Extracting Safrole to Make Government-Banned Root Beer 

To address some of the comments I've been getting: 1. Yes, I know safrole is used to make MDMA/MDA. But that is NOT why it is banned in food. You'd have to process thousands of liters of natural root beer to get any meaningful amount of safrole out, and even then, it would be contaminated with stuff like anethole (licorice/anise), which poisons the various drug syntheses with undesirable and toxic PMA. It would be completely impractical to spend thousands of dollars on root beer when you can just uproot or cultivate a few plants for free. Some have mentioned that old-fashion root beer extract was a contributing factor, since it would've contained much higher levels of safrole that could be extracted and used. Well...then why haven't they also banned almond extract? That stuff is basically a concentrated solution of benzaldehyde, and believe me, people have used it to cooked amphetamines that are much more notorious than MDMA. And again, root beer extract would still contain all of the hard-to-remove poisonous contaminants that I mentioned before, so even that would be a sub-optimal source compared to sassafras. AND TO TOP IT ALL OFF (thanks to a commenter who brought this up): although it was made decades before, MDMA wasn't even a scheduled substance until the 80's...20 years after the safrole ban. It's therapeutic effects weren't even examined until the 70's. So yeah, no real correlation between the ban and safrole's relation to drug synthesis. 2. Safrole was banned because it CAN be harmful if ingested in high doses. In low doses, it's fairly safe, which is why you can eat stuff like cinnamon, nutmeg, and black pepper without suffering from liver failure. That being said, safrole/sassafras is not a health food, medicine, or cure-all. It doesn't "purify the blood". It is still toxic, and any benefits from taking it are outweighed by the damage it does to your liver. 3. Plenty of you have asked about my root beer preferences and which ones I've tasted. My favorite is probably Hank's Gourmet, but for everyday drinking, A&W and its Great Value knock-off are solid choices ("everyday" not to be taken literally...I drink root beer maybe once or twice a week, if even that). Some honorable mentions are: Frostie's, IBC, Barq's, Sprecher, Bawls Guarana, Triple XXX, and Sioux City...and probably more that I'm forgetting, lol. Least favorites are probably Dad's, Boylan's, and Mug (I'd still drink them though). Virgil's Bavarian Nutmeg was good, but a little weird, imo. 3.5: I recently tried birch beer, as many of you suggested, and it was pretty good! It tastes kind of like Listerine mouth wash, since the essential oil of birch is the same as wintergreen, but it wasn't bad. I still prefer root beer though! 4. When I mentioned going to Europe for "real" root beer, I was basing that comment on the fact the some countries (like Germany, according to a German chemist I know) still allow safrole in foods. It can't be added to food, but it doesn't have to be removed from it either. In other words, you could use sassafras to make root beer in some European countries. Of course, I've been told root beer is somewhat unpopular over there, so... 5. Here's why I made my root beer the way I did: this is a science/chemistry channel, therefore my focus was on extracting the safrole, not making old fashion sassafras tea the way your grandma did (hence why I didn't just steep the roots like most people do). Also, I don't have a soda stream, nor do I have the money to spend on one, so I used club soda. I've tried fermenting root beer before, and it throws off the flavor. I could've used dry ice, but that's harder to get and working with in under pressure is unnecessarily dangerous. My goal was to make something that tasted and looked like store-bought root beer, not to make a 100% all-natural brew. Hence why I was not ashamed to add extracts and food color. I tried a few other recipes found on RU-vid, but they all fell flat (sorry "Glen and Friends Cooking", cinnamon DOES NOT belong in my root beer!). 6. To everyone sharing cool stories, giving helpful advice, and complimenting me (or my sister) in any way: thank you very much, I wish I had time to personally thank all of you! Also, to the few people complaining and insulting me because I said the words "my family's lake cabin": get over it. Not everyone on RU-vid is trying to show off. I'm not rich, and I only included that because it seemed relevant to the story. If that offends you, too bad: I'm not going to mince words and dance around the story just to avoid being called "privileged human trash" by a few of you.

"It's banned because, uh... cancer. Definitely not because MDMA. We're always here to help." - The Government

"Government-Banned Root Beer" is a phrase I never thought I'd ever read.

I've drank sassafras tea all my life (69) and have made authenic root beer for decades. I use dried roots, brown sugar, anise but I naturally carbonate mine using champagne yeast. It doesn't add off flavors and is closest thing I've found other than the old fountain style A&W, sold at roadside stands

I started doing drugs 23 years ago as a teenage, got addicted to cocaine. Spent my whole life fighting cocaine addiction. I suffered severe depression and mental disorder. Cocaine addiction actually destroyed my life. Not until my wife recommended me to psilocybin mushrooms treatment. Psilocybin treatment saved my life honestly. 8 years totally clean. Never thought I would be saying this about mushrooms.

I grew up in New Orleans, and we had a very large sassafras tree in our backyard. One day, I was playing with a post hole digger and dug up some of the roots and told my mother that it smelled just like root beer. She told me that her mother showed her how to make sassafras tea from the roots. I dug up some of the roots for her, and she showed me how to do it. It tastes just like root beer but without the fizz. It's been a long time since I've seen someone do this. Thank you for this content. This brought back so many memories for me.

My grandma was 3/4 Cherokee. She taught me how to make sassafras tea 45 years ago! She said it was good for the body and soul! I have taught my daughter and grandsons how to make the tea! Thank you sir for bringing back some memories

From Applalacia , we make sassafras tea pretty often. Using the bark of the larger root that is washed lightly then fully dried, it turns into red bark pieces that are sweet. You can make sun tea or boiled. Ends up a beautiful color and mild sweetness. It's a natural blood thinner, so it seems like it cools you down in the summer. Do not drink if you are already on blood thinners ! I know you were making root beer, but small roots, not dried , too much shaved off IMO. Just use the bark that shaves off and be sure to dry it. For flavor and color.

You need to try sassafras tea, you basically boil the root in water, sweeten with sugar. We did this as children, such lovely memories.

Thanks for the support, Zach

Badass move posting your sister's work for your followers. Clearly a good brother indeed 👍

The wintergreen you're missing is the thing they replaced sassafras with when it got banned. You should try birch beer and spruce beer and other alternatives to get a sense of the variety.

You can make original rootbeer in a similar fashion to ginger beer: make a tea with your sassafrass bark and other desired herbs, use demerara sugar for extra goods. Add some homemade gingerbug to ferment the fizz into it, bottle it up and let it ferment for a few days to a week. The fermented fizz gives it a wonderfully olde timey flavour.

I wish more people did things like this, just because they can and sheer curiosity.

Safrole is bad for you in excess....."here's some yellow number 5 and 6" - the government

Sassafras leaves, when dried and powdered, are known as "Filé", which is used as a seasoning and thickener in Cajun food like gumbo.

You’re a great brother! As a father your support for your sister brought a tear to my eye.

I remember my grandma making sassafras tea when I was a kid. She'd get me and my brother to dig up roots from the sassafras trees in her back yard. I will never forget that amazing smell.❤

Root beer is ok, but proceeding through the complete MDMA synthesis would be even better.

When I was a kid A&W had home brewing kits in grocery stores. I had it once and it was the best tasting drink I ever had. The key that you missed is actually brewing it with yeast. This creates a carbonation with really small bubbles and thuse a super smooth taste. Despite that, great video.

To those who don't know, the sassafras tree has 3 different leaf shapes, all possible to appear on the same tree. Duck feet, mittens, and regular ovals. Most trees will have all 3. The leaves have an interesting sweet smell

Stuff like this is what keeps me coming back to youtube in spite of their ridiculous policies and politics. Who knew some smart chemist would go through all this to make a little old fashioned root beer. And by the way, the dummy version of this also works pretty well and I did it a few times as a kid. By that I mean just digging up sassafras roots, chopping them up, putting in a pot of boiling water and after 15 minutes of boiling remove the roots and boil away a lot of the water. Add sugar you you have good tea that everyone always says "tastes like root beer" and ain't too bad!

Here in California, my family and I used to go up to a friend of the family's cabin in gold country. They still had some "ghost towns" (the most famous being Columbia State Park) that were surviving off tourists trades and a few would sell Sarsaparilla in the saloons and of course Sarsaparilla and Root Beer concentrated extract so that you could make them both at home after the trip. Very, very tasty. :) Thanks for the video and all my best to yourself and your sister. Carpe Diem!

You seem like the kind of guy that would make their own LSD. The world needs people like you. Carry-on my friend. Carry-on.

This man loves walking the razors edge of legality and I love it. Always wanted to try the old school root beer.

While at Boy Scout Camp Garland in Oklahoma during the 60’s I found some sassafras saplings and dug them up. It was east to identify sassafras by its leaves, as you showed. And the aroma and flavor of the roots confirmed the identification. Naturally I shared the roots with my troop members, kids my age. The taste was really delightful! There was a downside, though. One kid peed his sleeping bag that night. The root contains a diuretic. Thanks for sharing! Fun chemistry demo!

Reminds me of making our own root beer as a kid. Not sure exactly where my parents got the safrole, but I remember them conserving the last few batches as long as possible because we loved homemade root beer every summer. Those were the days!

I grew up making sassafras tea.. we made it alot simpler, we washed off the roots from the mud/dirt,, chopped up the roots bark and all to pieces about 5-6inches long, threw them into a large soup pot full of water, boil for an hour, let it sit and cool down on its own, take roots out of it add sugar , stirr,,,,,,,back in the late 70's, we would go fishing and digg roots

Very informative. For those interested, harvesting the sassafras root toward the end of winter is the optimal time. Since all of the sassafras tree’s nutrients, like safrole oil, are concentrated within the root system, as the tree “hibernates” during winter. Though this makes it more difficult to identify, and must be found via bark pattern identification.

So, let me get this straight, Safrole is too dangerous to put in a soft drink but corn syrup is A-OK!

I appreciate your no-nonsense approach.

I tried making my own rootbeer when i was in the seventh grade. Thats been 45 years ago. Enjoyed the whole video, very informative. Again, super job on the video.

When my dad was in Viet Nam they were driving down a road and one of the guys jumped out of the truck and ran into the forest. Everyone was like WTF? 10 minutes later he came back with a bunch of roots. He chewed on one and passed the rest out. It was sassafras.

I am retired, and I can remember when my grandmother made sassafras tea by boiling sassafras root, then remove the root from the tea. I can also remember buying concentrated sassafras tea in a glass jug. Be safe my friends.

If you want to improve it try using a thickener like vegetable glycerin. If you want to go truly traditional you can use the banned (for this purpose) egg whites. Thickeners are always used in sodas to help the flavor coat the inside of you mouth. Since you were talking about adding wintergreen, keep in mind that wintergreen was not actually originally part of root beer, it was only added after the ban on safrole so if you want the original root beer flavor you wouldn't need it, just adding it to get that slight minty taste is fine if you like it though.

You and your sister strike me as brilliant folks! It blows my mind to see science like this and writing a book such an impressive accomplishment! I am so impressed by the two of you! I wish you both the best! :)

Mental health is one hell of a struggle, and its auch a strong opponent to face. Its a horrible thing. As someone that had her fair battle with it, im really happy to hear about your sister's book. I hope that she will be able to publish it! And thank you as well for helping her, it's an amazing thing.

Bros account is like the ultimate form of all the other science youtubers past and present. The king of random, styropyro, Nilered, extractions and ire. A true student of the internet. I applaud you man

luckily, I live in a place that has wild sassafras as well, and were a huge foraging, crafting (soap,candles,jam,canning,jarring other preserves, maple syrup (VT Strong!), etc) family, so we've made Root Beer, and living where we do, a lot of our neighbors do as well, so it's been a huge part of my childhood! I'm flad to be lucky enough to spend my childhood,young-adulthood here, I love it, and I'm so glad I can be here, live here. I grew up on stuff like this, and I'm glad that the chem sphere of youtube has appreciation for a fast dying culture.

I've always loved the spicy smell of sassafras and wanted real safrole root beer. I'm jealous!

I'm a woodworker and years ago a friend gave me a bunch of sassafras lumber. When working it, the smell of root beer was all around the shop. What a great smell...and great lumber to work with.

Nice setup of steam distillation! Might adopt it to extract rose oil from roses. :)

When I was a teenager I discovered sassafras trees back on my family's property and actually made my own rudimentary root beer. I simply boiled the roots because that's the process I had and I have to say, your process is much more elegant and I love it!

I'm almost 70 and I remember drinking home-made rootbeer "way back when" and it absolutely gave me a nice "buzz" similar to that which beer and other alcoholic stuff did when I had my chance to start 'sneakin'' it a few years later.

So glad this was filmed in Hi-res.

Back when I owned 5 large house cleaning businesses our floor cleaner had Safrole in it. Customers loved the smell.

I make sassafras tea just by boiling the roots for 15/20 minutes. Has a nice red color that old time birch beer used to have. I highly recommend trying it.

In 1986 I walked into my local town chemical supplier and bought a 500ml bottle of isosafrole. I had special ordered it. The guy looked ta me kind of weird, but we made the sale and off I went to make something out of it. There's probably a statute of limitations which has passed, but still just gonna say I never did complete the synthesis.

I grew up drinking sassafras tea. I was always told it's best to dig the roots in the winter when then roots have a higher concentration of the good stuff.

you are a respectful and educated young man. subscribing

Yesss, thank you so much for posting this. Never should it be illegal to harvest these psychotropics. I hope to God this doesn't get flagged and banned from RU-vid.

It's rather funny that both of the names of root beer are references to ingredients no longer in the stuff. Root beer used to be called sarsaparilla (the "sarsa" is pronounced as "sass") which is also in reference to being made from sassafras roots.

Back in the 70's my grandfather was just starting to close down his birch still. They produced birch oil for many years for soda companies. Black Birch logs were stripped of bark and placed into copper lined boxes and steamed. The liquid after steaming was heated and condensed into a wooden box that had a collection jar. It operated the same way as a corn mash still. Artificial flavoring did them in but the still was still standing till mid 80's and you could still smell the birch smell.

Thanks for sharing your sister's work!

Americana brand rootbeer still uses sassafras, and thus is my favorite rootbeer. Unfortunately it's very rare to come across (usually vintage style soda shops). I actually forage for sassafras to make homemade rootbeer

"It wasn't made from paint thinner or plastic gloves." I see what you did there! I love Nile Red. Subbed

I made sassafras tea throughout my childhood. I used to like the taste. Used to pound the roots to break up the fibre and add to boiling water. A bit of sugar and sometimes lemon juice. Yum!

That's what we did to make sassafras tea when I was a kid into my teens.

I was taught 60yrs ago in scouting that the best way to harvest sassafras is early spring. A walk thru woods with it you'll notice if your paying attention you can find it by smell!! Also the sap has begun flowing so you get pungent root!! I've heard the herb can build up in you if you drink it like a beverage for an extended time.

I live in Florida but while I was in Ranger school up in Georgia, I would find my own sassafras plants and pull off the root, boil it and make my own root beer.

I can’t believe how fun & informative this rootbeer video is. It makes me want an icecold rootbeer so bad but I bet yours was better than an off the shelf one. Mmmmmmm

Much respect to your sister. Good luck, and God bless you guys.

I make my rootbeer extract with wintergreen, sassafras, sarsaparilla, cherry bark, and ginger powder. You can get safrole containing sassafras from most small farms- since they don't have the ability to extract the safrole before sale. I use an ethanol and PG mix in a drop funnel to extract. Turns out pretty awesome tbh.

Interesting enough, a product called filé is dried and ground yoing sassafrass leaves. It is used extensively in Cajun and Creole food. Gumbos just aren't the without it.

My Californian step dad used to make his own root beer and it was sooo nice it was really addictive !!!

I used to run across those roots in the Midwest. We'd clean and boil them. Terrific tea. ❤

Love that you’re supporting your sister. I’ve struggled with depression and anxiety and i will definitely check out the newsletter.

My great granny would dig up sassafrass trees in the mountains of north Georgia and make her own sassafras tea. Died of a stroke in her sleep at the age of 93. She lived on her own until the age of 91.

When I was a little boy, my grandmother in Kentucky occasionally made sassafras tea from the roots. She boiled the roots and poured off the liquid. She may have had to skim it, I don't remember. But add sugar, and it tastes much like root beer.

We used to make tea out of sassafras root nearly anytime people were digging where I grew up in KY. You could smell it... you got into the piles when the crews went home and harvested it without having to dig.

You should try dandelion and burdock soda! It's almost the parent of root beer. I actually prefer it over regular root beer.

This plant is really great. It's amazing how particular the scents of this plant are. The roots smell like cola and the leaves smell like fruit loops. The roots also numb your mouth if you chew on them.

I was born in 1970 & I always heard stories about a AWESOME ROOTBEER STAND near our Cities Main St. I heard it was the best but i never got to taste it & it closed in the 60's. I suppose he tried making the same but he could never figure out how to make that great sweet Rich Rootbeer that he used to make in the 1940's to the 60's. The Rootbeer Stand is still standing today as a Memorial Building. All the Ole Timers said it was the best & there was always a long line for people waiting to get a froxen mug of the good stuff!

Omg thank u... I've been trying to find a sasperella root beer I had as a kid (80s baby) prolly back in the 90s... no wonder why I haven't had any luck !!❤

I grew up drinking sassafrass tea - hot and cold - at my grandmother's table and have missed it for years. I recently discovered a plant known variously as root beer plant, holy leaf (hoja santa in Mexico) and Mexican pepperleaf. It's packed with safrole and smells an tastes much like sassafras. I'll take a small leaf and crush it a bit, roll it up and stick into an bottle of carbonated water then seal it, leaving it for a day or so. Then I pour out a bit of the water and mix in sweetener with it then pour the rest of the infused water over the sugar mixture, stir gently and add ice. It makes a pretty good drink, real close to a good sassafras based root beer.

I love that you took the time and effort to make a custom label!!! Also, the reference to Nile Red making normal stuff from weird stuff like gloves. Don't be hard on your self, he has an advanced degree and professional set up. But still you did something ridiculously cool!

We drank sassafras tea on occasion when I was young. It was a wonderful treat.

From what I've been told, wintergreen was the replacement for sassafras in root beer when the government banned it's use in large scale manufacturing of the stuff. So it wasn't originally in root beer (assuming what I've been told is correct.)

Great video and good job supporting your sister. I can assure you that your support means the world to her.

I have mental health troubles too and please tell her that i want to congratulate her for writing a book and I wish her all the best in getting the funds to self publish it and I wish her all the best in life. I know how hard life can be for people like us, and she is an inspiration that we can be great functional parts of society and that we can and should help each other too. I hope her suffering goes away or is able to be managed with medication and therapy. Also, she should be very proud of herself. Please pass this message on to her. Thank you, Kevin B.

Had a friend, many years ago now, who used to make sassafras tea every now and then. He said it was a mild blood thinner and had some other potential medicinal properties. I never tried it, but thought it was an interesting endeavor.

amazing how the world works, I have been struggling with mental health issues for a few years now, no one is alone as much as they feel they are. Good luck to her and the book

I’m 45 and remember when I was growing up, my mom used to go in the fall to the woods to collect sassafras roots to keep on hand for when were sick with colds, flus and upper respiratory infections. She had an old recipe for us to use from my grandma who was a healer in the backwoods of South Alabama. I don’t remember the way they made the remedy, but it cleared the cold and flu or upper respiratory infections quicker than using antibiotics or whatever the doctors gave us. I just remember how good it tasted when it was warm and the taste was delicious 😋. I loved watching how you made the sassafras oil.

Many years ago, I dug up Sassafras roots and simply boiled them to make tea. Added some sugar and drank it. Not quite root bear but was still good.

You’re a good brother. May you and your sisters health flourish.

Great video! Sassafras tea is really good and your video inspired me to make my own. You're the next Nile Red!

All my life, I've never been able to tell the difference between Sarsaparilla and Root Beer, which makes me think I have never had a traditionally flavoured version of either.

When I was a child in the 1940's my mom made root beer. It came in a forrm that looked like brown clay. I do not know the methods used to make the root beer, but I do remember how good it tasted. I do remember it was actually brewed, something like beer.

I also love Root Beer. I live in S.C. and they have a soft drink called Sundrop. We've all heard of a Root Beer Float. Well I came up with the Sundrop Float. It's Sundrop with Lime Sherbet. It's fantastic

Root Beer and Cream Soda are my favorite soda pops. Really enjoyed you video. Thanks👍

If you would like to get slightly more safrole from the roots, the best time to harvest is in the dead of winter

The role of the government is NOT to determine for me what I can or cannot put in my body. This is where the fda and cdc have gotten way off track. I have a buddy who used to dig up sassafras root precisely for flavoring, knowing the potential side effects. Either way, the government needs to butt out.

Finally!! Someone worthy to replace my NileRed addiction! Subscribed almost immediately!

Gee did i enjoy this video ! i would love to actually do this . these sorts of process seem like so much fun to me . i would not be interested in getting high or messed up tho. i enjoy a more healthy lifestyle but i sure wouldnt turn my nose up at a chance to taste that beer ! hats off pal . my father met my mother in sweden . one of the things he always talked about was they travelled all around and he said each region had their own soda pop . they would make it from regional ingredients ands he would go on and on about that . he passed in 83 but i thought of him tonight , he would have loved this video .

I love walking through the woods and happening upon a sassafras tree. I’ll always grab several leaves and chew on the stems during my hike. I always referred to them as root beer trees, but never realized the flavor was concentrated in the roots. Awesome video!

You and Nigel need to get together and make something really cool. I'm surprised he hasn't done this already, TBH.

3:18 MAGIC BULLET! Those things still exist? So many good memories from childhood! 😊😊

Very cool. I'm addicted to Root Beer also. Thanks for sharing.

My grandma used to make sassafras tea and candies like.... 40 years ago. It was so awesome.

When I was little, my parents would buy sassafras tea in the store all the time and we loved drinking it. We liked tea in general, but whenever my mom would ask if I wanted regular tea or sassafras I would always perk up and say sassafras. Then when I was 8, my mom said we couldn't buy it anymore, because the government made it against the law. I remember being a child hearing this and getting mad saying over and over again how that's not fair and they shouldn't do that. I never understood why. As an adult I began learning about so many natural remedies for so many health issues and learned how the FDA has made it difficult to obtain certain remedies in the health food store, claiming it isn't safe, yet they won't take their own drugs off the shelf like Tylenol when it poisoned several people in the early 1980s because they were laced with cyanide. I remember being 12 when that havened and when as an adult I learned of their bias decisions to keep that on the shelf but not natural remedies that were actually helping people, i knew something was up. I was learning how our government actually WANTS us to be sick and they work with the FDA and entire medical community. They can't continue billing you or your insurance company when you actually get better, but when you take their drugs that only cover the symptoms and not actually heal your body, they can make money off you the rest of your life. I found out sassafras actually fights cancer. Hmmmmm. And it costs how many thousands or even millions to trat a cancer patient with the common conventional medical methods? One really has to start asking a lot of questions about those things. In the mid 90s I read a book called Stop The FDA. It exposes a great deal of politics within this for profit organization which absolutely will infuriate anyone who has any sense of morals about them.