Liquorice has a long and fascinating history! Alexander the Great, on his empire building campaigns, gave his troops liquorice roots to chew due to their thirst quenching properties whilst the ancient greeks called it 'glukurrhiza' (sweet root). This may look odd on the page but if you try saying it out loud, it is not too dissimilar to 'liquorice'

When and how the use of liquorice became popular in Britain is uncertain, however it is alleged that the reason liquorice is colloquially known as 'Spanish' in Yorkshire and Lancashire is due to Spanish Monks at Rievaulx Abbey growing the plant – wether for culinary or medicinal purposes is unknown. Indeed it is the Yorkshire town of Pontefract (home of the Pontefract Cake, a soft chewable Liquorice tablet) with its deep sandy soil that was the centre of the Liquorice growing industry in Britain. Although the plant is no longer grown, there are still two liquorice sweet factories in the town; they even hold an annual liquorice festival! John Betjamin wrote a poem 'The Licorice Fields at Pontefract' (using the alternative spelling of the word!)

Requiring two to three years growth before the root can be harvested, the plant it is a crop that needs patience. Although some chew the liquorice root or wood as it is (in southern Europe as a natural breath freshener) more commonly an extract is used to make liquorice flavoured sweets. Boiling up the roots of the plant, then evaporating the water concentrates this naturally sweet product into the actual liquorice extract.

Liquorice may be used to flavour boiled sweets or soft drinks but for a traditional chewy sweet the extract is further sweetened by adding sugar and then a binding agent (edible forms of starch, gum arabic or gelatine) is added to allow it to be formed into a handleable sweet. Different combinations result in soft, chewy or jelly liquorice! To make your liquorice glossy, add bees wax, to intensify the blackness – molasses!

Different countries have different preferences – in Britain we adore Liquorice Allsorts (with added aniseed flavour) while the Dutch take theirs salty (or with mint, aniseed or laurel flavourings!) liquorice wheels, whips, pipes and tablets are traditional forms whilst new fruit flavoured forms are also popular. So next time you enjoy a piece of liquorice, whether filled with fondant, shaped in a whirl or covered with a shell to make a liquorice torpedo give a thought to it's long and delicious history!