Norma Jean Paulson., age 11, of San Bernardino, CA for her question:
Where does licorice come from?
Andy's pen pals seem to be very fond of licorice and this delicious treat is also one of his own favorite candy flavors, but if he eats all the candy he wants, he gets cavities. So he enjoys such sweet morsels as treats on special occasions, and, they taste better that way.
Chocolate and chewing gum, peanuts and popcorn are presents from the plant world.
Plants also give us assorted spices and such flavoring ingredients as lemon, lime, mints and tangy licorice that smell as good as they taste. The number of different plant flavors is past counting and more important than most people think. They add that tasty zip to our foods and also make many items on our diets easier to chew, swallow and digest.
Some flavorings are hidden in seeds, stems or dried leaves. The tangy taste of licorice is in the juicy sap of the plant's long, pliable roots. The licorice plant is a perennial herb of Leguminosae, the family of the plump seeded peas and beans. Unlike these reliable everyday vegetables, licorice does not take kindly to our cold winters and temperate climates.
It was originally a native wild plant of southern Europe and Asia. It is cultivated now in the warm climates of Spain, Italy, Iraq. Russia and Turkey. Some may be grow in our southern states, but most of our supplies are imported from Spain and Italy. Every year the United States imports about 20,000 tons of the wonderful stuff.
A licorice plantation must be cultivated for three years before it is ready to yield. The ferny leaf bushes are then three feet high and often decked with blossoms of palest blue. The whip like roots reach a yard or so down into the soil, and these roots are pulled up at harvest time. They are crushed and boiled in large kettles of water. The liquid is a mixture of water and root juice rich with the flavor of licorice.
It is strained and evaporated or concentrated. Sugar is added, and the famous flavor is sent to market as powder or as rich syrup. Our candy factories use it to add that zippy tang to their licorice drops and licorice sticks, to chewy candies and to ropv licorice whips. The drug people use it to mask the bitter taste of certain medicines, and that is why our cough syrups and such often taste as good as candy.
Licorice also is used to flavor certain tobaccos. After the juice is extracted, the sturdy root fibers are used to make cardboard boxes and insulating materials. The fibers are used to make foamy chemical mixtures that blanket blazing flames. The licorice plant gives up its mouth watering flavor and then takes on the serious role of a fire fighter.