Burger with licorice The healthy licorice trend

Burgers with licorice: the licorice trend from the north

02/22/2015

Liquorice is probably nowhere as popular as in the far north of Europe. The black liquorice comes in Scandinavia but not only as a sugar on the table. The Danes, for example, spice up burgers and steaks with licorice. Currently a festival in Copenhagen shows adventurous trends.

Licorice salami and licorice beer
Liquorice is particularly popular in the far north of Europe. But who thinks only of a sticky candy in bags, Scandinavia does not know. There you can also find specialties such as burger with liquorice sauce or a cucumber-licorice soup. Licorice powder is a matter of course in many Scandinavian supermarkets between spices such as cinnamon or paprika. The butcher has liquorice salami and in some pubs liquorice beer. Even star chefs swear by licorice.

Licorice Festival in Copenhagen
As the news agency dpa reports, but hardly anyone has such a loving relationship with licorice as the Danes, although hardly anyone can explain properly. „It just has tradition with us“, Anne from Copenhagen says according to the agency. Together with hundreds of other fans, she sets her palate at the Lakritzfestival in the Danish capital of adventurous tastes. There is licorice, for example, as a powder in the cocktail to taste. But also veal or smoked goat cheese with licorice are on offer. Even sweets from hobby sweets can be found.

Only Dutch people consume more licorice than the Danes
„I mean, only the Dutch eat more liquorice than we Danes“, so Peter Husted Sylvest. He is sales manager at „Lakrids by Johan Bülow“, a million-dollar company that the 30-year-old Bornholmer Bülow built up eight years ago. Every day, 2.5 tons of licorice leave his factory, most of them in small, chocolate-covered balls. Also with bacon or gorgonzola is experimented in Denmark and varieties with chili are already on the market.

Boom in the last five to six years
„Licorice is a spice like any other you should not be afraid of“, says the cook Tine Drachmann Johns. She prepares veal with apple chutney and licorice for the visitors in small bowls at the festival. According to the dpa, you can try beetroot with smoked licorice goat's cheese next door. The cook explains that the plant has been used in the industry for 15 years. But only in the past five to six years, the consumers would have infected with the liquorice fever. According to a Danish TV report, licorice honey accounts for one-tenth of all honey sales in the Kingdom. It also states that four out of ten ketchup bottles sold by the manufacturer „Charles's herbs“ Liquorice contained and for every fifth jar of jam was the same.

Germans prefer gummi bears
In this country, the situation looks a bit different. Husted Sylvest says that if you offer Germans a bowl of gummy bears and a bag of liquorice, most gummy bears prefer. This only because they did not know, „what licorice is and how it tastes“. The sales manager said it was his „educational task“, To show the neighbors to the south that, like wine, there is a whole palette of flavors. For some star chefs in Germany, the Danes were already visiting.

Licorice has long been used as a medicinal plant
What many may not know is that licorice (Glycyrrhiza) has been used for millennia to treat various diseases. So that comes „Medicinal plant of the year 2012“ as a home remedy for stomach pain, as a home remedy for hoarseness or cough for use. As a medicinal plant in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) licorice is one of the standard remedies for numerous health problems. And in many Western studies, the healing properties of liquorice were scientifically proven. For example, research by Austrian researchers has shown that after lung surgery, licorice administration significantly reduces symptoms such as sore throat, hoarseness or cough. (Ad)