Does anyone still make sassafras tea?
I've always loved the lemony smell of sassafras, which is fairly easy to spot in the woods with its mitteny-shaped leaves. The roots can be dried to make a tea early in spring before leaves emerge, or leaves can be dried and ground to make gumbo filé. The FDA banned use or roots and barks in food because safrole, found in sassafras (but also found in fragrant spices and herbs like cinnamon, nutmeg, basil and black pepper), at high doses in lab rats causes cancer, so the tea, which I've drunk, has long been forgotten. Strangely sassafras also gets a bad rap bc the same compound is a precursor for production of MDMA...but also goes to producing everything from fragrances to pesticides.