Homemade Sassafras Root Beer

Ingredients

• 30 inches several roots from sassafras saplings green (including some stems) (enough to fill one cup when you chop them into)
• 4 cups water 
• 2  cloves 
• 0.5 teaspoon anise seeds (can sub fennel)
• 4  allspice 
• 1 inch stick cinnamon 
• 0.3 cup blackstrap molasses 
• 1 cup sugar 
• 2 quarts soda water 

Equipment

• paper towels
• pot
• sieve
• cheesecloth

Directions

1. Prepare the roots: Scrub the roots clean of any dirt.
2. Cut the roots into 1/2-inch long pieces. (The roots can be tough, if you have a pair of pruning shears, they work great to cut the roots.) If you have a few green stems, you can include them too, but you should have mostly roots.
3. Cut up as much as you need to fill one cup.
4. Simmer roots with spices:
5. Put the roots into a small pot and cover with 4 cups of water.
6. Add the cloves, anise seeds, allspice berries, and cinnamon stick. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and simmer for 25 minutes.
7. Add the molasses and simmer for 5 minutes more.
8. Remove from heat.
9. Strain and add sugar: Strain through cheesecloth or a fine mesh sieve lined with a paper towel. Rinse out the pot. Return the liquid to the pot.
10. Add the sugar, heat until just a simmer and the sugar has dissolved.
11. Remove from the heat and let cool.
12. Add soda water to syrup to serve: To assemble the root beer, fill a glass with ice cubes, add the syrup and soda water in a 1:2 ratio, so 1/3 cup of syrup to 2/3 cups of soda water.
13. Add more soda water if you want it more diluted, add more syrup if you want it stronger.