Sassafras albidum is used primarily in the United States as the key ingredient in home brewed  root beer and as a thickener and flavouring in traditional Louisiana Creole gumbo.

Filé powder, also called gumbo filé, for its use in making gumbo, is a spicy herb made from the dried and ground leaves of the sassafras tree.
It was traditionally used by Native Americans in the Southern United States, and was adopted into Louisiana Creole cuisine.
Use of Filé powder by the Choctaw in the Southern United States in cooking is linked to the development of gumbo, the signature dish of Louisiana Creole cuisine that features ground sassafras leaves.

Sassafras roots are used to make traditional root beer, although they were banned for commercially mass-produced foods and drugs by the FDA in 1960.
Laboratory animals that were given oral doses of sassafras tea or sassafras oil that contained large doses of safrole developed permanent liver damage or various types of cancer.
In humans, liver damage can take years to develop and it may not have obvious signs.
Along with commercially available Sarsaparilla, sassafras remains an ingredient in use among hobby or microbrew enthusiasts.
While sassafras is no longer used in commercially produced root beer and is sometimes substituted with artificial flavors, natural extracts with the safrole distilled and removed are available.
Most commercial root beers have replaced the sassafras extract with methyl salicylate, the ester found in wintergreen and black birch (Betula lenta) bark.

Sassafras tea was also banned in the United States in 1977, but the ban was lifted with the passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act in 1994.
Sassafras albidum is used primarily in the United States as the key ingredient in home brewed  root beer and as a thickener and flavouring in traditional Louisiana Creole gumbo.
Filé powder, also called gumbo filé, for its use in making gumbo, is a spicy herb made from the dried and ground leaves of the sassafras tree. It was traditionally used by Native Americans in the Southern United States, and was adopted into Louisiana Creole cuisine. Use of Filé powder by the Choctaw in the Southern United States in cooking is linked to the development of gumbo, the signature dish of Louisiana Creole cuisine that features ground sassafras leaves.
Sassafras roots are used to make traditional root beer, although they were banned for commercially mass-produced foods and drugs by the FDA in 1960. Laboratory animals that were given oral doses of sassafras tea or sassafras oil that contained large doses of safrole developed permanent liver damage or various types of cancer. In humans, liver damage can take years to develop and it may not have obvious signs. Along with commercially available Sarsaparilla, sassafras remains an ingredient in use among hobby or microbrew enthusiasts. While sassafras is no longer used in commercially produced root beer and is sometimes substituted with artificial flavors, natural extracts with the safrole distilled and removed are available. Most commercial root beers have replaced the sassafras extract with methyl salicylate, the ester found in wintergreen and black birch (Betula lenta) bark.
Sassafras tea was also banned in the United States in 1977, but the ban was lifted with the passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act in 1994.
Sassafras albidum