Secret ingredients of root beer

The key component in root beer is the bark of the root of the sassafras tree, which is easily dug and rubbed off.

Typically, the rest of the ingredients include other tree products – such as cherry or birch bark – along with spices, citrus peel, and one or more ingredients from the anise/licorice group.

Low carbohydrate root beer normally use artificial sweeteners instead of sugar.

Almost every root beer recipe prior to the 1960s, used sassafras. Because of health issues with safrole, the FDA no-longer considers sassafras a safe flavoring ingredient.

Today wintergreen is the primary flavor in root beer. Other ingredients that can be used for flavoring are the bark or root of the following: anise, boxberry, cinnamon, clove, deerberry, spiceberry, teaberry and vanilla. 

The ingredients are simmered or stepped like tea, or extracted by some other method, depending on preference or family tradition.

The final ingredients of Hires root beer include: sarsaparilla, wintergreen, spikenard, birch bark, Italian juniper berries, chirreta, hops, licorice, ginger, sarsaparilla, yerba mate  and dog grass. This root beer was introduced by Charles Elmer Hires in 1876.
Secret ingredients of root beer