What is with the color?

This is going to seem odd I am sure, or perhaps make me look like an idiot, but why are liquorice candies black? Was it a marketing thing to identify liquorice candies from other ones or is there another reason?

I know now a days they actually use a dark blue food dye to make it look black, but I think back in the day, when they used extract of liquorice it was actually black or very dark brown.


http://ftsanat.com/en/product/paste

I always thought it was b/c liquorice tastes like poo... so they wanted to match the color w/ the taste. no?

I often wonder to myself "why, Davey, does the jellybean company bother making the gross black jellybeans?" I'm only gonna throw them at people or feed them to my dog.

My dog wouldn't even eat them. Oddly enough though, I do like, on occasion a piece of good black liquorice...I just hate the fake flavour they use in things like jelly beans.

Liquorice is made from the liquorice root. While the root can be chewed to get the taste of liquorice, the most known product is the sweets.

Liquorice is made by drying and grinding the roots and dissolving the powder in water. This solution is reduced (as in, water is removed by boiling) which gives it a very dark brown colour. The true black colour is a product of extrusion.

The only shine-me-up the sweets get (at least, the right form of liqurice) is bees wax to make them shiny; mostly all sweets gets that coating though.

Brachs hard liquorice candies are red

Quote:

Originally posted by LovePony

Liquorice is made from the liquorice root. While the root can be chewed to get the taste of liquorice, the most known product is the sweets.

Liquorice is made by drying and grinding the roots and dissolving the powder in water. This solution is reduced (as in, water is removed by boiling) which gives it a very dark brown colour. The true black colour is a product of extrusion.

The only shine-me-up the sweets get (at least, the right form of liqurice) is bees wax to make them shiny; mostly all sweets gets that coating though.

They must reduce the tincture/solution to almost no water at all then. I use liquorice in herbal medicines and by itself for different ailments and have never seen the tinctures/solutions turn more any color aside from watered down ipa color.

Also LovePony, where did your find the information? I have been searching the web and can find only recipes or warnings about liquorice side effects.

I love liquorice. Tastes good and it's pretty common in Sweden. I know my friend in the US have only had those red weird liquorice things you see in movies and TV shows that I've never seen in Sweden. All the liquorice I've ever seen is black.

Quote:

Originally posted by Sugarpie

My dog wouldn't even eat them. Oddly enough though, I do like, on occasion a piece of good black liquorice...I just hate the fake flavour they use in things like jelly beans.

I am a sucker for the Jelly Belly brand. The other day I spent like $10 for a bag of jelly bellies at Target. My dog gets all the black ones and the buttered popcorn flavored ones.

Quote:

Originally posted by Davey45

...

I am a sucker for the Jelly Belly brand. The other day I spent like $10 for a bag of jelly bellies at Target. My dog gets all the black ones and the buttered popcorn flavored ones.

I love Jelly Bellies, but I don't buy them anymore because they're douchebags.

Did I miss a socially conscious reason to avoid them?

Nemisis02,

My information comes from a nonprofit Danish organisation called Aktive Forbrugere (Active/Concerned Consumers), specifically from http://aktiveforbrugere.dk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=81:lakrids&catid=40&Itemid=63. They have three sources; Toms Confectionery, the largest confectionery and thus liquorice manufacturer in Denmark, and two books with the same name, "Sådan laver man lakrids/How liquorice is made" by Peter Bejder in 2000 and Poul Due in 1983.

Additionally I read the Danish and English Wikipedia pages on liquorice. Since all three sources explained the same process I assumed them to be true. They differed only with respect to how the confectionery is finalised (i.e. what is added).

And don't forget how much the proper tools and processes can change products. Hellman's (and indeed most other brands) mayonnaise is pure white; every single attempt I have made at a homemade mayonnaise have turned a yellow/yellowish shade of white.

Important addition: In order to be honest, I have not edited the above statement; however, it appears that black treacle is added to liquorice to make the black colour. This information is new to me, as in it was not a part if what I found while researching for my original answer.

Waywardson,
The way to make red liquorice is to remove the extract from the liquorice roots and qdd strawberry taste and colour instead.

Quote:

Originally posted by Davey45

Did I miss a socially conscious reason to avoid them?

Maybe not for you, but for me yes. They're on record having donated thousands of dollars to anti LGBT causes.

Shit. I liked them. Maybe I'll just cut back to an occasional jelly bean.

Quote:

Originally posted by LovePony

Nemisis02,

My information comes from a nonprofit Danish organisation called Aktive Forbrugere (Active/Concerned Consumers), specifically from[Link] They have three sources; Toms Confectionery, the largest confectionery and thus liquorice manufacturer in Denmark, and two books with the same name, "Sådan laver man lakrids/How liquorice is made" by Peter Bejder in 2000 and Poul Due in 1983.

Additionally I read the Danish and English Wikipedia pages on liquorice. Since all three sources explained the same process I assumed them to be true. They differed only with respect to how the confectionery is finalised (i.e. what is added).

And don't forget how much the proper tools and processes can change products. Hellman's (and indeed most other brands) mayonnaise is pure white; every single attempt I have made at a homemade mayonnaise have turned a yellow/yellowish shade of white.

Important addition: In order to be honest, I have not edited the above statement; however, it appears that black treacle is added to liquorice to make the black colour. This information is new to me, as in it was not a part if what I found while researching for my original answer.

Waywardson,
The way to make red liquorice is to remove the extract from the liquorice roots and qdd strawberry taste and colour instead.

Thank you LovePony. It has bugged me for a while as to why exactly black liquorice was black and not say brown like other root flavored confections.