Licorice

A plant in the legume family, its botanical name Glycyrrhiza glabra, comes from the Greek glykyrrhiza, meaning "sweet roots." The medieval name was gliquiricia, from which the name "licorice" or "liquorice" is obtained. This popular flavoring dates back to the Assyrians; it is native to the Middle East and was used in Egypt 4,000 years ago for medicinal purposes. A Roman papyrus makes reference to the therapeutic value of licorice, and the roots were mentioned in the first Chinese herbal book Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing in the 1st century AD. It was used in Chinese prescriptions for coughs, sore throats, asthma, gastric and duodenal ulcers, and as a "mediator" of potentially toxic ingredients. All the ancients, from Greek physician Hippocrates to Greek writer Theophrastus and Roman naturalist Pliny, made reference to it.

However, licorice was not introduced to Europe until the 15th century, during the last Crusades, at a Black Friars' monastery in Pontefract, which is also the origin of Yorkshire's still-world-renowned Pontefract sweet. The Blackfoot Indians used wild licorice as an infusion to treat earaches, while other Indian tribes ate it fresh.

Today, it's a popular ice cream flavor in Europe. The Chinese use it in particular to flavor fish. The roots are used in candy and to flavor and color a variety of foods and beverages, including beer. But by far the greatest quantity of the licorice imported by the U.S., perhaps as much as 90 percent, ends up in tobacco, where it's used to sweeten and to moisten the leaves. Licorice extract is made by boiling the plant's yellow roots and allowing the excess liquid to evaporate. The remaining black substance has two important components: the essential oil, called anethole, which licorice shares with anise and fennel (which is why they share this characteristic flavor); and glycyrrhetic acid, which is what makes licorice sweet. Glycyrrhizin, a component in the raw root, is 50 times sweeter than table sugar. Before the advent of cheap sugar, licorice root was often cut into strips and chewed on its own, which is perhaps why modern licorice candy is sold in long strips.

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