If you really fall for it, there is a festival in Sweden that is dedicated to liquorice and everyone who loves it! And if you still cannot get enough of it, then you may continue to another liquorice and salty liquorice festival in Finland!
Liquorice itself has a taste that resembles anis or fennel, although they are not botanically related. The fresh root is actually significantly sweeter than sugar, however, a bitter oil tends to hide the sweetness, which has to be extracted.
When it comes to sweets, there are several brands to choose from. Some of the most popular are Tyrkisk Peber by Fazer and what you could already call a liquorice collection by Johan Bülow.
Tyrkisk Peber was originally created in Denmark in 1977, but has been produced by the Finnish company Fazer since the 1990s. It comes in several different flavours, some of which are milder, some of which are blazingly hot. Tyrkisk Peber is also the main ingredient in an alcoholic beverage (shot) called salmiakki kossu, in which it is mixed with the Koskenkorva vodka. Be careful if trying, though, as the shot will taste like a combination of candy and cough medicine, but have an alcohol content of roughly 40% that you will hardly notice (from the taste).
The liquorice made by Johan Bülow, on the other hand, is what you could almost call gourmet liquorice, with a more refined touch to it. It comes in several different flavours, all nicely and beautifully packed. This is probably the liquorice you want to choose if you buy it as a present!
 |
| Liquorice in the food - a mouth watering cookbook on how to utilize liquorice in cooking! By Johan Bülow. |
The Nordics are no strangers to using liquorice in cooking either. Both savoury and sweet dishes may get a hint of liquorice to enhance the flavour of the food. For example, here is a short and easy tip on how to use liquorice to gratinate langoustines (or lobsters). You may serve this one with a citrus aioli, which you may also want to add some liquorice powder to in order to enhance the liquorice experience.
Liquorice gratinated langoustines
20 langoustines
100g butter (room temperature)
1-2 teaspoons liquorice granulate
3 tablespoons parmesan cheese (freshly grated of course)
1 teaspoon fennel dill, chopped
Put the oven on 225C. Mix together the butter, liquorice, parmesan, and fennel dill. Split and clean the langoustines. Spread the liquorice butter over the langoustines and gratinate in the oven for 4-5minutes.
Note! Liquorice has a very dominating flavour. If you use too much, it will overpower the dish. Hence, use with caution and remember to taste, taste, and taste!
When it comes to using liquorice in cooking, just let your fantasy guide you! You can add a little bit to a lobster soup. You can add it to your pasta dough to get a liquorice flavour (note that the pasta will not get a black colour, though. For that effect you need squid ink or food colouring). You can add it to a vinaigrette used for salads. Just add it a little bit here and a little bit there.
There are several cook books based on liquorice available, so just pick one and have some fun! If you are hesitant to serving your liquorice based cookings to guests, then just invite someone from the Nordic countries and it will be a success!
 |
| Another book on liquorice and cooking, this one focusing mostly on pastry, sweets, and desserts. By Elisabeth Johansson. |
