Ten out of Ten!

My search is at an end. And it came to an end rather unexpectedly last Friday night, after three pints of the Old Rosie's, when our downstairs neighbour invited us inside for a bit of wine to round off the evening. That is why I thought I was hallucinating when I remembered it the next morning. But I have the picture to prove it:



And I've just had another taste. The ammonium chloride is already fading slightly after the liquorice had been out of the bag for the past five days (in my jar with the other liqs and silica to keep 'em dry), but it's still there, its gentle heat almost sufficient to form fumes at the back of my throat. It's complemented by the familiar earthiness of sweetroot. And I don't know what else is in there, but it all conspires to make this liquorice perfect. It is not too hard and not too soft, it melts in the mouth just slightly too fast at the thought that it is the last one, but just at the right rate if you know you can grab another one later. The flavour is maintained throughout. I had a coffee just now but it brushes the taste aside without any ado, assuming a quiet and welcome dominance. The aftertaste lingers gently in the background until it is time for another sip.

Disconcertingly it says 'mix' on the pack, but I've only tried the little diamonds with the lattice pattern. I should hope that all the shapes in the pack taste the same, but there's only one way to find out.

Somewhere in this town there must be a Finnish shop.

Salty Liquorice in Unlikely Places

Slowly but surely it is invading our shores. No longer do I have to resort to internet ordering: salty liquorice can now be picked up at Waterloo Station (the 'tripple salt' coins aren't quite as salty, but just right for me. The 'zout' diamonds are, however, 'zoet'!)



And that's not all. In my old alma mater, a sweet shop has appeared on the High Street, and they have salty liquorice. Even sugar free ones!



I'll have to return when the tourist hordes are gone.

Treasure Trove

Here's the package from Danfoods:



I'm slowly working my way through it :)

Procrastination

I should be working, but I weakened and placed an order for liqs on "Humbug" said Scrooge!.

The quaint website is the online outlet for an even quainter sweetshop in a North Welsh village which stocks—wait for it—50 varieties of Dutch liquorice!

Among them are a few old favourites, and while the choice is less than that found on Dutch websites, both shipping costs and order size have to be considered. I have liquorice going stale on me because it's being kept for too long. (I have to ration it, but once a pack is open, it starts to deteriorate. Here's hoping that the bags will be sealed)

Small town sweetshops are real gold mines for Dutch treats. I even found (semi-)salty liquorice in a sweet shop in Banff, Canada! I'm wondering who actually buys the stuff.

Oddly, the sweetshop in my German hometown was about the only shop there that sold sweets but not salty liquorice (despite its popularity so close to the Dutch border)!

DIY Mix'n'MATCH

I've just microwaved one of my treble-zout liquorice lozenges together with three sweet ones.

They bubbled up within seconds (watch the power!) and when the mix has cooled down, I'll be able to tell whether the right balance of flavour has been achieved :)