…I’m celebrating National Licorice Day with a glass of liquirizia liqueur. What did you do / eat /drink?
Close-up of Salty Spacemen Stars & Spaceships, a Dutch salted licorice produced by Van Slooten.
When a friendly coworker brought these to me as a gift, I couldn’t believe it. Salty Spacemen Stars & Spaceships!? Yet in fact these very tasty salted licorice were as good as promised and yes, shaped like things from space: rocket ships, moons, stars, space capsules, and weird-looking aliens. The taste is traditional Dutch licorice. Produced by Van Slooten, maker of similar products like Flowers & Butterflies.
P.S. Close-ups of some of the shapes coming up.
Panda is among my favorites among those lighter, sweeter, chewer forms of licorice. Made in Finland by Panda, they are all organic and therefore can be found in natural foods stores and organic supermarkets, everywhere from Whole Foods to food co-ops. Like Nibs (one of my favorite brands of licorice as a kid) they’re the kind of thing that are very, very hard to stop eating once you’re opened the package. I am currently keeping this package closed until I have gone through several other types of licorice that take longer to go through.
Meanwhile, from the side of the package, some background:
The Secrets of the World’s Most Delicious Licorice
Panda has been producing the world’s leading premium quality, soft eating licorice since 1927. The secret of the unique Panda flavor lies in carefully cooking only four simple all natural ingredients - molasses, wheat flour, licorice extract and aniseed oil. Being free from all artificial ingredients and cooked in such a traditional way by drawing inspiration from the clean Finnish nature, it’s easy to see why everyone around the world truly loves Panda.
Close-up of a bag of Katjes Kinder, little hard licorice cats made by German licorice maker Katjes. Wanted to show what they look like: stylized black cats, reminiscent of Ancient Egyptian statues.
Bag of Katjes Kinder, little hard licorice cats made by German licorice maker Katjes . They are mild, neither sweet nor terribly salty, and quite hard. I love them! Earlier on this blog I posted pics of a whole big tin I have of them: here and here:
“Katjes Guarantee” - from the back of Salzige Heringe, Katjes’ delicious “Salty Herring” salted licorice chews. This statement is made in reference to the fish candy but I think meant to cover all Katje’s products.
Translating from the German (myself, since tada, I know German):
The Katjes Guarantee
For us at Katjes, nature is the best model. These Salty Herrings are made with:
- with select natural licorice juice*
- only natural colors
We mean: “You see it and you taste it.”
Our delicious Salty Herrings with a pinch of salmiak** salt will make you want visit the ocean!
Katjes
* Had to look this up, as it’s listed as “süßholzsaft,” which literally means “sweet wood juice.” It is licorice, which makes total sense.
** Salmiak is mentioned often on German licorice products and is, as far as I can tell, a form of ammonia. It’s present in a lot of the salty licorice varieties.
Close-up of a bag of Salzige Heringe (Salty Herring), since I want to show off what they look like. Many people, when I’ve shown or described these things, are totally grossed out by the name, thinking these are fish-flavored candies, like some weird salted herring treat. They’re not that, though when people hear that they are salt licorice, they are about equally grossed out.
My first introduction to the world of salt licorice (discovered about 15 yrs. ago in England), Salzige Heringe (Salty Herring), a signature product of Katjes. I absolutely love these! They are basically gummy salt licorice chews shaped like fish and covered with salt the same way gumdrops are covered with sugar. So tasty and addictive. They are not too hard to come by; I know Cost Plus World Market sells them.
Close-up of the Cedrinca Liquirizia (“Caramelle Ripiene alla Liquirizia) made by Cedrinca in Polpenazze del Garda, Italy. I think even people who “hate” licorice would like these, as they are sweet, chewy, and not so much black or salty.
Bag of Cedrinca Liquirizia (“Caramelle Ripiene alla Liquirizia), which I picked up recently I think in Boston’s Little Italy. Delicious stuff! These are hard licorice candies, light brown, filled with licorice jelly. Sort of the equivalent of Brach’s strawberry jelly candies, except licorice. The candies are made by Cedrinca, a company established in 1910 and based in Polpenazze del Garda, a little town near Lake Garda in northern Italy. The company produces a number of different candy lines, including several like these.
Bonus pics of Licorette, which I reviewed earlier. Close-ups of front and back.
Note that like a lot of licorice, it makes a big deal of it’s healthiness, i.e. no sugar, no fat, natural fruit flavor, natural color. I guess compared to most candy, it -is- pretty darn healthy.
And yet, I will note the following, which I only noticed today, on the side of the box: “EXCESS CONSUMPTION MAY HAV A LAXATIVE EFFECT.” I have not noticed this personally.
The number one reason I bought this stuff was the name — Licorette! I find it hysterical, like it’s supposed to be pills for people trying to wean people off licorice a la Nicorette. Anyway, these are tasty licorice gels. The flavor is mild but very good and it’s chewy enough you actual do chew them, you don’t just mash it up and swallow, like you might withs something softer. Produced by Ferndale Confectionary out of Australia.
New one I just recently tried — OK, gobbled down — called Broadway (note NYC skyline) and (at least) distributed by Gerrit Verburg Co.
When I bought it (at Cost Plus World Market) I thought it was a solid hunk of licorice but when I opened it, I found it was four rolls, each of which was actually a flat piece of licorice rolled up. To eat it I just unwound it as I ate. That was the first package. On the second package, I opened it and found that you could actually separate the big roll into as many smaller pieces because of the ribbing (sort of like scored glass) but I still ate it in four chunks.
Re taste, pretty mind but quite satisfying. Along the lines of Panda or Kookaboora brand or those black licorice spirals. On a candy site this is how they’re described:
Broadway Black Licorice Rolls. There are 24 black licorice rolls per box. If you liked the Delfa Rolls or Danish Ribbons; you will love these. They taste pretty much like the Delfa rolls from years back. Made by Gerrit Verburg Co.
