All about sweetwood & liquorice

Liquorice| Sweetwood

No liquorice without sweetwood. Liquorice is a natural plant product made from the liquorice plant, sweetwood. Glycyrrhiza glabra is the botanical name of the liquorice plant. In Greek, glykys = sweet and rhiza = root. The liquorice bush grows as tall as a man, has small green leaves and purple flowers - this part of the plant above remains unused, see illustration.

For liquorice production, only the taproots of the plant are of interest, which penetrate vertically up to 4m deep and branch out, making harvesting difficult. It can be harvested for the first time after the 4th year. The liquorice plant prefers plus temperatures in winter and has spread to southern Italy, Turkey, Syria and Iran. It also grows wild there.

There is an anecdote that the Amarelli family, who lives in Rossano Calabria for centuries, only started producing liquorice because it became too expensive and time-consuming for them to have this wild weed pulled from their land. They investigated the ‘weed’ and instead of pursuing the desired cultivation of citrus fruits, Amarelli has been cooking Pane Liquirizia, or liquorice bread, since 1731. The ratio is approximately 10:1. This means that ten parts sweetwood are needed for one part pure natural liquorice.

The liquorice loaves are used in the pharmaceutical, perfumery, tobacco and confectionery industries. The latter will be our focus here.

Why is liquorice black?

Sweetwood is light yellow in colour. Naturally tart liquorice, which kadó offers as pure liquorice, is black. How does it come about? The hours-long cooking process under pressure releases the vegetable carbon, which gives the liquorice its typical colour. Vegetable carbon is a natural colouring agent. Just pitch black.

Is pure liquorice healthy?

Sweetwood is the origin of liquorice. Botanically known as Glycyrrhiza glabra, the root is used worldwide in medicine because of its glycyrrhizin content. Glycyrrhizin has the following effects
- cough-soothing,
- stomach-soothing,
- thirst-quenching,
- stimulates the circulation,
- anti-inflammatory.
Liquorice, both sweetwood and pure, has always been used as a medicine for coughs, hoarseness and stomach complaints. More recently researched against herpes, hepatitis and Covid. Liquorice is a welcome addition to stomach teas and cough syrups. It has 50 times the sweetening power of sugar but no calories, as the human body does not metabolise the sweetness. Pure liquorice is made by boiling the liquorice roots and is also sugar-free. All chic? Not quite. It's the quantity that counts, even with liquorice.

When consumed in moderation, pure liquorice supports the above-mentioned effects. Glycyrrhizin stimulates the circulation, which can lead to high blood pressure, but also supports people with low blood pressure. Daily consumption of pure liquorice is only recommended in small quantities (5g/day). 5g correspond to approx. 20 pieces of pure liquorice pastilles.

Liquorice recipes - what´s inside ?

Liquorice recipes usually consist of the following ingredients: Sugar, glucose syrup, starch, liquorice extract, gelling agent, flour (wheat, rice, corn), salt, also salmiac salt depending on taste, flavourings, coating agent: aniseed oil, carnauba or beeswax, colour: vegetable charcoal, also other food colours for coloured liquorice. Gelling agents can be: Gum arabic, gelatine, pectin.

Salt and ammonia

Salt liquorice contains table salt (sodium chloride) or sea salt obtained from the sea and ammonium chloride. Salmiac salt has been known as rock salt since ancient times.
What is ‘liquorice for adults’ all about? In Germany, liquorice may not contain more than 2 percent ammonium chloride without a warning. If the proportion of ammonia salt in liquorice is between 2 and 4.49%, liquorice must be labelled as ‘adult liquorice - not suitable for children’ and ‘extra strong, adult liquorice - not suitable for children’ applies to a salt content of 4.49 to 7.99% in liquorice. A high consumption of salt and/or ammonium chloride is not recommended, not only for children.

Gum arabic

Gum arabic is the resinous sap of some acacia tree species and is therefore a vegetable gelling agent. The resin from Sudan is often used in the manufacture of confectionery. To obtain the resin, the trunk of the acacia tree is cut open, the resin is removed, purified and processed for use in the food and confectionery industry. Gum arabic is a natural product and an ingredient that has its price because - depending on the annual harvest - it is not available in unlimited quantities.

Gelatine

Gelatine is a high-quality, low-calorie and low-fat protein, free from cholesterol and sugar. Gelatine has hardly any allergenic potential and contains 18 amino acids, 9 of which are essential. Due to its good gelling properties, it is used in the food and confectionery industry, in tablet production and in the photographic paper industry. Gelatine consists mainly of pork rinds and bones, which come from registered slaughterhouses and are cooked and cleaned several times at high temperatures during the production process.
If you would like to get to know the gelatine-free liquorice varieties at kadó, click on the ‘gelatine-free’ button in the flavour category of your choice and all gelatine-free varieties will be displayed. Or get a taste of our gelatine-free range with this liquorice mix from kadó.

Pectin

Pectin is obtained by boiling vegetable raw materials (apples, citrus fruits, beetroot). Its ability to form gels is utilised naturally in the preservation of jam. Pectins are also increasingly being used as a substitute for gelatine in the confectionery and food industry.

Gluten

Gluten, also known as gluten protein, is a cereal protein and is crucial for the baking properties of flour. Cereals and their flours made from maize, buckwheat, rice, millet and potatoes are gluten-free.
If you would like to know which types of liquorice at kadó are gluten-free, you can click on the ‘gluten-free’ button in each flavour category and make your liquorice selection.