April 12th: National Liquorice Day

Today is National Liquorice day. 10 things you may not know about liquorice:

1. Liquorice is produced from the root of Glycyrrhiza glabra plant, which grows in southern Europe and parts of Asia. Although it contains similar flavouring to anise, star anise, or fennel, it is not related to them; in fact it is a member of the Pea family.
2. The word 'liquorice' is derived from the Old French licoresse, which in turn is derived from the Greek glukurrhiza, meaning "sweet root" Glycyrrhizin or glycyrrhizic acid is the chemical compound in the root that gives it its flavour. This substance is 50 times sweeter than sugar. Red liquorice does not contain this flavouring, only the black stuff has it.
3. Most of the world's liquorice production is not used to make sweets, but as flavouring for cigarettes and tobacco products. The US company which produces most of it has said that as much as 90% of its output is sold to the tobacco industry. As well as the flavour, which is particularly important for chewing tobacco, one of the properties of liquorice is that it opens the lungs, so smokers take in more of the smoke.
4. It is consumed in different ways in different countries. In the Netherlands, "salty liquorice" ie liquorice mixed with ammonium chloride is popular. Mint and laurel flavours are popular, too. In Italy and Spain people dig up the root of the plant and chew it as a mouth freshener. Italians like unsweetened pure liquorice in small, black, bitter flavoured pieces. In Calabria, Italy, a liqueur is made from pure liquorice extract. In Syria it is made into a chilled drink.
5. In the UK, the most famous liquorice sweets are Pontefract cakes, which are said to have been invented by a seven year old boy, George Dunhill, who was given some liquorice as medicine and wanted it to taste better, so added some sugar. The sweets have also been called Yorkshire Pennies, because of their shape and size; and locally they are called Spanish, because Spanish monks were the first to grow liquorice in the area. Until the 1960s, each "cake" was stamped with the company logo by hand, by a woman whose job title was "thumper". She could turn out 30,000 sweets per day.
6. Like many plants, liquorice has its medicinal uses. In ancient Egypt the Pharaohs used it to make erqesos, a drink which they used as a healing tonic. Copious amounts of it were found in the tomb of Tutenkhamen. It has been used as a laxative, to treat ulcers, reduce fats in the blood, and in Chinese medicine has even been used as a treatment for cancer. US universities are now researching the use of liquorice extracts for treating cancer. It raises blood pressure, though, so use with care!
7. In the James Bond film Moonraker, Jaws, played by Richard Kiel, bites through a cable car cable. To achieve this, the cable he bit was made from liquorice strips braided together.
8. Researchers in Chicago in 1998 looking into the effect of smells on sexual arousal found that a blend of liquorice and cucumber was the most effective aroma in turning women on!
9. Napoleon Bonaparte was said to be a big fan. He used to chew liquorice during battles as he found it soothing. He ate so much, it is said, that his teeth turned black!
10. It is a sacred substance in some religions. Buddhists use an infusion of liquorice root to bathe the statue of the Buddha on the morning of his birthday, and the Hindu god Brahma praised liquorice as a ‘General tonic, cosmetic and elixir of life”.