Interesting Food Facts about Licorice

  1. The botanical name for licorice translates to “sweet root.”
  2. The licorice plant is actually a member of the pea family.
  3. Licorice gets its flavor from glycyrrhizic acid, a chemical 50x sweeter than sugar!
  4. This flavor is used in many products other than licorice candy, such as alcohol, tobacco, and of course food.
  5. Carbenoxolone, a compound derived from licorice root, may help slow the effects of aging on the brain.

Fun Fact:

Licorice helps relieve the pains that accompany certain types of ulcers, and it is good for the adrenal glands.

Licorice root is a botanical ingredient in modern Chinese medicines used to manage cancers. Current research conducted at Rutgers, the
State University of New Jersey, supports the use of licorice in the treatment of prostate and breast cancer.

 In Egypt the Pharaohs used liquorice to create a traditional drink called erqesos, which was consumed as a healing tonic.

  • 1748 Antoine-Laurent de Jussieu was born. A French botanist whose ideas formed the foundation of a natural plant classification system.
  • 1985 The four ‘unicorns’ of Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus were declared to be only goats with surgically implanted horns by federal inspectors. The circus was ordered to stop advertising them as unicorns
  • 1988 The first U.S. patent on an animal life form was issued to Harvard scientists for a genetically engineered mouse.
  • 1989 The USSR issued ration cards for sugar due to a shortage
  • 2001 Maryland banned the farming of genetically modified fish in any waters linked to other bodies of water.