SC - Root Beer

[Christine A Seelye-King]

> BTW, could someone please clear up for me what is meant in the 
> States by "root beer"?  I have rather taken it to mean "sasparilla" 
> while my Lady contends that it is "ginger beer".  Given that it was 
> on a suggested list of possibles for taking to a pot luck, I have a 
> nasty feeling that she is right.
> 
> Gwynydd of Culloden, Ynys Fawr, Lochac, Kingdom of the West 

	Well, let me start by saying that I don't really think root beer as we
know it is a period beverage, but I was making that list up on the fly,
and did say it wasn't but was close.  Tinctures of roots were certainly
made up and drunk , and many liquers we have today were actually
medicinal in nature ("Jaegermeister" should have been left as cold
medicine, I don't see how people can drink that stuff for pleasure :p ). 
What we know in America as root beer is a brown, soft drink,
effervescent, tasting very sweet, slightly fruity and has a bit of a bite
like ginger or some bitter root.  There are brands that pride themselves
on their "bite" (Barque's Root Beer),  but I was raised on a brand called
A&W, and prefer the ones that taste more like that.  (I just don't like
my food to bite me back!)  My dad has a story from his youth (probably
the late '20's) concerning a small business venture he decided to take
up.  He bought some root beer concentrate, and used his mother's washing
machine to make the batch in and bottle from.  I don't think his mother
was at all pleased, nor can I imagine the stuff tasting very good!
 Here is a post from a wonderful book, that deals with some beverage
recipes that probably date from Colonial America.  
Christianna

>The following recipies come from _Back to Basics_, a Reader's Digest
book. 

Hay time Switchel.
Switchel is a refreshing, energy-boosting drink used by farmhands to
slake
their thirsts during the heavy work of harvest season.  Jugs of switchel
were kept cool by hanging them in a well or springhouse.

2 cups sugar			1sp. ground ginger
1 cup molasses			1 gal. water
1/4 cup cider vinegar

Heat ingredients in 1 qt water until dissolved, then add the remaining
water.  Chill and serve.

Ginger Beer

Root beer, ginger beer, lemon beer, and similar drinks had little or no
alcoholic content.  Fermented briefly with bread yeast, they were bottled
and stored; the fermentation served to make them fizzy.  Old-fashioned
root
beer is difficult to make because of the rarity of its ingredients: spice
wood, prickly ash, and guaiacum, to name a few.  The ginger beer given
here
is adopted from a Mormon recipe for Spanish gingerette.

4 oz. dried gingerroot			1 packet active dry yeast
1 gal. water				1/2 lb. sugar
Juice from 1 lemon

Pound the gingerroot to bruise it, then boil in 1/2 gal water for about
20
minutes.  Remove from stove and set aside.  Mix lemon juice and packet of
dry yeast in a cup of warm water, and add to water with gingerroot.  Pour
in remaining water, and let mixture sit for 24 hours.  Strain out the
root
and stir in sugar.  Bottle and place in refridgerator.  Do not store at
room temperature; bottles may explode.

Comments:  I turned a batch into alcohol once--I forgot to bottle it the
next day, and by the time I remembered, it was too late.   This has a
stronger "bite" than commercial ginger ale.  My neighbor in CA was from
Trinidad, and she told me this recipie tasted just like a traditional one
they drank at Christmas/New Years.

Melandra of the Woods
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