SARSAPARILLA CORDIAL

• Try quaffing Sarsaparilla with chilled lemonade, soda water, spring water or coca-cola.
• For a really unusual taste try adding it to milk.
• Some brave souls even drink it as a cream liqueur.
• Try it with hot water in Winter.

This full flavoured drink came originally from the West Indies. It was reputed to purify the blood and balance the hormones. In North America it was used to flavour root beer and even named a beverage toward the end of the last century. Farther south, however, it has been used for hundreds of years as a tonic and to treat various sexual maladies. The former may be explained by an infection-fighting phytohormone (plant-based hormone) that resembles cortisone.

Native Americans used this herb as a rejuvenating tonic.

Sarsaparilla
(Smilax officinalis Liliaceae)

Habitat: The plants are climbing vines native to tropical America and the West Indies.

Collection: The roots and rhizome can be unearthed throughout the year. Part Used: Root and rhizome.

Sarsaparilla, a perennial vine with prickly stems, contains saponins, the flavour and foaming ingredient added to root beer and other soft drinks. Sarsaparilla contains calcium, copper, iron, iodine, silicon, manganese, potassium, sodium, sulfur, vitamin A, vitamin C, B-complex and vitamin D.

Medicinal Action and Uses

Used for hundreds of years by both American and Chinese herbalists to treat syphilis, sarsaparilla is a popular herb used today to promote glandular balance. It may be used to aid proper functioning of the body as a whole and in the correction of such diffuse systemic problems as skin and rheumatic conditions. it is particularly useful in scaling skin conditions such as psoriasis, especially where there is much irritation.

Sarsaparilla supports the body by purifying the blood, cleansing the colon and urinary tract, treating various skin problems, and lowering blood pressure. Sarsaparilla reduces fevers by helping cool down the body and promoting perspiration. (diaphoretic)

Sarsaparilla has also been known to increase circulation to the joints, reducing inflammation caused by arthritis and rheumatism. (anti-rheumatic)

As a diuretic, Sarsaparilla may assist with weight loss programs stimulating the body's metabolic process, increasing urination and reducing water retention. (diuretic)

It has been shown that Sarsaparilla contains constituents with properties that aid testosterone activity in the body.

For psoriasis it will combine well with Burdock, YellowDock and Cleavers.

Constituents

• Saponins, based on the aglycones sarsapogenin and smilagenin; the major one being parillin (=sarsaponin), with Smilasaponin (= smilacin) and sarsaparilloside

• FIbetaII-sitosterol, stigmasterol and their glucosides.