Licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra L.)

Licorice flowers At all times, licorice was used less as a spice than as a medicine; usage against diseases of the upper respiratory tract dates back at least to ancient Egypt.

At first glance, the strong, dominating sweetness of this plant neither fits to sweet nor to spicy dishes. However, small amounts of licorice substantially improve the Chinese five spice powder (this is suggested by Norman and absolutely worth trying). For the other components of this spice mixture, see star anise. In China, licorice is often used to flavour master sauce (see cassia).

Licorice is the base of traditional candies of Northern Europe, particularly Northern Germany (Lakritz in Germany) and Scandinavia (salmiakki in Finland). These bonbons consist of the evaporated juice of licorice, plus some optional flavourings, e. g., lemon or more traditionally salmiac (sal ammoniac, ammonium chloride), but usually no sugar. More recently, licorice-based sweets have been suspected to cause high blood pressure; indeed, glycyrrhizin has hypertensive action, but it is yet unclear whether consumption of a few licorice candies could have any significant effect.

Several different spices are frequently termed sweet. This attribute does not always denote a truly sweet taste, but is sometimes used as a general synonym for aromatic (e. g., cloves or cinnamon). Other spices, though, really taste somewhat sweet, although in few of them sweetness is as strong as in licorice: Anise, fennel, and star anise are typical examples for this sensory quality; see also cicely. Other sweet spices are tonka beans and vanilla. A spice unique by its sweet pungency is long pepper. Lastly, both juniper berries and pink pepper contain significant amounts of sugar and, thus, indeed taste sweet; their sweetness is, however, of minor importance in the kitchen.

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Modification date: 11 Dec 2002
Report problems and suggestions to Gernot Katzer
(treabgxngmre)

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