Cooking For Engineers

[Gareth]

Ingredients:

3 X 10cm pieces of Licqourice root.

750 g white granualted Sugar

4 dessert spoons of Lemon or Lime Juice

A small pinch of bread making Yeast.

A pinch of Saffron stems

Loads of boiling water.


Method; makes 5 litres:

Day 1.

Start by splitting one of the pieces of Licquorice root, and cutting it into pieces about 2 cms long. Take approx. 2 teaspoons of this and bruise well with a Motor and Pestle.

Pour 250ml of boiling water into a glass jar and dissolve 2 teaspoons of sugar into it, add the bruised pieces of Licqcourice root and allow to cool. When cooled, add 3-4 drops of Lemon or Lime juice and stir in. Add a small pinch of Bread making Yeast and allow to stand with the lid off overnight. The following morning fit the lid into place.

Day 2.

Add approx. 1 teaspoon of bruised Licquorice root and 1 teaspoon of white Sugar. Stir well and seal with a lid.

Day 3.

Add approx. 1 teaspoon of bruised Licquorice root and 1 teaspoon of white Sugar. Stir well and seal with a lid.

Day 4.

Add approx. 1 teaspoon of bruised Licquorice root and 1 teaspoon of white Sugar. Stir well and seal with a lid.

Day 5.

Add approx. 1 teaspoon of bruised Licquorice root and 1 teaspoon of white Sugar. Stir well and seal with a lid.

Day 6.

Add approx. 1 teaspoon of bruised Licquorice root and 1 teaspoon of white Sugar. Stir well and seal with a lid.

Day 7.

Split and break up the remaining two pieces of Licquorice root, and bruise well with a Mortar & Pestle. Add these to 1 litre of previously boiled and cooled water in a saucepan, bring up to the boil, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. It will smell awful at this point, but it is worth persisiting with as the taste of the finished product is divine. The awful smell will go during the fermentation proccess.

Meanwhile, measure out 750g of White granualted Sugar and dissolve in 4 litres of boiling water in a bucket, add a pinch of Saffron stems.

Pour the Licquorice solution and the pieces into the bucket of dissolved Sugar and water and allow to cool to less than 40* centigrade. Stir in 4 dessert spoons of either Lemon or Lime Juice. Strain the Licquorice starter into this solution, and allow to stand for 1 hour. Note: you can half the strained starter and continue adding more bruised Licqorice root and sugar to it, so that you can make another batch in 7 days time.

Strain and bottle into sterlised empty Plastic pop bottles. Place in a dark cupboard for 7 days before drinking. After only 7 days of fermenting in the plastic bottles the Alcohol content will be negligble; approx. 0.5% ABV, and so it is suitable for small children and Grannies alike. However, after 14 days fermenting it turns into a rather potent Root Beer. At 21 days, my Licquorice root beer had made 5% ABV. The longer you leave it, the stronger it becomes, and the drier the taste becomes.

Be warned; This one tastes great , and if you over indulge, you will feel like you have had your skull caved in by a giant Licquorice Allsort wrapped around a Gold brick.

Beware! This is one of those natural brewing mixtures that will carbonate with naturally occoring Carbon Dioxide from the yeast. This is what makes it a fizzy drink, so it may spray upon opening; You have been warned!

All the ingredients ready to go:

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Splitting and cutting up the Licqurice root:

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The Sugar weighed out, and a pinch of Saffron stems added:

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The Sugar dissolved in 4 litres of boiling water, and the Saffron beginning to impart the Golden Yellow colouring:

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Bruising the pieces of Licquorice root with a Mortar & Pestle:

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The pieces of Licquorice root simmering in the saucepan:

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[Tom Hargrave]

By Licqourice root, do you really mean sassafras root? I'm asking because safrole, which comes from sassafras roots, is a known carcinogen.

Today's root beer extracts come from related trees in Brazil or Asia.

Tom
www.stir-plate.com

[Michael Chu]

According to this report ranking common carcinogenic hazards, safrole consumption from a glass of root beer every single day would have a HERP % of 0.2 which puts it at more likely to give a rat cancer than coffee (caffeic acid exposure) but less likely than wine (ethanol exposure) or sitting in air conditioning (formaldehyde exposure) for 14 hours per day.

http://potency.lbl.gov/pdfs/herp.pdf

[Tom Hargrave]

Thanks for putting this in perspective.

Tom
www.stir-plate.com

[Gareth]