Make Your Own Root Beer, Spruce Beer, Ginger Soda

ROOT BEER

• 1 gallon water
• 1-1/2 cups molasses
• 1 tsp. dry yeast
• 1/2 ounce each of hops, dried burdock, yellow dock, sarsaparilla, dandelion, sassafras and spikenard roots

Wash the herbs and bruise them thoroughly with a potato masher or pastry blender. Cover with the water, bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes over low heat. Strain into a large crock. Add the molasses and cool to lukewarm.

When the mixture is lukewarm, add 1 teaspoon dry yeast and stir. Cover the crock with a cloth and put it in a warm, draft-free place 70-80 degrees F. After 2 hours, pour into clean bottles to within 1/2 inch of the tops. Cap with capper and metal caps, but not corks. Place the capped bottles on their sides in a warm and draft-free spot (70-80 degrees F) for 5 days, then set upright in a cool place. The root beer will be ready to drink in 10 days, but will keep for the whole summer.

SPRUCE BEER

• 5 gallons of water
• 1/8 pound of hops
• 1/2 cup of dried, bruised ginger root
• 1 pound of the outer twigs of spruce fir
• 3 quarts of molasses
• 1/2 yeast cake dissolved in 1/2 cup of warm water or 1/2 cup of liquid homemade yeast

In a large kettle combine the water, hops, ginger root and spruce fir twigs. Boil together until all the hops sink to the bottom of the kettle. Strain into a large crock and stir in the molasses. After this has cooled add the yeast. Cover and leave to set for 48 hours. Then bottle, cap and leave in a warm place (70-75 degrees F) for 5 days. It will now be ready to drink. Store upright in a cool place.

GINGER SODA

• 2 gallons of water
• 2 ounces of ginger root, thinly sliced and bruised with the back of a knife
• 4 cups of light raw sugar
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon cream of tartar
• 1 cup liquid homemade yeast or 1 yeast cake dissolved in a cup of warm water

Combine in a large pot the ginger, sugar, lemon juice, cream of tartar, yeast and water. Let the mixture stand in a warm place for 24 hours. Line a funnel with cheesecloth and strain the liquid into two clean gallon jugs. Cover them tightly and let them stand overnight. Chill well before drinking.