How to Make Sassafras Tea from your Sassafras Tree
Sassafras tea is known for its appealing aroma and taste. It was the favored drink for the young, especially until colas came along. That doesn’t mean you should overdo it through. Sassafras tea like most herbal teas should be consumed in moderation.
Warning: Use precaution when working with sassafras at home. While sassafras root is still commonly used by home-brewing enthusiasts, be aware that sassafras contains safrole and take standard safety precautions when using homemade sassafras containing products internally and topically. The steps below are traditional steps for making Sassafras tea and have not been evaluated for safety concerning safrole. The USDA only allows safrole-free extract from sassafras to be used in commercial foods.
Step 1 - Cut the Roots
You should never take the roots from someone else’s tree without their permission of course. You’ll need to dig or pull the roots up and cut them. The roots should be pulpy and fairly easy to handle.
Find the root system on your Sassafras tree. So as not to disturb or shock the roots take from the tip most point, make a clean diagonal cut and don’t take too much root from one side of the tree.
Step 2 - Wash the Roots
As soon as you have the root inside wash it carefully in warm water. Cut the root into small sized pieces—2 to 3 inches long should work well.
Step 3 - Dry the Roots
Find a cool, dark, and arid spot for the roots to dry. Don’t place them in a window as the sun exposure will make the root tasteless. Allow them to dry for at least a week. Check on them frequently during this time to make sure there is no mottling. It is important that they be kept dry, since they can easily rot.
Step 4 - Pare the Roots
Using a small paring type knife strip the bark or skin from the roots cutting down into the woody part of the root. This is where the tree sap is stored for the winter months. This cutting shouldn’t be too difficult if the knife is sharp, but if you experience trouble—place them on a cutting boarding and cut them as you would a potato.
Step 5 - Refrigerate
Take these strips and put them in an airtight plastic bag. You can then refrigerate these until they’re ready to be used.
Step 6 - Make the Tea
When you are ready to enjoy your tea bring a quart of water to boil. Boil about 2 to 4 ounces of the roots in the water for around 20 minutes. Allow the roots to steep until the water cools down.
Step 7 - Season to Taste
Add sugar to taste. As a rule you will probably use the same amount of sugar or sugar substitute as you would in ice tea.
If you prefer to make enough to enjoy for a while, then steep for a longer period and add the tea to a gallon container of water.
Remember that Sassafras trees and subsequently their roots for making Sassafras tea contain safrole. This is a slightly yellow, oily liquid that is often extracted for commercial use from the Sassafras tree for uses such as camphor oil and natural pesticides.
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![Justin Stewart]()
Justin Stewart is a contributing writer to DoItYourself.com. He loves researching new home improvement techniques, and has written about a huge range of topics, from electrical wiring, to plumbing, to carpentry.![Stephini Candella]()
Stephini Candella is a Nutritionist, and attended the University of Texas for a B.S. in Nutrition and Didactics. She was a manager for a small gourmet restaurant, and has spent over 15 years cooking as a hobby for health. She has extensive knowledge of food science, micro-nutrition, history of the classic foods from across cultures, modern commercial and home cooking processes, disease restricted diet meal planning (cardiovascular, GAPS, diabetes), and popular diet trend (Paleo, Keto, Vegan) diets. Stephini most enjoys meal planning that focuses on simplicity and cost-effectiveness, and she strongly believes these are the foundations for delicious and healthy meals—the basis for a happy life. She is addicted to reading food labels, and uncovering the nutritional benefits of traditional cooking techniques of the classical foods across cultures. If you let her, she will talk your ear off over her fascination for how traditional fermentation cultivates the metabolic byproduct of certain bacteria into nutritional gold for human health. Stephini is also a CRLA (Certified Reading and Writing English Tutor) and has professionally tutored college students as well as K-12 students for an accumulated 15 years expanding to private school curriculum development and teaching in STEM and STEAM. She has been a professional researcher for multiple private and non-profit companies and organizations including the University of Texas Food and Housing Division. There, she researched and wrote recommendations for the University’s campus wide composting and food waste reduction initiatives, design and management of campus wide food waste studies, and the procurement of technologies best suited for large scale composting and food waste reduction. As a former Red Cross shelter manager, she has worked with her National Guard, and the US Army and Marines in search and rescue, procuring, and deploying multiple shelters serving thousands of evacuees. She has overseen the management of over 25 shelters in the state emergency operation center, and was held responsible for procurement of meals, medical supplies, and basic necessities. She also assisted in local county natural disaster rescues, providing insurance evaluations and recommendations for approving families affected by natural disasters to receive financial aid, housing, and food assistance. In addition, she volunteered for her local food pantry and domestic violence shelter where she prepared food. These discovered passions for emergency aid volunteer work led her to pursue national and state EMS licensures. She has traveled from Houston to New York to Seattle on a Leadership Scholarship, listening to world renowned scholars on the values of great leadership. Her favorite being the opportunity to sit and connect with the grandsons of Gandhi, listening to their first hand childhood experiences growing up alongside their grandfather organizing and executing his activism. Presently, Stephini conducts research and assistance on customer relationship management campaigns for 30 year veteran executives and business owners as an operations manager for a small, boutique executive assistance CRM firm. She has retired into a quiet, family-centric life, and can be found living between her home and college towns where she is raising her children. There, she is imparting her love for DIY learning and food on to them in the hopes that self-directed creativity and production will bring to them the same sense of holistic wellness that she’s experienced for herself.
