Everyone enjoys a family-friendly, non-alcoholic, yet creamy, fizzy and tasty drink. One of our favorite beverages that fits this bill is root beer, which is enjoyed by people of all ages. Root beer is also an ingredient used in many recipes and cuisines.
History Of Root Beer
Root beer is native to North America. It is made using the root of the sassafras plant. This gives it its unique flavor which is at once woodsy, medicinal, sweet, and spicy. Indigenous American peoples originally used sassafras roots to make beverages and medicinal remedies. They used to brew this using herb, barks, and roots like molasses, licorice, juniper, ginger, hops, wintergreen, and more which are used even today to prepare root beer.
Appearance Of Root Beer
Root beer is black-brown in color with aerated white bubbles on the top.
Flavor Of Root Beer
Root beer has a sweet taste with an underlying minty flavor. The slightly bitter taste of the sassafras is rounded out by the addition of sugar or honey.
Culinary Benefits
There are many recipes you can prepare with root beer. One such tasty recipe is root beer pulled pork nachos. Cooking the pork in root beer enhances the flavor of the meat. Combine this with some cheese, tomatoes, nachos, and extra toppings for a delicious meal.
If you want a wholesome chicken dinner, then you can go for the delicious beer-braised chicken recipe. Or you can simply try out some amazing slow cook beef stew!
Root beer brats are a fun evening time snack that you can prepare. It enhances the flavor of these German sausages. You can add onions, mustard, root beer, cornstarch, and chili sauce to enhance the flavor of the sauce. Check out this awesome Beer Brat recipe and use some root beer instead!
If you are looking for something sweet, a root beer float pie is a good option for you. All you will need is some graham crackers, root beer, milk, cherries and vanilla pudding mix. Make sure the root beer is cold so that it activates and thickens the pudding.
One unique recipe we love is root beer apple baked beans. All you will need is some bacon strips, baked beans, apple pie filling, root beer, and some chile pepper. This is a great campfire dish as it keeps the outdoor energy going and does not require refrigeration.
Thinking about hosting a party? Well, one dish that you definitely need to have on the food table is some cowabunga root beer cupcakes. All you will need is some golden cupcake mix, root beer, vanilla ice cream, and whipped cream. This is a quick and easy recipe that your guests will definitely love!
Storage
Root beer is best consumed by the sell-by date printed on the bottle (typically a year at least). Once opened, we recommend drinking your root beer within a few hours to enjoy all that fizzy carbonation.
Feature Image: Flickr user Jorge Franganillo ( CC BY 2.0 )
