DOSE:

oral

Sassafras

(tea)

BODY WEIGHT:

135 lb

Sassafras trees are rather stately and can get quite large, but until recently I had no idea some grew within a few miles of my front door. My experiences were with root, considered the traditional and preferred part for sassafras 'tea'. There are commercially-available extracts that are the real thing, but with the safrole removed (and the aroma, apparently), and I always loved its aroma and prefer to get my herbs from Nature, not the Internet, so I obtained a decent quantity of pinkish-red colored root that grew in the US Southeast, far from my own region and an area (the SE, that is) where medicinal plants flourish amazingly well. This was also from a mature, native tree that had been harvested by its (the land area's) owner. The wood of the root is quite hard and densely fibrous, and if using root, a large piece may be reused a number of times for infusions.

One one occasion, I decided to make a particularly strong infusion, boiling water in a large quantity (perhaps a quart or more), removing it from the heat, and dropped in some chunks of root. It takes quite a long while until visible color change is evident in the water, so I waited until it appeared pinkish-orange-red. (It may also be boiled in the water, but that should be done more briefly). There is an obvious oil or terpene in the infusion at that point.

Poured out about 16 fl. oz., added some sugar, and drank it after it had cooled slightly. Effects were pretty rapid: a mellowing effect, clearheaded but definitely relaxed, and felt really affable and happy. My vision changed nicely, too, to the point where everything had a golden hue, and I called someone on the phone and told them of this wonderful sassafras and how I had forgotten it was such a fine plant; now I had a very obvious reminder why I liked it as a kid, in addition to that aroma and taste. Effects lasted a couple of hours. It should be specified again that this was the red root, not the bark, aerial parts, or leaves.

Other attempts using aerial parts (tree trunk or branch wood) have been disappointing, in part due to the lower medicinal value of those parts and because those pieces had been oxidized and were older, definitely not red and fibrous, nor as aromatic.

Exp Year: 2010	ExpID: 85734
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 45
Published: Jan 5, 2017	Views: 9,605
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Sassafras (390) : Preparation / Recipes (30), General (1), Unknown Context (20)