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Liquorice - Licorice
(Glycyrrhiza glabras)
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Liquorice - Licorice - Glycyrrhiza glabra
Liquorice, or licorice, is the root of Glycyrrhiza glabra from which a sweet flavour can be
extracted. The liquorice plant is a herbaceous perennial legume native to southern
Europe, India, and parts of Asia. It is not botanically related to anise, star
anise, or fennel, which are sources of similar flavouring compounds. Most liquorice is used as a flavouring agent for
tobacco, particularly American blend cigarettes. Liquorice flavours are also used as candies or
sweeteners. Liquorice extracts have a number of medical uses, and they are also used in herbal and folk
medications.
Liquorice is a perennial, robust, herbaceous plant growing up to 1.5 m high with an extensive root system consisting of a tap
root, root branches, and long runners. The woody stalk bears a loose foliage with unpaired
pinnate, narrowly lanceolate leaves, about 7–15 cm (2.8–5.9 in) long, with 9–17
leaflets, covered with sticky glandular hairs.
The leaflets (like those of the False Acacia) hang down during the night on each side of the
midrib, though they do not meet beneath it. The erect, 10 to 15 cm long blossom clusters grow from the leaf axils and bear numerous
blue-lilac, blue-violet, or white-pink blossoms 0.8–1.2 cm (1/3–1/2 in) long. Licorice flowers from June to
July. Flowers followed by small pods somewhat resembling a partly-grown peapod in
form. In the type species glabra, the pods are smooth, hence the specific name; in others they are hairy or
spiny.
The underground system, as in so many
Leguminosae, is double, the one part consisting of a vertical or tap root, often with several branches penetrating to a depth of 3 or 4
feet, the other of horizontal rhizomes, or stolons, thrown off from the root below the surface of the
ground, which attain a length of many feet. These runners are furnished with leafbuds and throw up stems in their second
year. The perennial downward-running roots as well as the long horizontal stolons are equally preserved for
use.
The liquorice bush is native to Asia Minor and the
Caucasus. It is found in the Mediterranean region, in the Balkans, and in the Near
East. It loves sandy soil and grows in wasteland and dry river beds. Its feral occurrence from old cultivation is so widespread that it seldom must be cultivated
today.
Liquorice grows best on sandy soil near
streams, usually not being found in the wild condition more than 50 yards from
water. Various indications point to the habit of this plant of fixing atmospheric
nitrogen, as do many others of the family. It will not flourish on clay and prefers the
rich, fine soil of bottom lands in river valleys, where there is an abundance of moisture during the growing
period, but where the ground bakes hard during the hot, late summer months, when the dry heat is very favourable for the formation of the sweet
constituents.
Liquorice is harvested in the autumn two to three years after
planting. Countries producing liquorice include Iran, Afghanistan, the People’s Republic of
China, Pakistan, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Turkey
The word liquorice is derived (via the Old French
licoresse) from the Greek ãëõêýññéæá (glukurrhiza), meaning "sweet root", from ãëõêýò
(glukus),
"sweet" + ñßæá (rhiza), "root", the name provided by
Dioscorides. It is usually spelled liquorice in British usage, but licorice in the United States and
Canada. The species name glabra is derived from the Latin glaber, which means "smooth" or "bald" and refers to the smooth
husks.
Licorice plants were known in Chinese medicine as early as 2800
B.C. In Tibet they were considered a classical medicine. In the tomb of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutanchamon (1350
B.C.), the healing power of licorice roots is described. The use of licorice preparations to alleviate throat and bronchial infections is documented for more than 2000
years!
The use of the Liquorice plant was first learnt by the Greeks from the
Scythians. Theophrastus (369-285 B.C.), in commenting on the taste of different roots
(Hist. Plant. lib. IX. c. 13), instances the sweet Scythian root which grows in the neighbourhood of the Lake Maeotis
(Sea of Azov), and is good for asthma, dry cough and all pectoral diseases.
Alexander the Great supplied his troops with rations of liquorice root whilst marching because of its
thirst-quenching qualities.
In the Middle Ages, licorice was cultivated in Central Europe much more frequently than
today. Remnants of this cultivation continued into the beginning of the 20th
century. In Europe, the drug was long used only as an expectorant and flavoring
agent. The beneficial effect of licorice in stomach diseases was not described until 1950.
The scent of liquorice root comes from a complex and variable combination of
compounds, of which anethole is up to 3% of total volatiles. Much of the sweetness in liquorice comes from
glycyrrhizin, which has a sweet taste, 30–50 times the sweetness of sugar. The sweetness is very different from
sugar, being less instant, tart, and lasting longer. The isoflavene glabrene and the isoflavane
glabridin, found in the roots of liquorice, are phytoestrogens.
Most liquorice is used as a flavouring agent for
tobacco, particularly American blend cigarettes. Liquorice provides tobacco products with a natural sweetness and a distinctive flavour that blends readily with the natural and imitation flavouring components employed in the tobacco
industry. It represses harshness and is not detectable as liquorice by the
consumer. Tobacco flavourings such as liquorice also make it easier to inhale the smoke by creating
bronchodilators, which open up the lungs. Chewing tobacco requires substantially higher levels of liquorice extract as emphasis on the sweet flavour appears highly
desirable.
Liquorice flavours are also used as candies or
sweeteners, particularly in some European and Middle Eastern countries.
In the Netherlands, where liquorice candy (drop) is one of the most popular forms of
sweets, only a few of the many forms that are sold contain aniseed, although mixing it with
mint, menthol, or with laurel is quite popular. Mixing it with ammonium chloride
(salmiak) is also popular. The most popular liquorice, known in the Netherlands as zoute drop
(salty liquorice), actually contains very little salt, i.e., sodium chloride. The salty taste is probably due to ammonium chloride and the blood
pressure-raising effect is due to glycyrrhizin. Strong, salty sweets are popular in Nordic
countries.
Pontefract in Yorkshire In England was the first place where liquorice mixed with sugar began to be used as a sweet in the same way it is in the modern
day. Pontefract cakes were originally made there. In County Durham, Yorkshire, and
Lancashire, it is colloquially known as 'Spanish', supposedly because Spanish monks grew liquorice root at Rievaulx Abbey near
Thirsk.
In Italy (particularly in the south), Spain, and
France, liquorice is popular in its natural form. The root of the plant is simply dug
up, washed, dried, and chewed as a mouth freshener. Throughout Italy, unsweetened liquorice is consumed in the form of small black pieces made only from 100% pure liquorice
extract; the taste is bitter and intense. In Calabria a popular liqueur is made from pure liquorice
extract.
Liquorice is also very popular in Syria and
Egypt, where it is sold as a drink, in shops as well as street vendors. It is used for its expectorant qualities in folk medicine in
Egypt.
Dried liquorice root can be chewed as a sweet. Black liquorice contains about 100 calories per ounce (15
kJ/g). Liquorice is used by brewers to flavour and colour porter classes of
beers, and the enzymes in the root also stabilize the foam heads produced by beers brewed with
it.
Glycyrrhizin has also demonstrated antiviral,
antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective, and blood pressure-increasing effects in vitro and in
vivo, as is supported by the finding that intravenous glycyrrhizin (as if it is given orally very little of the original drug makes it into
circulation) slows the progression of viral and autoimmune hepatitis. In one clinical trial liquorice demonstrated promising
activity, when applied topically, against atopic dermatitis. Additionally, liquorice may be effective in treating hyperlipidaemia (a high amount of fats in the
blood). Liquorice has also demonstrated efficacy in treating inflammation-induced skin
hyperpigmentation. Liquorice may also be useful in preventing neurodegenerative disorders and dental
caries.
The antiulcer, laxative, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, antitumour and expectorant properties of liquorice have been
investigated. The compound glycyrrhizin (or glycyrrhizic acid), found in
liquorice, has been proposed as being useful for liver protection in tuberculosis
therapy, but evidence does not support this use, which may in fact be harmful.
In traditional Chinese medicine, liquorice is believed to "harmonize" the ingredients in a formula and to carry the formula to the 12
"regular meridians". Liquorice has been traditionally known and used as medicine in Ayurveda for
rejuvenation.
Excessive consumption of liquorice (more than 2
mg/kg/day of pure glycyrrhizinic acid, a liquorice component) may result in adverse
effects, and overconsumption should be suspected clinically in patients presenting with otherwise unexplained and muscle
weakness.
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquorice
https://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/l/liquor32.html
http://www.avogel.ch/en/plant-encyclopaedia/glycyrrhiza_glabra.php
