+ Reply to Thread
Results 1 to 8 of 8

Thread: preparing sassafras root

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    epping newhampshire
    Posts
    126

    Default preparing sassafras root

    Anybody got any tips on drying sassafras root for later use?
    30 +- Taps
    Homemade evaporator with 2x3 flat pan, 1x2 preheater pan/finishing pan, lots of ideas, not enough time

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    Connecticut
    Posts
    131

    Default

    I have never dried it always used it fresh. You could dry it in the oven on the lowest setting like 170 or so, I have done that for jerky and tomatoes both worked. There is a chemical in it that isn't great for you but as long a you only drj k it once in a while and not every day for years you should be fine.

    Mike

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Potsdam in far northern New York
    Posts
    775

    Default

    If it was really bad for you, my entire family would be dead. We drink it every spring. Like so many things, it has supposedly been found to cause cancer in rats, but who knows how much they gave them, or what the parameters of the study were. More to the point, I've never seen the study, but have heard mention of it for years. It could very well be a myth...passed down as the truth, each passer believing the one before to be real

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    epping newhampshire
    Posts
    126

    Default

    Just looking for a way to keep it fresh for later use, maybe i'll try freezing some. Most cigarettes cause cancer but the fda has not banned their use. Im not really worried about that.
    30 +- Taps
    Homemade evaporator with 2x3 flat pan, 1x2 preheater pan/finishing pan, lots of ideas, not enough time

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    Connecticut
    Posts
    131

    Default

    Drying is one way, freezing should work well too.

    @ Mr. Greer:
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22024337
    http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...41008X65900694
    http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/co.../1883.full.pdf
    This is one of them. I am not saying don't drink it, I am trying to make sure everyone knows the issues. If someone mentioned smoking I would have done the same thing making sure they were aware of the possible negative affects. If you drank it as much as people did in England two hundred years ago, I am sure that the chemical would build up. I also can see that there are probably benefits to drinking it add well. I have drank it many times, and love it, I love natural teas.
    Mike

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    Monroe county
    Posts
    227

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by jake22si View Post
    Just looking for a way to keep it fresh for later use, maybe i'll try freezing some. Most cigarettes cause cancer but the fda has not banned their use. Im not really worried about that.
    Potatoes, Rhubarb, fiddleheads and apple seeds all are toxic if you eat enough of it. The average person can not eat enough of any of them to see any effect. Unless you intend to eat a whole tree I would not worry about sassafras toxins(if any). I always heard it was good for you, enjoy. Stripping the bark then drying it(the bark) may work best for you.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Potsdam in far northern New York
    Posts
    775

    Default

    So I'm looking for someone in central New York that would gather some Sassafras seeds next fall. The climate has warmed so much in the past 40 years that I'm sure I could grow them here in Potsdam. Any tree enthusiasts out there?

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Southern Ohio
    Posts
    1,349

    Default

    Spring is the best time to strip bark from roots. It peels the best. I wash the roots before I peel them. I dry them lust laid out on trays or in the oven on low heat. It keeps for years dried in a mason jar kept dry. You can also grind it to a powder after dry. Remind me next fall and I would be willing to look for you some seed. I could try and send you a small sapling or two. I have a lot of them in my woods. I have a jar in my cabinet all the time. Some of it is 3 yrs old and still good.

    Here is a good article on the benefits and concerns: https://www.drweil.com/diet-nutritio...as-tea-safety/

    Heck you can eat too much of anything. My wife had a reaction to Maple syrup. she put it in everything she ate until she reacted and had to back off.
    125-150 taps
    Smokey Lakes Full pint Hybrid pan
    Modified half pint arch
    Air over fire
    All 3/16 tubing
    Southern Ohio

+ Reply to Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts