Beautiful Botanicals: Liquorice is so much more than just the sweet-rooted botanical
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The Glycyrrhiza genus a member of the Leguminosae family is a group of some twenty species of sticky herbaceous perennial plants, writes Joanne Howdle.
The botanical has pinnate leaves, sweet pea like flowers which range in colour from purple to pale blue and pink.
The genus name comes from the Greek word glykys – meaning sweet and rhiza – meaning root, which is why one of the common names for the botanical is ‘sweet root’. The most valuable species native to Asia Minor, Central and Southern Russia, and the Mediterranean is Glycyrrhiza glabra or liquorice.
The botanical has a root that can grow up to 1.8 metres deep and rhizomes which spread out from the plant. It is these rhizomes that have been cultivated for millennia as they contain the compound glycyrrhizin, which is 30–50 times sweeter than sugar.
British Egyptologist Howard Carter (9th May 1874 – 2nd March 1939) discovered liquorice root in the tomb of 18th Dynasty Pharaoh Tutankhamun. Whilst the Ancient Greek geographer, historian, and writer Herodotus upon encountering the cavalry of the Scythian Empire north of the Black Sea noted they could endure long periods of thirst whilst campaigning by eating liquorice root and drinking mare’s milk.
Liquorice root has anti-inflammatory, anti-ulcer, antimicrobial, antioxidant, anxiolytic, and expectorant properties, which is probably why the botanical was mixed in drinks by the Assyrians, ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans to treat a variety of medical complaints.
The botanical is also utilised in traditional Chinese and Ayurveda medicine as a diuretic and laxative, and as a treatment for respiratory, eye and liver diseases, inflammation, throat infections, gastric and peptic ulcers, and arthritis.
The antioxidant and anxiolytic properties of this botanical mean that is used in modern medicine to treat cancer, and as an antidepressant. It is also used to reduce blood cholesterol levels and to treat liver and renal complications. Rich in antioxidants liquorice is beneficial for the skin and is often used to treat itchy and inflamed skin.
Today, we are familiar with sweets that have a liquorice flavour, but it wasn’t until around the 13th Century AD that liquorice root started to appear in confectionery. Cluniac monks are said to have discovered ‘liquorice’, a popular drink in the Middle East, during the military crusades in Jerusalem. Liquorice arrived in England with Cluniac monks who grew the botanical in their medicinal herb garden in Pontefract, Yorkshire.
After the dissolution of the monasteries the cultivation of liquorice became widespread in West Yorkshire where it was used as a sweetener in confectionery – hence the invention of the sweet known as Pontefract cakes. Today, liquorice root in its powdered form can be added to flour to prepare cakes or fresh pasta and applied directly onto meat or pasta dishes to give the recipe a bitter-sweet taste. The botanical is also used to flavour Jägermeister, Pastis, Sambuca, and Vermouth. In gin manufacture, liquorice root is used to add a natural sweetness with a salty undertone to the spirit. The botanical also adds a woody smell and taste to gin. It is used by distillers to give the spirit an oiliness, increasing the viscosity of the gin.
- Joanne Howdle is interpretation and engagement manager at the multi-award-winning Dunnet Bay Distillers Ltd.
