Licorice is a popular treat enjoyed by people all around the world. But did you know that there's more to this tasty confection than meets the eye? Here are a few fun facts about licorice that you might not know!
1. Licorice has a long history. The use of licorice root dates back to ancient Egypt, where it was used for medicinal purposes. It was also a popular treat in ancient Greece and Rome.
2. Licorice is actually a plant. The sweet flavor of licorice comes from the roots of the Glycyrrhiza glabra plant, which means 'the sweet root'. This name is no understatement because, in its natural state, the licorice root is 30-50 times sweeter than plain sugar. We gather our fine licorice roots from central Asia and Georgia.
3. Licorice can be both sweet and salty. While the sweet variety of licorice is the most common in the United States, salty licorice is popular in Northern and Eastern Europe. Our salty licorice is made with salmiak; a unique ingredient, especially used with licorice in the Nordic countries. It has a sour and salty taste compared to regular salt which has a sweet and salty taste.
4. Licorice as a confection can be made in three ways; slow cooked licorice, cast licorice, and extruded licorice. At LAKRIDS BY BÜLOW, we cook our licorice in two different ways. One is the extruded licorice, where the licorice is cooked under pressure and then cut into small pieces - this is the type of licorice you find in most of our chocolate-coated products and our pure licorice variants 1-4. The slow-cooked licorice is cooked in an open pot for 4 hours, then handcrafted by a licorice chef, adding flavors such as granulated salt - a much more intense and caramel-like type of licorice that you can try as our organic SLOW CRAFTED collection.
5. There are many uses for licorice beyond just eating it. In addition to being used as a flavoring for food and drinks, licorice has also been used in traditional medicine and as a natural dye. If you're looking for inspiration to use licorice in recipes, you can explore the recipes here on our blog!
We hope you enjoyed learning about these fun facts about licorice! Next time you indulge in our gourmet licorice, you can impress your fellow licorice-loving friends with your newfound knowledge.