Queston for don wolf

Have heard the term rossed referinng to some bark and sassafras root. What does it mean and how do you do it?

Stan the word rossed means getting all the rough outter bark off of the root. I rossed a barrel of sassafras once and never rossed another thing. The only way I know of doing it is with a knife. There may be a nice easy way to do it, but I don't know it. I sat on my rear end with a knife and whittled the bark away. What they want is the nice smooth inner bark I think or at least that is the way it was on the sassafras. I would never waste my time doing it, because, they won't pay near enough money to get it done. Matter of fact, lots of roots that don't need anything but dug and washed, are not worth my time to mess with them from a diggers standpoint. They want this stuff for nothing.

Thanks for the info don!

rossing is fun lol

Have you ever did it Wolfer? If so, is their an easy way of doing it? Maybe I am stupid.

i never found any easy way........it sucks!!

I never purposely dug sassafras roots.
When digging my garden spot in the springtime I find it often.
It seemd like the bark slipped right off, allmost to easy.
Mind you, this is springtime and about the same time of the year you peel poplar trees.
Not sure what time of the year your digging them.
But in the spring when the sap is flowing and it wasn't very hard to do.
Not sure why I even tried it.
I do remember tasteing it and was pleasantly suprised with the odor and taste.

The bark may come off easy, but, seperating the inner and outer bark is never easy.What they are after is the nice inner bark without the rough outter bark stuck to it.

OK I got it now.
Never tried it.
What is the reason for the inner bark?
Any ideas?

Ok heres the basic explanation on why the root is rossed. Most of the oil is in the outer bark and rossing the root will remove most of the oil. As far as I know there is only 1 FDA approved company still making the real sassafras root beer.And they do buy rossed root from diggers.Its were I sell mine when I feel like rossing root...lol

Safrole is the principle component of oil of sassafras (up to 90%). It was formerly used
as the main flavor ingredient in root beer. It is also present in the oils of basil, nutmeg, and mace (Nijssen et al., 1996). The HERP value for average consumption of naturally-occurring safrole in spices is 0.03%. Safrole and safrole-containing sassafras oils were banned from use as food additives in the U.S. and Canada (Canada Gazette, 1995; U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 1960). Before the 1964 ban in the U.S., a person consuming a glass of sassafras root beer per day for life, would have had a HERP value of 0.2% (Ames et al., 1987). Sassafras root can still be purchased in health food stores and can therefore be used to make tea; the recipe is on the World Wide Web.