Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Flavour Pairings: Liquorice and Mint

This can be a winner, with the fresh blast of mint complemented by the pungent assertiveness of ammonium chloride. In my opinion the ultimate marriage is found in Super Piratos, where the liquorice and mint are faultlessly integrated:
Super Piratos

In this relationship the liquorice holds the upper hand, but it can be hard to arrive at a harmonious result. On the next level down we have a duality between liquorice powder and a coating of crunchy mint, but already the mint has been mellowed. The particular sweet I have in mind is akin to the pack on the right, but it's more smarties-shaped:
Dutch Liquorice

A mellowing of both mint and liquorice results in a nostalgic taste that is familiar from childhood, albeit separately as mild mint candy and sweet soft liquorice like that found in Allsorts (which—as far as flavour pairings are concerned—won't be discussed here any further. It looks pretty, though). It's is an agreeable all-rounder, but it does nothing to alleviate my cravings:
Chalks

Finally we have a number of candies where the mint dominates to the extent that there seems to be no point in the addition of liquorice. These include disgusting minty sugar pearls and these jellies:
Whatever this is...

They may be OK for mint addicts, but why bother with the liquorice?

There you have it, from the sublime down to the abysmal ;)

3 Comments:

Blogger Licorice Lover said...

Hey, it's good to meet another licorice lover. Licorice has many health benefits in addition to being just plain yummy! I used to love buying licorice because my kids wouldn't eat it, but then they discovered how good it is and now a bag of licorice doesn't last too long in our house.
Come check out my blog at http://licoricelover.blogspot.com

11:35 AM  
Blogger Licorice Lover said...

We just posted a link to your blog at our blog.
http://licoricelover.blogspot.com/2009/10/just-found-some-other-licorice.html

10:10 AM  
Blogger mina olen said...

good round-up of this unusual flavor combination, Denni! I'm still not sure I'm 100% convinced that it works, but I will keep an open mind heh.

I'll have to look for versions other than the chalky Allsorts kind (which is the only one I've had).

:~j

2:59 PM  

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