What's in a Root Beer Float
- other than great ice cream?
How was root beer created? And how does it relate to science and biotechnology? Charles Hires, a pharmacist, developed a liquid concentrate blended together from more than 25 herbs, berries and roots. The public loved the new drink and as a result, Hires introduced commercial root beer.
 The most important taste in root beer comes from the sassafras root. In the early 1900s, the government actually banned the use of sassafras oil because it was dangerous to eat. Scientists tried to create the sassafras taste without the danger of actual sassafras oil and used biotechnology to help them. Finally, after a few years, scientists realized they could use sassafras root as long as they removed the dangerous oil. Thank goodness science saved our yummy sassafras taste!
Another scientifically interesting ingredient in root beer is carbonation, the fizzy part of the drink. Carbonation is actually a form of biotechnology because a living organism, yeast, is added to the root beer. The yeast breathes out carbon dioxide, a gas, after it eats some of the sugars found in root beer. The carbonation is kept inside your root beer can until you're ready to drink it. Have you ever sipped 'flat' root beer? This is what the drink tastes like without carbonation. Thanks to biotechnology, we can enjoy the fizzy, delicious drink of root beer! |
