A REAL ROOT BEER FLOAT

My friend, Gary, writes:

During these hot spells, P. and I enjoy having a root beer float after dinner.

A couple weeks while shopping at Trader Joe's we bought a 4 pack of Virgil's
http://www.virgils.com/about.shtml Root Beer and a half gallon of TJ's French
vanilla ice cream to make our root beer vanilla floats.

WOW!! Were they good. I haven't had a root beer float in over a year.

During this last hot spell I wanted another RB float so instead of driving all the way to Castro Valley's TJ, I went up at the corner Quick Stop and bought a couple bottles of Mug Old Fashion root beer and 2 pints of Ben & Jerry's vanilla ice cream.

On the first taste I knew I was in for a disappointment. BLEEEEah! How, I remember,
as a kid, Mug Root Beer was petty good. But this new stuff left a horrible chemical
after taste in the back of my throat. I had this same taste experience with a can of
Coke Cola about four months ago. I wondered just what is in this drink that tastes
so bad. I looked at the label of Mug Root Beer for the ingredients. Here is what I found.

Contains: Carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, caramel color, sodium benzoate
(preserves freshness), citric acid, natural and artificial flavors, modified food starch,
calcium disodium EDTA (to protect flavor) and quillaia extract.

Then I went to Wikipedia to see just what these chemicals are.

Citric acid is a natural preservative and is also used to add an acidic, or sour, taste to foods.
Sodium benzoate is used most prevalently in acidic foods as to inhibit the growth of bacteria and fungi.
Calcium disodium EDTA is ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid. Soft drinks containing ascorbic acid and sodium benzoate, EDTA mitigates formation of benzene (a carcinogen). Quillaia extract is used as a foaming agent.

Virgil's Root Beer did not leave that nasty taste in my mouth. Virgil's contains these ingredients: carbonated water; unbleached cane sugar; caramelized unrefined cane sugar and these herbs and spices:
anise
licorice
vanilla
cinnamon
clove, nutmeg
wintergreen
cassia oil
sweet birch
molasses
pimiento berry oil
balsam oil

Well where's the "root" part ... back to Wikipedia.

Root beer is a carbonated drink originally brewed using sassafras. Oh yeah sarsaparilla. Nope. Sarsaparilla is not the same as sassafras. Although sarsaparilla has been used to make a "root beer" - is not the same.

Steam distillation of dried sassafras root bark produces an essential oil consisting mostly of safrole that once was extensively used as a fragrance in perfumes and soaps. The dried and ground leaves are used to make filé powder, a spice used in the making of some types of gumbo. The use of sassafras bark was banned by the FDA in 1975. Laboratory animals that were given oral doses of sassafras tea or sassafras oil that contained safrole developed permanent liver damage or various types of cancer.

Here is a site that rates root beers.
http://www.rootbeerreviews.com/brews/brewmain.html

One last note. I tired some Caro high fructose corn syrup and it left a strong chemical after taste in my mouth. I have yet to make a test with cane sugar syrup. How I'm left wondering, as I've aged, have I developed a taste sensitivity to high fructose corn syrup?