Is there ginger root in root beer?

Answer 1

Root beer is a beverage that comes in two forms, alcoholic and as a soft drink. The alcoholic version is made from a combination of vanilla, cherry tree bark, licorice root, sarsaparilla root, artificial sassafras root bark flavoring (the pure form is mildly carcinogenic), nutmeg, anise, and molasses among other ingredients.

The soft drink version of root beer is non-alcoholic and is generally made using root beer extract or other flavored syrups along with carbonated water. The soft drink version of root beer constitutes about 3% of the American soft drink market.[1]

Many local brands of root beer exist, and homemade root beer is made from concentrate or (rarely) from actual roots. Both alcoholic and non-alcoholic root beers have a thick and foamy head when poured.

Ingredients may include allspice, birch bark, coriander, juniper, ginger, wintergreen, hops, burdock root, dandelion root, spikenard, pipsissewa, guaiacum, yellow dock, honey, clover, cinnamon, prickly ash bark, quillaia, and yucca.

Because of their pleasant flavor and medical properties some of the root beer ingredients have also occasionally been used in other products such as toothpaste, soap and medicine. This could explain why some people tasting root beer for the first time say that it reminds them of these products.

Due to the wide variety of ingredients possible the flavor of root beer is widely variable between brands, making it possible to determine which brand of root beer one is drinking solely by taste.

Root beer is very similar in taste to sarsaparilla, which may also be called root beer.

In Britain, there are several different root beers, which rose to prominence with the temperance movement in the 20th century. These include sarsaparilla, dandelion and burdock, and ginger beer. They were strongly flavored drinks that people could use as an alternative to alcoholic beverages, and there tended to be a strong local preference for one of these. Well into the 1960s, these outsold cola drinks.

Answer 2

Yes there was and no, now there is not.

According to an article written by Master Terafan Greydragon who found the ingredients list from a 1922 pamphlet about Hires Root Beer:

"Historians often credit Charles Hires with creating the root beer flavor we know today, but I believe that he simply made it popular. Here is a list of ingredients and countries from a 1922 pamphlet about Hires Root Beer.
Birch Bark - United States, New England Chirreta – India
Dog Grass – Germany Ginger – Africa
Ginger – China Ginger – Jamaica
Hires special plant Hops – United States, Northwest
Juniper Berries – Italy Licorice – Spain
Licorice – Russia Sarsaparilla – Honduras
Sugar – Cuba Vanilla – Mexico
Wintergreen – United States, North Carolina Yerba Mate, Brazil

In 1960 the FDA outlawed sassafras because it contains safrole, which was proven to cause cancer in lab rats. The primary element in the root beer flavor we know today is wintergreen. "

Answer 3

Root beer- Barq's!

Answer 4

I believe it's sasparilla root. I don't know if it's still used or just artificial flavors now.

Answer 5

that's why it's called root beer

Answer 6

Yes, but the main flavoring is wintergreen. Not many companies use sarsparilla anymore because it has been found to cause cancer in lab rats.

Answer 7

no it is sasperella root I think

Answer 8

I dont know but what ever happened to Hires. That used to be my favorite.

Answer 9

No, it's sassafrass.