# Sassafras trees



## nchobbyfarm (Apr 10, 2011)

I am clearing a new fence line and found 3 trees that I was unfamiliar with. Upon investigation, they are 12 inch diameter and 25 + feet talk sassafras trees. I know some people use it for making beer and root beer. Does anyone have any idea if there is a market for the root?


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## rockhound (Sep 25, 2009)

No mkt for the root since the gov made it illegal in interstate commerce, sorry. I make tea from the bark off the roots, just for me, just once a year in springtime. Like to keep a few pieces in my sock drawer for the aroma. The leaves dried and ground up are called FILE (fee-lay) powder and used as a thickener in gumbo stews, etc. The very tips of the branches in early spring can be chewed as a breath freshener. The taste is a combination of vanilla and orange peel, try it.


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## Horseyrider (Aug 8, 2010)

When I was a kid we'd pick the leaves and chew the stems all summer long to get that sassafras flavor. Alas, the number of sassafras trees here are few and far between.

I understand that there are alkaloids, if I remember right, in sassafras that are carcinogenic. Just something to keep in mind when reaching for that third glass of tea.


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## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

When I was a kid the stores carried sassafras root every spring. Mom made sassafras root tea in the spring, no other time. 

We have the trees here on the place; a nuisance if there are many. When cut they will send up sprouts from the roots, so weed-killer comes in handy. I left one rather large tree for old times' sake.


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## mekasmom (Jan 19, 2010)

rockhound said:


> No mkt for the root since the gov made it illegal in interstate commerce, sorry.


Yeah. I read some article that said sassafras is now considered a drug? Unbelievable. We drank the tea since I was a little kid, and the grandparents always made root beer with it. I guess we must have all been high and not known it?

Here's one link on the subject--
http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/chem_prog/advisories/safrole.htm


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## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

My favorite lumber, next to cherry. To my knowledge it has always been considered medicinal, usually taken in the spring. The tea will certainly warm you up.


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