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Drop, also known as licorice!

Drop: it´s maybe more famous than ´stroopwafels´ and ´speculaas´, but it´s definitely not loved by everybody. Especially people who didn´t grow up with licorice most of the time don´t like it and can´t always get used to the taste. But for those who love this candy there is plenty to chose from in different types and tastes.

Who invented licorice and when isn´t exactly known. It can be dating from the time of the old Greeks and Romans. Originally liquorice was a medicine and it was used by Dutch pharmacists in syrups and pills against colds. Through the years the character of licorice has changed a lot and with the adding of for example flavors it is now famous as candy.

Ingredients licorice
The main ingredient of licorice is the root juice from the licoriceplant Glycyrrhiza glabra. The roots are dried in the sun and after grinded until porridge remains. To get a sweeter taste sugar or another sweetener is added and licorice also contains a binder such as Arabic gum or gelatin. To get the different flavors of drop other ingredients like salmiak, salt, honey or anise are added. When all the ingredients are mixed the liquid mixture is poured into molds in order to obtain the shape of the specific licorice. This is left to dry so the licorice gets its solid form. And to finish the liquorice it oftend gets a shiny layer, usually made of beeswax.  

Types of licorice
Sweet liquorice, salty liquorice, black liquorice, honey licorice, jelly beans (wine gums), liquorice allsorts. Just some types of licorice you can find in the Netherlands. But there are a lot more tastes available. What do you think for example of Katja drop with a taste of salmiak? Or do you know Tikkels with a fresh minty taste? Since there is so much choice in licorice there can be found an appropriate candy for (almost) every taste.

We would love to share some nice facts about licorice. Did you know for example that:

  • in Holland a person eats an average of 4 kilos of licorice per year?
  • in most households in The Netherlands you can find a pot filled with candy, called a ´droppot´.
  • many people don´t like the black sweets and that they find especially the extra salty types inedible?
  • in the movie Gold Rush Charlie Chaplin eats his shoelaces because they are made of licorice?
  • there are more than 90 different types of licorice in Holland? How much did you try?
  • English liquorices aren´t only made in England, but also in a lot of other countries like Holland?
  • eating too much licorice a day (more than 95 grams a day) can cause high blood pressure?

Feel like eating some liquorice? Take a look at our wide assortment and chose your favorite taste!