sassafras tea?

Question

has eny body ever drank sassafras tea. tell me the health benafits , I know it was around before the inglish came to america. its adictive. can cause cancer or liver problems i read. it was around when the boston tea party. the english shipped over to america. I wonder what kinda topic could people put into this intresting educating topic

Answer 1

Sassafras albidum (Sassafras, White Sassafras, Red Sassafras, or Silky Sassafras) is a species of Sassafras native to eastern North America, from southern Maine and southern Ontario west to Iowa, and south to central Florida and eastern Texas. It occurs throughout the eastern deciduous forest habitat type, at altitudes of sea level up to 1,500 m. It formerly also occurred in southern Wisconsin, but is extinct there as a native tree.

Answer 2

I have drank sassafras tea since I was a young child. Sassafras grows in Missouri and we used to just buy a bag of sticks of sassafras at the store (you use the root) and steep half a dozen in a teapot of hot water. It's good hot or iced.
Nowadays they say it's carcinogenic and you have to buy Pappy's sassafras extract in a bottle, which you dilute with water. It's OK, it doesn't taste as good to me. Every once in a while someone we know will cut down a sassafras tree or see one fallen and we will get some of the "real thing" and that's a treat.
One interesting fact you may not know-file, which the Cajuns used to thicken gumbo (as in file gumbo) consists of ground sassafras leaves, which contribute a subtle flavor.