Root Beer Formulation Sheet
Added 2023-11-16 16:55:26 +0000 UTCFact: almost all sources on the internet get root beer wrong. Time has consolidated a once broad and interesting category of drinks into one generic liquid and a few minor sidekicks. There is much information to share. For starters, there are many dozens—possibly nearly one hundred—old root beer recipes available in old soda manuals and journals, though many of them do not go by the name "root beer," they were called meads, sassafras, pipsissewa, birch and spruce beer as well as Otaki, Ottawa, Columbian, Peruvian beers, Aralia and Sarine and then the great misnomer of Sarsaparilla—more on this in later post/video. The core ingredients that link them together are wintergreen and sassafras, though sarsaparilla plays a role, but not necessarily for flavour.
Now, most people know sassafras in banned, and for good reason—I have an explainer video coming—but scarcity seems to have put sassafras on a pedestal, though it needn't be. I've made a sassafras extract, from root bark, and in the upcoming video, I'll give you all the details on its aroma. And most importantly, yes it can be substituted. There is also a product called sassafras acetate, that doesn't have the negative health effects of safrole that we can use as well.
Spoiler alert, if you took a whiff of the sassafras extract, not knowing what it was, you'd guess licorice or anise with root beer notes. Wintergreen is equally important in the flavour of root beer, and almost exclusively in recipes, the two were used in relatively equal parts. But, with a little chemistry, some aroma profiling, a little sassafras acetate, we can replicate the taste of these originals.
I've made the formulation sheet, and the video will come along shortly, but this will give you an idea of where we are headed. The information, including ingredient details, will also be available on Flavour.zone, though, that takes a bit of time as it is a lot of information to gather.
Check it out, and if you have any questions, let me know as I will work them into the videos. Cheers
Comments
So 10 grams of acid per litre of finished beverage would be about what a natural fruit juice, like grape juice would have. It is acidic, but is balanced by the sugar levels, of about 10 to 15% which are natural levels in fruit. When it comes to cola or root beer, the levels are much lower, sometimes around 1 gram per litre, but the sugar content is still in the 10% to 12% range, which is why so many sodas taste sweeter, though they have natural sugar levels. They just reduce the acid. Root beers can have an acidity range of 0.2 to 0.5 grams, and even colas can reach that low level. If you want to reduce the sweetness, you can lower the sugar or increase the acidity. If you want low calorie, you would lower the acidity and sugar, but in some cases (citrus beverages) you can increase the acidity and lower the sugar. Hope that helps.
Darcy S. O'Neil
2025-07-08 15:52:15 +0000 UTCHi Darcy! I am currently going through the beverage course and I am trying to wrap my head around the acidity lesson. In the lesson, you mention that a good starting point it 10 grams/liter. Does that mean per liter of finished product, or per liter of syrup? Because this Root Beer recipe uses 5 grams of citric acid in a bottle of syrup that will make about 9 liters of finished product. Is my math way off or am I missing something? Thanks so much for all the content of information you provide.
David Sweeney
2025-07-07 16:10:40 +0000 UTCYou can find it here: https://shop.perfumersapprentice.com/p-6232-toscanol-givaudan.aspx
Darcy S. O'Neil
2024-12-02 19:31:43 +0000 UTCThank you for this! Could you point me in the direction of where I can purchase toscanol? Thanks!
Jill Winger
2024-12-02 16:38:17 +0000 UTC
