How to Make Homemade Root Beer
Makes: 2 quarts
Preparation time: 5 days
Cooking time: 20 mins
Ingredients needed to make Homemade Root Beer:
- ½ cup fresh whey
- ¼ cup sassafras root bark
- 2 tbsp wild cherry tree bark
- 1 tbsp birch bark
- 1 tbsp ginger root1
- 1 tbsp hop flowers
- 1 tbsp licorice root
- 1 tbsp dandelion root
- 1 tsp juniper berries
- 2 tbsp sarsaparilla root
- ¼ cup winter green leaf
- 1 cup cane sugar, unrefined
- 1 cinnamon stick
Cooking instructions for Homemade Root Beer:
- Fill a large pot with 2 ½ quarts water and bring it to a boil.
- Drop in the sassafras, wintergreen, ginger, licorice, hops, birch, juniper and wild cherry bark into it and give it a nice stir to mix well.
- Reduce it to a simmer and continue to cook for about 20 minutes, stirring at times.
- Line a fine mesh sieve with cheesecloth and tip the contents of the pot into it to strain it into a pitcher.
- Add the cane sugar and stir it into the blend until it dissolves completely and set aside to cool slightly.
- Whisk in the fresh whey and divide it into flip-top bottles.
- Set aside for about 3-4 days to ferment at room temperature and then refrigerate it for another couple of days to allow the root beer to age.
- To serve, open the bottles carefully near a sink as it can explode due to pressure of the accumulated carbon dioxide.
- Pour it into glasses and plop in ice cubes.
- Serve chilled.
P.S : Though difficult to gather, the ingredients can be ordered online and are also available in Mountain Rose Herbs store.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
