Candy Ingredients

Liquorice candy (licorice in American English) is flavored with the extract of the roots of the liquorice plant, and usually anise oil as well. A wide variety of liquorice candies are produced around the world. In the U.S. more...

, liquorice candy (excluding similar candy varieties that are not flavored with liquorice extract, see Red "liquorice" below) is known as black licorice and commonly consists of chewy ropes or tubes. In the Commonwealth a mixture of various liquorice candies is known as liquorice allsorts. In the Netherlands, Northern Germany and Nordic countries, salty liquorice contains ammonium chloride as an additional spicy ingredient.

Composition

The essential ingredients of liquorice candy are liquorice extract, sugar, and a binder. The binder is typically starch/flour, gum arabic, or gelatin, or a combination thereof. Additional ingredients are extra flavoring, beeswax for a shiny surface, ammonium chloride, and molasses to give the end product the familiar black color. Ammonium chloride is mainly used in salty liquorice candy, with concentrations up to about 8 percent. However, even regular liquorice candy can contain up to 2 percent ammonium chloride, the taste of which is less prominent due to the higher sugar concentration.

Production

During manufacturing, the ingredients are dissolved in water and heated to 135 °C. In order to obtain candies of the desired shapes, the liquid is poured into molds, that are created by impressing holes into a container filled with starch powder. The liquid is then dried and the resulting candies are sprayed with beeswax in order to give their surface a shiny appearance.

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