Wild Edible Plants: Sassafras

American sassafras, Sassafras albidum, is related to aromatic cinnamon, bay and camphor trees, all of which are in the Laurel family. It grows wild as a canopy growth, or top growth, in woodlands and along the sunny edges of fields throughout eastern North America. Sassafras trees may grow to be 60 feet tall, spreading into groves by lateral runner roots. The trees produce small drupes that are a favorite food of many birds and small animals, which help distribute the seeds. Historically, used for both medicinal and culinary purposes, the FDA now restricts the use of sassafras, notes Drugs.com.

Identification

You can easily recognize a sassafras tree by its leaves. It has three distinct leaf shapes. Some are shaped like a mitten with the "thumb" on either the right or left, some are mittens with two thumbs --- one on each side, and some are thumbless, or ovoid.

History

Native Americans used sassafras roots medicinally as a treatment for colds and fevers and as a general health tonic. Sassafras was a major commodity for early settlers, who exported it to Europe. As its European popularity grew as a flavoring agent for beverages and candy, sassafras became a profitable source of income for colonists.

Uses

Sassafras tea was made by washing and boiling the roots. The taste is most familiar as the flavoring used in old-fashioned root beer. Root beer manufacturers used natural sassafras flavoring until 1960, when the FDA banned it as a carcinogen. The leaves are another flavorful part of a sassafras tree. Dried, powdered leaves are a Southern spice known as file, pronounced FEE lay, which is sprinkled on soups, stews and gumbos. File is also used to thicken soups.

Cautions

Safrole, the essential oil found in the sassafras root bark, can be chemically altered to make the synthetic drug MDMA, or 3-4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine, known as ecstasy. Safrole is classified as a Class I narcotic, and according to Drugs.com, using sassafras is illegal in the United States; however, its use and sale persist throughout the country.