute king of root beers!

Does Mccormick make root beer extract? ›

Customers like the taste, quality and ease of preparation of the root beer extract. For example, they mention it has a great flavor, it's easy to use and creates fantastic recipes.

You simply mix up the root beer flavor or soda flavoring, sugar and water, chill the keg and the force carbonate by rocking or shaking the keg under about 30 lbs of pressure until you get the desired level of carbonation.

Although root beer is widely grouped in with other sodas, it has a significant difference: it rarely has any traces of citric or phosphoric acid. This makes root beer healthier for teeth when compared to typical colas. Root beer acidity is also much lower than other sodas on the market.

If you're thinking, "That can't be!" Go grab a bottle and try it with this in mind: One of the main ingredients in root beer is actually wintergreen flavor — the same flavoring you'd find in Listerine and other mouthwashes.

Colonists used Sassafras and Sarsaparilla roots—among other local plants—to brew a type of small beer they (unimaginatively) named root beer. Generally, colonists did not drink root beer to get drunk.

People used to drink sassafras tea. However, sassafras tea contains a high concentration of safrole, which was about 4.5 times the permissible dose. Thus, in 1976, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned the sales of sassafras tea. Moreover, the FDA prohibited the use of sassafras as food additives.

Both beverages are named after their distinct differences in ingredients when they were first made. Sarsaparilla was made from the Sarsaparilla vine, while Root Beer, roots of the sassafras tree. These days, Root Beer recipes do not include sassafras as the plant has been found to cause serious health issues.