Sarsaparilla Drink

Sarsaparilla is a perennial trailing vine, which has prickly stems, which are native to Central America. The name sarsaparilla comes from Spanish. It is a vine native to East Australia. The basic use of sarsaparilla is to make the base of a soft drink, which is known for its taste. It was also commonly used to make the old-fashioned root beer.

In Central America is known to have medicinal properties and was also popular in the European continent for treatment purposes. Before the advent of cola drinks, this drink was very popular in the United States of America, but its place was usurped by the colas.

The root of the vine is used to brew this drink. The taste of this drink is very similar to root beer that is commonly available these days. These days the drink which is available is made with artificial flavorings and it is sweetened with the addition of sassafras extract.

Ingredients

• Sarsaparilla Plant Extract, 1 tablespoon
• Dry Champagne Yeast or Powdered Baker's Yeast, ¾ teaspoon
• Sugar or Honey or Sassafras Extract as per taste
• Water
• Funnel
• Dry Bottle

Method

• Place the funnel onto the bottle and pour the sweetener of your choice into the bottle.
• Then, add yeast to the sweetener, close the bottle and shake well, till the sweetener and yeast are mixed well together.
• Again, place the funnel onto the bottle and pour in the sarsaparilla extract into the bottle.

• Then, fill the bottle half-way through with water.
• Close the bottle and shake it, so that all the ingredients are mixed well together and the water is no more transparent.
• Fill the remaining half of the bottle with water and secure the bottle with the cap.

• Keep the bottle aside at room temperature for four days, till it is as firm as an unopened two liter bottle soda bought from the supermarket.
• Once the brew is ready, move the bottle to a cooler location. Temperature below 65 ºF is the 
• best for sarsaparilla drink.

• Chill the brew before you want to serve it. However, take care when you open the bottle as the carbonation can cause pressure and the drink may overflow from the bottle.

Ingredients

• Sarsaparilla Root, 3 tablespoons
• Licorice Root, 1 tablespoon
• Water, 1 quart
• Dried Stevia Leaves, 3 teaspoons
• Carbonated Water, 2 quart

Method

• In a saucepan, mix sarsaparilla and licorice with one quart of water and allow the mixture to simmer for about 45 minutes.
• However, it is important to make sure you do not boil the mixture, lest the drink becomes bitter.
• Add stevia leaves and let the drink simmer for another 15 minutes, but do not let it boil.

• Strain the drink and place the pan back onto the burner.
• Let the ingredients simmer on low heat till the liquid reduces to half.
• Remove from heat and strain with a cheesecloth to get a concentrate.
• Refrigerate the concentrate.
• Serve 2 ounces of concentrate with 10 ounces of carbonated water. If you wish you can add stevia to the drink.

There are other methods of making the drink from sarsaparilla as well. If you search for sarsaparilla wine, you will come across a number of wine recipes made with sarsaparilla. The procedure of making the drink is not lengthy and they can easily be made at home.