Day 7: Licorice Mix-Ins

Today's discussion is about a rather adult candy that I have liked since a very early age...Licorice! But I am not talking about Twizzlers or Redvines..I'm talking about good ole licorice allsorts which use black licorice rather than the cherry or strawberry-infused licorice that is so common among Americans. 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. Licorice-root extract contains the natural sweetener glycyrrhizin, which is over 50 times sweeter than sucrose. The leading producer of licorice allsorts is a company by the name of Bassetts. Bassett's use the story of their creation in their marketing. In 1899 Charlie Thompson, a sales representative, supposedly dropped a tray of samples he was showing a client, mixing up the various sweets. He scrambled to re-arrange them, and the client was intrigued by the new creation. Quickly, the company began to mass-produce the allsorts, and they became very popular.

My favorite is the licorice bigger of the "licorice sandwichs." That's the one with three layers of white fondant seperated by to layers of licorice. The licorice layers in the "sandwhiches" are less potent so it's my guess that the flavor seeks in to the surrounding fondant layers. There are also the smaller sandwhiches. The brown one being cocoa, the yellow lemon, and the pink strawberry. I think the added flavors are a bit much, particularly the cocoa one but that doesn't stop me from eating them! I also enjoy the white fondant-filled tubes. As I have said prior I prefer the sweetness of the non-flavored fondant. However, I think the fondant to licorice ratio is a bit off. While the solid ticorice tube tends to be too strong for most people, I savor its potency and have no qualms about eating those. The allsorts also include the nopareil discs (nopareils being the small sprinkles). The jelly center has a slight essence of anise or licorice and crunch of the sprinkles is quite pleasant. Finally, we have the pink and yellow circles with a licorice filling. These circles contain coconut, which I find goes surprisingly well. There may be a slight difference in ration but still this is probably my second favorite of the mix.


Wold Market also carries a generic licorice allsorts product. The Jelly Belly manufactureers also have their own licorice bridge mix combination. The flavors in this are not nearly as strong as those in the Bassett's brand so these licorice bits may be more pleasing to the average person's tastes. This bad consists of licorice jelly beans, nonpareil gummys, licorice pastels, and licorice buttons. The nonpareils are much the same as those found in the Bassett's assortment. Licorice pastels are a slightly small version of Good & Plenty except the shells are crunchier and the licorice itself has a stronger flavor. The licorice buttons are simply divine! The consistency is similar to a hard circus peanut and the flavor is a delightful blend of fondant and licorice. It's as if the flavors found in the licorice sandwich from above have been combined into one candy.