Main Ingredients:

See below ingredients and instructions of the recipe

Cooking Preparation of the Recipe:

120 S. Market St. Tenzing Momo
Mechanicsburg, PA 17055 93 Pike

Source (article): The Herb Companion, Aug/Sept 1990.
From : Sallie Krebs

*Ginger Beer
*Root Beer
*Spruce Beer

Here are some excerpts from the Herbal Soft Drinks article, along with
sources and bottling tips.

"The ingredients required for brewing soft drinks are a liquid, sugar,
yeast, and flavoring. 'Liquid' usually is water, but can also be fruit
juice or a decoction from a vegetable or sap. 'Sugar' supplies flavor
for the palate and food for the yeast. It comes in many forms, all of
them suitable for soft drinks: white or brown sugar, syrups such as
corn syrup, molasses, or honey. 'Yeast' creates the fiz (and if
desired, the alcohol) in the liquid. Brewers' or wine yeast can be
used, and is best for alcoholic beverages because it is cultured for
consistency, but bakers' yeasts (cake powder or liquid) are less
expensive and quite adequate for making soft drinks. Natural
'flavorings' generally contain acids whose tartness is balanced
against the sweetness of sugars to achieve the ultimate flavor.
Flavoring may be accomplished with distilled or other types of
commercial extracts; or fruits, herbs, conifer needles, or spices can
be cooked in the liquid to extract their flavor, then strained out."

"Sassafras (Sassafras albidum) has been banned by the FDA as a
flavoring in root beer because its oil contains about 80 percent
saffrole, a carcinogen (if used regularly, in large quantities, over
a long period) and liver toxin." ..."However, saffrole is also a
component of sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum), black pepper (Piper
nigrum), cocoa (Theobroma cacao), nutmeg (Myristica fragrans), star
anise (Illicium verum), and California bay (Umbellularia
californica)." ..."Sassafras root is available and has been included
in our recipe for root beer; if you plan to drink this beverage
regularly, a 'safrole-free' sassafras is available."

"The alcoholic content of a carbonated drink is determined by the
amount of time the yeast is allowed to react with the sugar. If the
reaction is allowed to run its course, the yeast will consume
virtually all of the sugar; about half of the sugar will be converted
to alcohol and half to carbon dioxide. If the process is terminated
early (by bottling), only a small amount of fermentation will have
occurred (enough to carbonate the liquid), and the result will be an
essentially nonalcoholic drink."

..."you can taste the flavored and sweetened liquid before adding the
yeast, and adjust to suit your palate. If it's too sweet, add some
lemon juice; if it's too sour, add sweetener; if the flavor is too
weak, add more of the flavoring ingredients."

"If a sediment develops on the bottoms of your bottles, carefully pour
the liquid from each bottle into a large pitcher before serving,
leaving the sediment in the bottle."

..."The recipes here have been adjusted for minimal fermentation; even
so, more than a few of our test bottles exploded dramatically under
the hot lights of the photography studio. Our advice: store your soft
drinks in a cool place." ..."(not recommended for more than six
months)".

Bottling tips: "Funnel into sterilized bottles (old beer or soft
drink bottles will do), and cap tightly. Metal caps, caps applied
with a crimping tool, or wire-hinged caps are best. If you cork your
bottles, tie or wire the corks down firmly and store bottles on their
side to encourage sealing. Use only sturdy, returnable-type beer
bottles or champagne bottles, those with twist-top caps are not
strong enough."

Sources: (roots and hops for root beer)

Frontier Cooperative Herbs
PO Box 118
Norway Iowa 52318

"Other mail-order sources that offer all the ingredients include:

Rosemary House

Seattle, WA 98101

Further reading:

Hobson, Phyllis. Making Your Own Wine, Beer, and Soft Drinks.
Charlotte, Vermont: Garden Way Publishing.

Firth, Grace. Stillroom Cookery (1977) and Secrets of the Still
(1983). McLean, Virginia: EPM Publications, Inc.

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