Licorice candy
Encyclopedia
Confectionery
Confectionery is the set of food items that are rich in sugar, any one or type of which is called a confection. Modern usage may include substances rich in artificial sweeteners as well...
flavoured with the extract
Extract
An extract is a substance made by extracting a part of a raw material, often by using a solvent such as ethanol or water. Extracts may be sold as tinctures or in powder form....
of the roots of the liquorice plant. A wide variety of liquorice sweets are produced around the world. In the U.S., liquorice is called black licorice (see also spelling differences), to distinguish it from similar confectionery varieties that are not flavoured with liquorice extract, and commonly manufactured in the form of chewy ropes or tubes. Most popular in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
are liquorice allsorts
Liquorice allsorts
Liquorice allsorts consist of a variety of liquorice sold as a mixture. These confections are made of liquorice, sugar, coconut, aniseed jelly, fruit flavourings, and gelatine. They were first produced in Sheffield, England, by Geo...
. Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and Nordic
Nordic countries
The Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland...
liquorice characteristically contains ammonium chloride
Ammonium chloride
Ammonium chloride NH4Cl is an inorganic compound with the formula NH4Cl. It is a white crystalline salt that is highly soluble in water. Solutions of ammonium chloride are mildly acidic. Sal ammoniac is a name of natural, mineralogical form of ammonium chloride...
instead of sodium chloride
Sodium chloride
Sodium chloride, also known as salt, common salt, table salt or halite, is an inorganic compound with the formula NaCl. Sodium chloride is the salt most responsible for the salinity of the ocean and of the extracellular fluid of many multicellular organisms...
, prominently so in salty liquorice.
The essential ingredients of liquorice candy are liquorice extract, sugar, and a binder. The binder is typically starch
Starch
Starch or amylum is a carbohydrate consisting of a large number of glucose units joined together by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by all green plants as an energy store...
/flour
Flour
Flour is a powder which is made by grinding cereal grains, other seeds or roots . It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history...
, gum arabic
Gum arabic
220px|thumb|right|Acacia gumGum arabic, also known as acacia gum, chaar gund, char goond, or meska, is a natural gum made of hardened sap taken from two species of the acacia tree; Acacia senegal and Acacia seyal...
, or gelatin
Gelatin
Gelatin is a translucent, colorless, brittle , flavorless solid substance, derived from the collagen inside animals' skin and bones. It is commonly used as a gelling agent in food, pharmaceuticals, photography, and cosmetic manufacturing. Substances containing gelatin or functioning in a similar...
, or a combination thereof. Additional ingredients are extra flavouring, beeswax
Beeswax
Beeswax is a natural wax produced in the bee hive of honey bees of the genus Apis. It is mainly esters of fatty acids and various long chain alcohols...
for a shiny surface, ammonium chloride, and molasses
Molasses
Molasses is a viscous by-product of the processing of sugar cane, grapes or sugar beets into sugar. The word molasses comes from the Portuguese word melaço, which ultimately comes from mel, the Latin word for "honey". The quality of molasses depends on the maturity of the sugar cane or sugar beet,...
to give the end product the familiar black colour. Ammonium chloride is mainly used in salty liquorice candy, with concentrations up to about 8 percent. However, even regular liquorice candy can contain up to 2 percent ammonium chloride, the taste of which is less prominent due to the higher sugar concentration. Some liquorice candy is flavoured with anise
Anise
Anise , Pimpinella anisum, also called aniseed, is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae native to the eastern Mediterranean region and Southwest Asia. Its flavor resembles that of liquorice, fennel, and tarragon.- Biology :...
oil instead of or in combination with liquorice root extract.
Production
During manufacturing, the ingredients are dissolved in water and heated to 135 °C (275 °F). In order to obtain candies of the desired shapes, the liquid is poured into molds, that are created by impressing holes into a container filled with starch powder. The liquid is then dried and the resulting candies are sprayed with beeswax in order to give their surface a shiny appearance.Health effects
The liquorice-root extract contains the natural sweetener glycyrrhizinGlycyrrhizin
Glycyrrhizin is the main sweet-tasting compound from liquorice root. It is 30–50 times as sweet as sucrose . Pure glycyrrhizin is odorless....
, which is over 50 times sweeter than sucrose
Sucrose
Sucrose is the organic compound commonly known as table sugar and sometimes called saccharose. A white, odorless, crystalline powder with a sweet taste, it is best known for its role in human nutrition. The molecule is a disaccharide composed of glucose and fructose with the molecular formula...
. This ingredient has various pharmaceutical properties, the most important ones being that it acts as an expectorant (facilitating removal of mucus from the lungs by coughing) and that it increases blood pressure. The latter effect can become significant with a daily consumption of 50 g or more of liquorice candy for as little as two weeks.
Liquorice is also a mild laxative, and has several varied uses in herbal medicine.
Alexander the Great supplied his troops with rations of liquorice root whilst marching, due to its thirst quenching qualities.
An excessive amount of black licorice consumption can cause a chloride
Chloride
The chloride ion is formed when the element chlorine, a halogen, picks up one electron to form an anion Cl−. The salts of hydrochloric acid HCl contain chloride ions and can also be called chlorides. The chloride ion, and its salts such as sodium chloride, are very soluble in water...
-resistant metabolic alkalosis
Metabolic alkalosis
Metabolic alkalosis is a metabolic condition in which the pH of tissue is elevated beyond the normal range . This is the result of decreased hydrogen ion concentration, leading to increased bicarbonate, or alternatively a direct result of increased bicarbonate concentrations.-Terminology:*Alkalosis...
.
Red liquorice
Strawberry
Fragaria is a genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, commonly known as strawberries for their edible fruits. Although it is commonly thought that strawberries get their name from straw being used as a mulch in cultivating the plants, the etymology of the word is uncertain. There...
, cherry
Cherry
The cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus Prunus, and is a fleshy stone fruit. The cherry fruits of commerce are usually obtained from a limited number of species, including especially cultivars of the wild cherry, Prunus avium....
, raspberry
Raspberry
The raspberry or hindberry is the edible fruit of a multitude of plant species in the genus Rubus, most of which are in the subgenus Idaeobatus; the name also applies to these plants themselves...
, or cinnamon
Cinnamon
Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several trees from the genus Cinnamomum that is used in both sweet and savoury foods...
flavourings
Flavor
Flavor or flavour is the sensory impression of a food or other substance, and is determined mainly by the chemical senses of taste and smell. The "trigeminal senses", which detect chemical irritants in the mouth and throat as well as temperature and texture, are also very important to the overall...
as the main flavourings rather than liquorice. More recently similar products have been introduced in a wider variety of flavours including apple
Apple
The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
, mango
Mango
The mango is a fleshy stone fruit belonging to the genus Mangifera, consisting of numerous tropical fruiting trees in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. The mango is native to India from where it spread all over the world. It is also the most cultivated fruit of the tropical world. While...
, blackcurrant
Blackcurrant
Blackcurrant, Ribes nigrum, is a species of Ribes berry native to central and northern Europe and northern Asia, and is a perennial....
, and watermelon
Watermelon
Watermelon is a vine-like flowering plant originally from southern Africa. Its fruit, which is also called watermelon, is a special kind referred to by botanists as a pepo, a berry which has a thick rind and fleshy center...
, among others. Twizzlers
Twizzlers
Twizzlers is a brand of red licorice candy in the United States and Canada. Twizzlers is the product of Y&S Candies, Inc., of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, now a subsidiary of The Hershey Company.-History:...
(by Hersheys
The Hershey Company
The Hershey Company, known until April 2005 as the Hershey Foods Corporation and commonly called Hershey's, is the largest chocolate manufacturer in North America. Its headquarters are in Hershey, Pennsylvania, which is also home to Hershey's Chocolate World. It was founded by Milton S...
) and Red Vines
Red Vines
Red Vines is a brand of red licorice candy manufactured in Union City, California by the American Licorice Company. Red Vines Original Red twists, are also sometimes referred to as red licorice. The original Red Vines were raspberry-flavored, but in 1952, with a slight formula change, the Red Vines...
are the most well known product brands of this type in the United States; in Australia these are produced by Darrell Lea
Darrell Lea
Darrell Lea Chocolate Shops is an Australian company that makes and sells chocolate.It is privately owned by the Lea family, and is the largest privately owned confectionery manufacturer in Australia. It was established as a company in 1927....
and several other companies. While the common name for this candy has now become "red liquorice", or often simply "liquorice", this candy has little connection to actual liquorice root in flavour. The term "black liquorice" (or "black licorice") would formerly have been redundant and has become a retronym
Retronym
A retronym is a type of neologism that provides a new name for an object or concept to differentiate the original form or version of it from a more recent form or version. The original name is most often augmented with an adjective to account for later developments of the object or concept itself...
in North America.
Notable varieties of liquorice
- Black JackBlack Jack (gum)Black Jack is an aniseed flavored chewing gum made by Cadbury Adams, originally the American Chicle Company.In 1869, exiled former Mexican president and general Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was living in New Jersey...
- Choo Choo BarChoo Choo BarA Choo Choo Bar is a chewy liquorice flavoured confectionery bar popular in Australia. Available in a 20g bar, it's packaged in an iconic Blue wrapper depicting an old steam train, . Each bar is 20gm. Choo Choo Bars were originally a Nestle product, but are now made by Lagoon. There is also a...
- CrowsCrows (candy)Crows are a licorice candy similar in shape and texture to Dots.-History:Crows were invented in the 1890s by confectioners Ernest Von Au and Joseph Maison. The Black Crows trademark was registered in 1911. There is an urban legend that Crows were to be called "Black Rose," but the printer misheard...
- Good & PlentyGood & PlentyGood & Plenty is an American brand of licorice candy. The candy is a narrow cylinder of sweet black licorice coated in a hard candy shell to form a capsule shape...
- HariboHARIBOHaribo is a German confectionery producer, founded in 1920 by Hans Riegel Sr. The company headquarters are in Bonn, and the name is an acronym for Hans Riegel, Bonn....
- Liquorice AllsortsLiquorice allsortsLiquorice allsorts consist of a variety of liquorice sold as a mixture. These confections are made of liquorice, sugar, coconut, aniseed jelly, fruit flavourings, and gelatine. They were first produced in Sheffield, England, by Geo...
- London dropsLondon dropsLondon drops are a type of liquorice candy sold in Finland and Sweden first by Chymos, later by Fazer.London drops are oblong-shaped sweets about 2 cm long and 5 mm thick. They consist of a soft liquorice-flavoured core inside a hard, sugary aniseed-flavoured coating...
- NigroidsNigroidsVigroids is the brand name of a liquorice sweet. The small black pellets are particularly marketed as an expectorant lozenge for singers, using the slogan "for clarity of voice"...
- Pontefract CakesPontefract CakesPontefract cakes are a type of small, roughly circular black sweets measuring approximately 2 cm in diameter and 4 mm thick, made of liquorice, originally manufactured in the Yorkshire town of Pontefract, England.The original name for these small tablets of liquorice is a "Pomfret" cake,...
- Red vinesRed VinesRed Vines is a brand of red licorice candy manufactured in Union City, California by the American Licorice Company. Red Vines Original Red twists, are also sometimes referred to as red licorice. The original Red Vines were raspberry-flavored, but in 1952, with a slight formula change, the Red Vines...
- SnapsSnaps (candy)Snaps are a brand of classic chewy candy, manufactured by American Licorice Company. They have hollow centers and are colored white, orange, green, and pink.-External links:*...
- Salty liquorice
- Turkish PepperTurkish PepperTyrkisk Peber is a strong liquorice candy flavored with ammonium chloride and pepper, made by the Finnish company Fazer and popular in the country...
- Green Apple
- TwizzlersTwizzlersTwizzlers is a brand of red licorice candy in the United States and Canada. Twizzlers is the product of Y&S Candies, Inc., of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, now a subsidiary of The Hershey Company.-History:...
- Yellow Liquorice
- RJ's Liquorice
Sources
- Liquorice at www.food-info.net