Licorice (Pure and Natural)
Description
This product is one of the most important of the
nonfruity flavor materials from nature. One of the more practical reasons as to
why licorice finds no use in perfumery is the physical reason that all licorice
preparations are water-soluble; they are not alcohol- or oil-soluble.
Licorice or, more correctly, Licorice Extract is
produced from the rhizomes and roots of Glycyrrhiza Glabra, a leguminous plant.
There are two main varieties of this plant: the Typica which is known
commercially as “Spanish licorice”, and the Glandfllfera which is generally
called “Russian licorice”. The former comes from Spain and Italy, the latter
from Turkey, U.S. S. R. and the countries around Asia Minor towards India
Licorice Extract is black and brittle, and has a sweet, mild odor somewhat
different from that of the botanical starting material (the aqueous extract is
often evaporated over an open fire and some caramellization of the extract may
occur). Licorice extract has a very sweet taste, and a rich, “rootlike”, slight
iy spicy -caramellic body of flavor. It leaves a faintly scratching feeling in
the back of the mouth, and it is used in medicine for its mildly expectorant
effect. The sweetness of Licorice is due to an acid, Glycyrrbizin, which is
about 50 times as sweet as saccharose (household sugar). Glycyrrhizin is
present in the root combined to ammonia. Unfortunately, the commercially
available qualities of glycyrrhizin will color any aqueous solution in which
they are used, strongly brown. Outside of medicine, licorice extract finds its
major application in the candy industry, as a masking agent for bitter flavors
and, to a minor extent, in the breweries where certain kinds of beer (porter,
bass, etc.) are colored and at the same time flavored with licorice extract .
The bitter herb extracts in the beer are masked by the licorice sweetness and
flavor. Another effect enjoyed by the breweries is that Licorice Extract
produces a very stable foam in carbonated beverages. (For this effect, licorice
extract is also used in fire extinguishers). The tobacco industry uses
tremendous amounts of licorice, particularly for pipe and chewing tobacco. It
is worthwhile remembering that licorice extracts can not be used for flavoring
in acid media. The Glycyrrhizin is inactivated as a sweetener by acids. This is
a serious drawback since the masking of a bitter flavor is usually obtained by
introducing a sour (acid) taste.