A Beverage Mystery

California Carlson was Hopalong Cassidy's sidekick. Whenever he came into town from the Bar-20, he was always threatening to bust loose at the saloon and always ending up ordering sarsaparilla. When I asked grandpa what that was he told me root beer. This morning Wikipedia told me the same thing. However, I was at the Easton Farmer's Market yesterday and discovered that Simpson Springs produces both Sarsaparilla AND Root Beer. Until I take the tour at Simpson Springs on Wednesday, here's what I know now.

There are five plants worldwide that are named sarsaparilla. They don't seem to be closely related. According to Wikipedia the drink was made from "these roots." One of the roots, Smilax regelli related to our catbriers, was used for medicinal purposes. Wikipedia assures me that this was used for the drink in America. Old timers like me still occasionally call soda "tonic" and early carbonated beverages were an attempt to make patent medicine more tasty.  I've had second thoughts about good old California Carlson since I've learned that from 1820-1910 Sarsaparilla was in the US Pharmacopoeia as a cure for syphilis. Not to be unkind this may explain the drink's popularity with 19th century cowboys who were more Gus McCrae than Roy Rodgers. Lonesome Dove, by the way, remains one of my favorite novels ever.

The drink is not widely available in America anymore, but it is still popular in the Philippines, Malaysia, Australia, and southern India. Root beer also includes sarsaparilla root, but really features licorice root along with some of the following: cherry tree bark, nutmeg, acacia, anise, star anise, molasses, cinnamon, clove, and honey. In the olden days sassafras and sarsaparilla was the basis for root beer, but there is some concern about the carcinogenic and liver damaging properties of sassafras roots main component safrole.