It is the main ingredient in traditional root beer and a gumbo from Louisana. The leaves and flowers have also been used in salads and to flavor fats or cure meats. The wood of sassafras trees has been used as a material for building ships and furniture in China, Europe, and the United States, and sassafras played an important role in the history of the European colonization of the American continent in the 16th and 17th centuries. Sas- safras twigs have been used as toothbrushes and fire starters. The leaves, bark, twigs, stems, and fruits are eaten by birds and mammals in small quantities. For most animals, sassafras is not consumed in large enough quantities to be important, al- though it is an important deer food in some areas. Sassafras leaves and twigs are consumed by white-tailed deer and porcupines. Other sassafras leaf browsers include groundhogs, marsh rabbits, and American black bears. American beavers will cut sassafras stems. Sassafras fruits are eaten by ‘many species’ of birds and small mammals also. Notice: Sassafras is no longer used in commercially produced root beer since sassafras oil was banned for use in commercially mass-produced foods and drugs by the FDA in 1960 due to health concerns about the carcinogenicity of safrole, a major constituent of sassafras oil, in animal studies. Steam distillation of dried root bark produces an essential oil which has a high safrole con- tent, as well as significant amounts of varying other chemicals such as camphor eugenol (including 5- methoxyeugenol), asarone, and various sesquiterpenes. (Many other trees contain similarly high percentages and their extracted oils are sometimes referred to as sas- safras oil, which once was extensively used as a fragrance in perfumes and soaps, food and for aromatherapy.) Safrole is a precursor for the clandestine manufacture of the drugs MDA and MDMA, and as such, sales and import of sassafras oil (as a safrole-containing mix- ture of above-threshold concentration) are heavily restricted in the US). In 1997, a NIH report stated Filé powder, also known as gumbo filé, is an herbal powder made from the dried and ground leaves of the sassafras tree (Sassafras albidum) that herbal prod- ucts derived from sassafras don’t contain any detectable amounts of safrole. Extra entry- ‘Filé powder’ is an herbal powder made from the dried and ground springtime leaves of the sassafras tree (Sassafras albidum). The leaves do not contain enough safrole to even be detected by normal testing, and filé powder has been declared safe for human consumption. A true “filé gumbo” should have both filé powder and okra. It should be added to the gumbo off the heat just before serving, or serve it at the table for guests to sprinkle over their gumbo. You can find it in most supermarkets and many specialty food stores or online food retailers.