Sarsaparilla, an ingredient in root beer, was thought to treat syphilis, among other ills, and peddled by enterprising Shakers as early as 1835. Another supposed cure-all in root beer, sassafras, was vended as a drink by Philadelphia pharmacist Charles Hires at the Centennial Exposition in 1876. Hires introduced a carbonated […]

“Bringing home the bacon” originally referred not to money but marital harmony. In the 12th century, the church of Dunmow, England, offered a side of bacon to any husband who could swear before God and the congregation that he had not quarreled with his wife for a year and a […]