I've never liked American licorice candies, since they have no licorice flavor whatsoever. I've sampled some of the Dutch double-salt licorice and while it's certainly an acquired taste, it's one I do enjoy, particularly when I'm in the mood for an extreme licorice experience. But my hands-down favorite for licorice has to be the Italian candies made by Menozzi De Rossa. Being the sucker for cool foreign packaging that I am, I have to admit that that's one reason I like them. Lunik, with its nifty slide-drawer metal container sports a doctor jauntily pointing at the name. It reminds me of packaging for an old-time patent medicine. Rombetti di Liquirizia all'Anice, brings to mind Peter Max because of the picture of a gnome bearing a bundle of bright flowers interspersed with licorice cylinders.
Aesthetics aside the real reason I like these candies so much is because of their intensity of flavor. Each is only half as big as a pencil eraser, but the the licorice flavor lasts for five minutes minutes or more. I presently own three containers. At the rate I'm going through them I should have exhausted my supply by 2010.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-24-2006 @ 6:44PM
taylor said...
I tried licorice when I was in Australia and loved it; I had no idea it could be so soft and bold tasting!
Kookaburra Licorice was the kind I tried.
http://www.kookaburralicorice.com/
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10-26-2006 @ 4:14PM
Marie Lamb said...
Just an FYI about Licorice, if it is real licorice. In the USA, candy passed off as licorice is usually flavored with Anise.
Avoid If...
Although the glycyrrhizin in Licorice fights the effects of hepatitis, you should avoid Licorice root if you have chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis of the liver, or any disease that impedes the flow of bile from the liver. Avoid it also if you have diabetes, high blood pressure, heart irregularities, abnormal muscle tension, poor kidney function, or low potassium levels in your blood.
Special Cautions
When taken in high dosages (more than 20 grams of Licorice Extract or 50 grams of Licorice Root daily) for an extended period of time, it will lead to excessive loss of salt from the blood, water retention, high blood pressure, and heart irregularities, sometimes accompanied by fatigue, headaches, and muscle cramps. Because of the possibility of these side effects, limit use of Licorice preparations to 6 weeks. The side effects disappear after the drug is discontinued.
Possible Drug Interactions
Licorice can increase the potassium loss caused by other drugs, such as diuretics that flush excess water from the body (Diuril, Zaroxolyn, others). This potassium loss can, in turn, increase your sensitivity to the heart medication digitalis. Other heart drugs such as quinidine and procainamide can increase Licorice-induced potassium loss, leading to a dangerously rapid heartbeat.
Licorice may also increase the effects--and unwanted side effects--of steroid medications such as prednisone (Deltasone).
Licorice contains glycyrrhetic acid, which helps heal stomach ulcers. Other ingredients--including glabridin, glycyrrhizin, and licoricidin--soothe inflammation. The glycyrrhizin in Licorice also appears to combat viruses such as hepatitis B, influenza, and HIV by boosting the immune system's T-cell count and stimulating production of protective compounds such as interferon.
A number of studies have confirmed Licorice's anti-ulcer effect, which typically equals that of prescription drugs such as Tagamet. The herb's protective effect on the liver has been confirmed by a 16-year study of patients with chronic hepatitis C. In this study, patients receiving a glycyrrhizin extract had a significantly lower rate of liver cancer.
The soothing action of Licorice has been known since antiquity. The plant was introduced to the Ancient Greeks by Scythians from the east, and it has been used in Europe since the Middle Ages. Today, several varieties of Licorice can be found in a region stretching from southeastern Europe to southwestern Asia and Iraq.
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