Botanicals & aromatics: Liquorice root (dried)

Family name:  Leguminosae
Botanical name:  Glycyrrhiza glabra

Aroma and flavour: a sweet, woody, botanical. When cut and fresh, the root is bright yellow and smells sweet. It tastes of anise with a bitter-sweet flavour. Much of the sweetness in liquorice comes from glycyrrhizin, which has a sweet taste. The sweetness is very different from sugar, being less instant, tart and longer lasting.

Culinary uses: best known as an ingredient in confectionary, for example, Liquorice Allsort and is 30- 50x sweeter than sugar ! Gins, drinks, stouts, porters, dark beers and liqueurs, like Irish Guinness, Italian sambuco also use liquorice root to flavour their drinks.  It can also be used as a tisane or herbal tea.

Medicinal: liquorice root has many health benefits. It can act as an expectorant, demulcent, anti-inflammatory, adrenal agent, anti-spasmodic and mild laxative. It can increase blood pressure and not recommended for people with hypertenson or diabetes. Consult your doctor before taking !  The isoflavene glabrene and the isoflavane glabridin, found in the roots of liquorice, are phytoestrogens.