Talk:Liquorice (confectionery)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Food Portal
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Food and drink, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of food and drink articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.
Start This article has been rated as Start-class on the quality scale.
Low This article has been rated as low-importance on the importance scale.

Heh heh heh. As well as red, they do green, orange, yellow; all flavoured differently...but beware of the uber-tasty dark blue liquorice, flavoured raspberry. I once ate two seven-inch lengths and my poo turned green for three days. Needless to say, I never bought it again... Lady BlahDeBlah 22:51, 13 January 2006 (UTC)

Now I'm envisioning a disgusting experiment which consists of a diet of blue liquorice and asparagus and extensive use of public toilets. 125.237.75.108 11:14, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

Removed this from the page "though the finest production (and harvesting) occurs in the Macedonian region" for the love of god provide a citation at the very least.

So the "red licorice", which is so famous in the USA, does not actually contain any liquorice? That makes as much sense as calling water beer... oh, but from what I've heard (I don't have experience of it myself), most people in the USA already do. =) JIP | Talk 11:17, 20 February 2007 (UTC)

This article was mentioned in episode 3 of season 5 of Pen and Teller's Bullshit.

Hmm, I previously edited out the sentence The black color is strengthened by the use of carbon black as a food colouring agent. since I suspected vandalism; that change has been reverted. As far as I know (and as far as wikipedia knows), carbon black is partially burned hydrocarbon. Such material might not really be healthy to ingest, at least not unless there were special conditions during production of the carbon black to make sure no harmful compounds were created. This is certainly possible, but I would be less sceptical if there were some way to confirm this, or to confirm that regular carbon black is considered safe for consumption; given that carbon black is suspected of containing carcinogens, the latter could seem unlikely.


There is no carbon black in liquorice... otherwise it would show up in the ingredient list... and carbon black is used for colouring plastics and making plastics stronger... it's not used in foods.


The black colour comes at least partically from molasses... which is used in the production of most forms of soft liquorice. Molasses should be added to the list of liquorice ingredients... as should wheat... as all the common types of liquorice use them. Wheat is just a binder... the molasses is responsible for some of the tangy taste.


The GI of liquorice should also be queried. When you mix a lot of different things together you tend to lower GI not raise it. A search of the literature could not come up with a GI for liquorice.


A general search found that liquorice is used in some herbal diabetic medications. The general contra-indication (using liquorice if you have diabetes) could not be tracked down to any particular source except for the tendency to raise blood pressure (which has little to do with sugar levels). As most of the liquorice formulations will also be high in trace minerals (molasses is very high in minerals) and we know that trace minerals such as chromium and vanadium (among others) improve sugar metabolism liquorice might not be so bad. Certainly diabetic shops often sell liquorice confectionary with a low GI: http://www.danisco.com/cms/connect/corporate/products%20and%20services/food/confectionery/gummies%20jellies%20liquorice%20chews/gummies_jellies_liquorice_chews_en.htm A GI for a more common type of liquorice (not liquorice allsorts) should put the issue to rest.


Nb. Calculating GI's is a very imprecise science... which might explain why GI's for many foods are so hard to find. This is further complicated by the fact that the GI will vary between formulations of liquorice (the formulations vary widely).


A search on the literature did come up with http://www.confectionerynews.com/news/ng.asp?id=65329-compounds-in-liquorice a reference showing that some compounds in liquorice fight tooth decay.... contrary to the wiki information.


I would have put at least some of this in the Wiki... but the first part of the article... which drew my attention doesn't seem to have an edit option. How is it edited?

2 ways, you can edither edit the whole article (with the "edit this page" link at the top of the page), and just change stuff in the top, or you can edit another section, and change the section ID to 0. Some mods to the interface will add an edit link to the first section if that's what you want. Here's the link for your convenience: edit the header section McKay 20:16, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Red and Black

In the US, or at least the parts I've been in, red licorice is generally a great deal more popular than black, to the point where, contrary to the article, most people call red licorice "licorice" and black licorice "black licorice".--209.243.31.233 00:24, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

That's acutally covered at the end of the section. calling "Black liquorice" a retronym. McKay 15:14, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
Though, it characterizes it as a "rarely-noticed" retronym. I think the term "black licorice" is noticed quite a lot, at least here in the States. Unless they meant the retronym nature of the word is noticed rarely. Either way, the descriptor "rarely-noticed" is unsourceable and doesn't add much to the article anyway, so I'm removing it. -kotra 18:10, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Them Americans and their weak stomachs. Are they so used to overly sweet sugar candies that they can't handle even proper liquorice? My brother tried giving his friends some salty liquorice when he was in the French Riviera. Almost everyone hated it. However, liquorice candies made of real liquorice are very popular throughout France. I wonder what would happen if I were to go to the USA and give people salty liquorice? JIP | Talk 17:26, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

The Americans' stomachs would explode violently and you would be sent to Guantanamo Bay as a terrorist. ...but seriously: "Salty liquorice is somewhat of an acquired taste and is not generally appreciated outside of Scandinavia, Northern Germany and the Netherlands" (from Salty liquorice). It's not merely Americans who have "weak stomachs" (if initially disliking unfamiliar foods means one has a weak stomach). -kotra 18:50, 6 September 2007 (UTC)
Yes, I know. I am just amazed that what Americans call "licorice" is, in fact, simply strawberry candy. Don't Americans even appreciate the taste of the liquorice plant? JIP | Talk 04:13, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
Well, we have "black" (regular) licorice too, so we evidently appreciate it also (but to a lesser extent). Red licorice is called that because it's the same shape and texture as our black licorice, just a different color. But if you want to be technical, you're right, it has no actual licorice in it. It's sort of like how soy milk has no actual milk in it. -kotra 19:47, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
Does "red licorice" even taste anything like liquorice, or is it just strawberry candy in a funny shape? If it tastes liquorice-like, one could be forgiven for thinking it has something to do with liquorice, like the soy milk example you cited. Naming something "licorice" just because it's shaped like a candy flavoured by liquorice just sounds far too stupid to me. I would call Americans stupid for calling anything spiral-shaped "licorice" if we Finns hadn't named some things "salmiakkis" just because they were lozenge-shaped. JIP | Talk 20:04, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
I vaguely remember having heard fellow Finns call Strawberry Snören red liquorice sometimes, though it definitely doesn't taste like liquorice at all. --Para 22:04, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
The shape is pretty distinctive in my opinion, in addition to the texture. "Red licorice" shares both of these qualities. Soy milk doesn't really taste like cow milk. It only shares the color and consistency of cow milk, like coconut milk. Here's a better example: cream soda. Originally named "ice cream soda" because it had ice cream in it, cream soda no longer has anything resembling cream in it. While the name is now technically inaccurate, that's how words evolve. Consider the word "awful" which used to mean "awesome", but now it means the exact opposite. -kotra 18:54, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
In the U.S., licorice comes in dozens of flavors, including grape, root beer and sour apple. The shape and texture is similar to black licorice sticks [1], thus the product's name. America also produces the licorice gum, Black Jack. Besides, its not like Europeans don't have their own weird and nasty sweet food.—Preceding unsigned comment added by Knulclunk (talk • contribs)
Being strict everything not flavoured with liquorice root is not original licorice. However, US companies are fairly liberal in changing original recipes beyond recognition (does anyone thinks US produced Gouda or Cheddar had any similairty to the Dutch or English cheese beside the name). This is also not about nasty sweets, nobody here said they disliked the red stuff, only that it should not be called licorice. Imagine what would happen if a European manufacturer would produce a soggy pancake with some bad ground meat and call it a Big Mac. Although it would probably be an improvement over the original, I can hardly imagine a single American being amused. Arnoutf 23:09, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
More like calling something not containing any meat, bread, or vegetables a Big Mac, just because it's shaped like three circular discs put on top of each other. JIP | Talk 19:27, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
The thrust of your argument is that red licorice only bears a vague resemblance to black licorice. That's not the case, the only difference in appearance is the color. Here's a more accurate analogy: a normal Big Mac that has been shrunk to half its size. It's technically not "big" anymore, but it might still be called a "small Big Mac". -kotra 18:54, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
My point is, for some candy to be called "licorice", it has to be flavoured with the liquorice plant, or at least taste like it is. So far, all evidence I have seen points to red licorice being just strawberry candy in a funny shape. JIP | Talk 19:35, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
As I tried to illustrate above, word meanings change. I'm not saying it's good or bad that red licorice is called licorice, I'm just explaining why. The reason, as I've noted already, is not just that it's in a "funny shape", it's that it's in a particularly distinctive shape, with a fairly unique texture, and there really isn't anything else like it in U.S. candy. That's why the word "licorice" was used to help describe the new style of candy in a way that Americans would recognize. That's my theory anyway. -kotra 09:16, 15 September 2007 (UTC)
I would be amused. Bic Macs are hardly sacrosanct here in the US. Quite the opposite in fact, they are symbols of junk food and consumerism. Also, your soggy pancake with meat analogy is misleading because meat with bread is a fairly common combination, whereas a long, thin, chewy, sweet candy, twisted in a particular way, is not. -kotra 18:54, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
Warmed meat with bread is not common in the Netherlands, long thin sweet cady twisted in some way is, but only called licorice if it is black, contains licorice extract and salt. Please do not project US ideas as a world standard. Arnoutf 22:43, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
Unfortunately for the Dutch, the damage is done. North America already calls it "red licorice". - BalthCat 04:41, 15 September 2007 (UTC)
I am not attempting to project anything. I never said that everyone in the world should call it red licorice. I'm merely trying to explain why, in the United States, red licorice is called red licorice. I apologize if I didn't make that clear from the beginning. To reiterate though: in the United States, long thin sweet distinctly twisted candy is not common, and it certainly wasn't when it was invented however many decades ago. I could also mention that the ingredients of black and red licorice are exactly the same (mostly flour and sugar) except for just the flavorings, but this conversation is unproductive and pointless anyway, so I'll respectfully bow out now. -kotra 09:16, 15 September 2007 (UTC)
I have yet a single American who actually likes black...oops, real, licorice. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.126.75.181 (talk) 23:21, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Can't speak for the rest of the world, but in Australia red liquorice does contain liquorice extract. It's a lot lower in concentration than the strawberry flavouring, but it is there. (At least in the Ricci and Darrel Lea branded stuff) Phild 99 (talk) 02:23, 23 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Page Title

I propose moving this page to "Liquorice confectionary". "Candy" is too US centric Albatross2147 (talk) 03:23, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

If so, then it should be "confectionery", not "confectionary". It would be more in keeping with Wikipedia conventions to move it to "Liquorice (confectionery)" though, since it's usually just called "liquorice". -kotra (talk) 05:12, 7 April 2008 (UTC)
I'm fine with either Liquorice confectionery or Liquorice (confectionery). "Candy" does need to be out of the title though, just as "Liquorice sweet" would not be international. - Yorkshirian (talk) 03:37, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
I went ahead and made the move and fixed the double redirects. -kotra (talk) 05:29, 15 April 2008 (UTC)