High-res version

Here are today’s five interesting food facts about Licorice:

 

  • The botanical name for licorice translates to “sweet root.”
  • The licorice plant is actually a member of the pea family.

 

licorice-233958_1920

 

  • Licorice gets its flavor from glycyrrhizic acid, a chemical 50x sweeter than sugar!

 

liquorice-1142200_1920

 

  • This flavor is used in many products other than licorice candy, such as alcohol, tobacco, and of course food.
  • Carbenoxolone, a compound derived from licorice root, may help slow the effects of aging on the brain.

 

licorice-387028_1920

 

 

Today’s Food History

  • 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.