Posted by wilde on November 4th, 2008 — Posted in Food, Vegetable
It’s not just the leaves of Sassafras that I enjoy - I’ve always loved this plant.
I remember attending a Scouting function with my family when I was a young teenager. It must have been in the Autumn as I can clearly remember that it was a chilly day.
Reviewing the different booths that the scouts had set up to show their newly learned skills, like a model showing how water erodes hillsides and what that means for trail-blazing, or the knot-tying skills they used to build the cool rope bridge outdoors, I came upon a table where Sassafras tea was offered.
Of course I said I would try a cup of hot tea. After all, it was chilly out there. One sip and I fell in love with the taste of Sassafras tea. It was just like the way the leaves smelled when you crushed them. How delightful! I must have gone back to that booth two more times for more tea.
For a long time after that day I hadn’t seen or tasted sassafras tea. I wondered why I never saw it offered for sale in the stores. I do remember finding some long stick candy that was sassafras flavored, but that was years ago.
It turns out a compound in Sassafras, called safrole, was found to be carcinogenic, and that’s exactly why we don’t see sassafras on store shelves. However, it’s debatable whether Sassafras is more carcinogenic than alcohol. Knowing that most things are ok in moderation, we don’t worry about getting cancer from a cup of Sassafras tea every now and then.
To make Sassafras tea you’ll need to get the roots. Loosen the soil around a small tree to make it easier to pull it up to get the roots. Shake off any excess dirt from the roots and give them a rinse before putting into a pot of water.
Boiling sassafras roots for tea.
A cup of sassafras tea.
If you can get enough roots to save some for later, you’ll need to let the roots dry, then store them in a glass container. The root bark is especially strong with Sassafras essential oil. Just don’t store the roots too long, as the essential oils will dissipate over time leaving your colorful tea pretty much tasting like a dried out tree root.
Boil the roots until the water has turned an amber red color. Drain off the tea and sweeten as you like. Sassafras tea with honey is just delicious!
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Posted by wilde on November 3rd, 2008 — Posted in Vegetable
Sassafras is one of my favorite plants. Since I was shown as a child that Sassafras has leaves of three different shapes, I always thought it was a really cool plant. Somehow I seem particularly drawn to the mitten-shaped leaves. Guess that’s the kid in me screaming to get out.
Sassafras leaves all have toothless edges. The single leaf is oval shaped and may come to a point at the ends. The double leaf is the mitten shape where a large oval shape would fit the hand and a side lobe would fit the thumb. The third leaf has three lobes where the central lobe is usually larger than the two side “thumbs”.
Loose leaf photos taken 17Oct08 - leaves collected 16oct08.
The three shapes of Sassafras leaves, from the left are the single, mitten and tri-lobed leaves.
Sassafras, Sassafras albidum, is a medium-sized tree and will reach 30 feet tall. A mature tree will spread by sending up shoots from its roots. The sassafras that we notice at the woods’ edge are usually the young trees. Indeed, I was surprised to learn that sassafras trees can be so tall! I had only ever noticed the little trees while playing around the woods as a kid.
There are only three members of the Sassafras genus, two of which are native to China and Taiwan. Sassafras albidum is native to the Eastern United States.
All the Sassafras species release a pleasant, spicy odor when the twigs, leaves, flowers or roots are crushed. Some say it smells like root beer and that’s because people used to, and some still do, make a root beer from Sassafras root.
Young stems or branches are green and the older ones have a thicker bark that becomes brown and furrowed with age.
The leaves are so pretty in the fall. At the edge of the woods, where you’ll usually find Sassafras growing, or perhaps in an abandoned field, sassafras stands out with yellow-orange or tangerine and fruity colors. Sassafras sports many different colors during Autumn, changing from green to yellow or orange-red and crimson before turning brown and mottled with spots.
The many colors of Sassafras show yellow, orange, green, red and crimson.
Sassafras rainbow of yellow, orange, red and brown.
Green sassafras leaves changing over to red and orange. Photo taken 10Oct08.
The more common orange-yellow fall leaf color of Sassafras. Photo taken 10Oct08.
The edge of the woods is decorated by the orange-yellow leaves of sassafras and red-purple leaves of maple-leaved viburnum. Photo taken 16Oct08.
Close up view of sassafras on the left and maple-leaved viburnum on the right. Photo taken 16Oct08.
Autumn Sassafras being colorful at the edge of the woods. Photo taken 17Oct08.
Even the white pine is getting in on the annual color change. A prior year’s needles are turning yellow and will stay on the branches for a week or more before they fall.
Yellowing white pine needles complement the colorful sassafras. Photo taken 17Oct08.
That’s one thing I love about nature…you look one place and find many interesting things to ponder. For example, one doesn’t think that pine trees will shed their needles because they are evergreen trees, right? Then again, if you’ve been into the woods one thing you’ll notice around the pine trees is that there are plenty of needles on the ground. Pine trees really do shed their needles. It’s funny that the first year we noticed the yellowing of the pines we were worried that the trees had some kind of disease!
Just goes to show that it pays to read and ask questions - you’ll learn a lot more. Keep reading!
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Posted by wilde on November 2nd, 2008 — Posted in Food, Vegetable
Such a strange title, I know. But how else are you gonna keep those sweet onions so long?
This early summer I bought not 1 but 2 cases of Vidalia Onions at a produce auction. At a cost of $16 per case and with each case weighing 36 pounds, I knew it was a great deal - less than 50 cents per pound. Obviously, we love onions around here!
We used the Vidalia onions freely throughout the summer in all kinds of cooking. During the hot weather the onions were taken to the cool basement and hung in panty hose, or nylon stockings.
One onion was placed gently in each toe of a lady’s nylon stocking and an overhand knot was tied at the top of each onion. Another onion was put down each leg and another knot was tied on top of each onion. The pattern was repeated until onions filled the legs. The nylons were hung so the onions could hang freely.
Now that the garage is cooler than the basement, we have Vidalia Onions hanging in knotted nylons in the garage, just outside the kitchen. Note that the onions don’t touch each other.
The only caution here is to to take a pair of scissors and cut below the next to last knot to remove the next onion.
When sweet onions are stored for any length of time the areas where the onions touch one another are typically the first places to decay. For longer term storage of sweet onions it is important to handle them gently, and to devise a way to not let them touch.
Another way to store the sweet onions is to wrap each one individually in newspaper and then store in a refrigerator crisper or drawer section. The newspaper serves the same purpose as the knotted panty hose, which is to separate the onions and not allow them to touch one another. If refrigerator crisper space is limited, then hanging onions in a cool place is preferred.
Our Walla Walla onions from the garden are stored loose in a bin in the garage. We’ve handled them gently to limit bruising and we’ll use them pretty quickly so we aren’t worried about them going bad.
Well, before you think our way of storing onions is getting pretty crazy, you should know we learned it from a fellow who lives in Georgia, near Vidalia country. We’ve used this technique for years and if this year can be a good example, we’ve already stored the onions from early June to early November with no ill effects.
Does anyone else store their Vidalia onions so carefully?
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