17th Century | 18th Century | 19th Century | 20th Century
In the 1600s, sassafras (a tree that grows between 10 to 35 feet tall) was a valuable and highly sought after commodity in Maine and throughout New England, which was aggressively harvested by early English explorers for its perceived medicinal properties. Indigenous peoples had long used the tree for medicine and other purposes, knowledge which the Europeans quickly adopted and commercialized.
• Early expeditions: English explorers, including Bartholomew Gosnold in 1602 and Martin Pring in 1603, were among the first to aggressively explore the Maine coast for commercial gain. Both returned to England with cargos that included sassafras roots, promoting New England's natural resources to investors.
• Medical craze: The root extract of the sassafras tree was mistakenly believed to be a cure-all for a wide range of diseases, including syphilis, fevers, and rheumatism. This fad created a strong European market for the product.
• Major export: For a period in the early 1600’s, sassafras was one of the New World's most profitable exports to Europe, second only to tobacco.
• Timber and products: Beyond its medicinal use, the durable, decay-resistant wood was used for products like fence rails, and its distinct aroma was thought to repel insects. Sassafras oil was also used to scent soaps and flavor beverages, which were early versions of root beer.
The trade for sassafras was spurred by Native Americans' existing understanding of the plant, which they used for a variety of medicinal purposes. Indigenous uses included:
• Medicinal properties: Native American tribes in the region and beyond used sassafras to treat an array of ailments, from fevers and rheumatism to upset stomachs and wounds.
• Other uses: Leaves were used as a cooking spice, while the wood was used for items like bows and canoes. The oil was also used to scent items.
• Range: Sassafras was found from southern New England south to Florida, with southern Maine representing the northern limit of its native range.
• Exploitation: The rush to profit from sassafras led to its aggressive harvesting, particularly of the prized roots. This unsustainable extraction, combined with the tree's reputation fading over time, caused its commercial value in the 1600’s to eventually decline.
Pharmacist Charles Hires was the first to successfully market a commercial brand of root beer. Hires developed his root tea made from sassafras in 1875 and debuted a commercial version of root beer at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876, where he began selling his extract. Hires was a teetotaler who wanted to call the beverage "root tea”. However, his desire to market the product to Pennsylvania coal miners caused him to call his product "root beer", instead.
In 1886, Hires began to bottle a beverage made from his famous extract. By 1893, root beer was distributed widely across the United States. Non-alcoholic versions of root beer became commercially successful, especially during Prohibition.
However, sassafras was banned as a food ingredient in 1976 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration— due to its high concentration of the organic compound safrole, which was found to have carcinogenic properties in rats. It is still legal to use the crushed, dried leaves as filé powder— a herbal seasoning for gumbo—because the amount of safrole involved is small.