Licorice root

Licorice is the dried root and stolon of Glycyrrhiza glabra, a legume of the Fabaceae family whose sweetness is carried not by sugars but by glycyrrhizin, a triterpene saponin present at two to fifteen percent of dry weight and roughly fifty times sweeter than sucrose on a molar basis. Because that sweetness is saponin-driven it arrives late, lingers long, and carries an anise-bitter-mineral shadow that no simple syrup can replicate. Glycyrrhiza glabra is the Mediterranean species that underpins Italian, Egyptian and French trade, with three named cultivars -- typica, violacea and glandulifera -- grown from Calabria through Spain, Turkey and Iran into Turkmenistan; Glycyrrhiza uralensis, the Chinese licorice or gan cao, is the cornerstone of traditional Chinese medicine, prescribed in more formulae than any other herb. Culinary uses stretch across five traditions: the core sweetening note of Chinese five-spice (alongside star anise, clove, cinnamon and Sichuan pepper); the Calabrian candies and amari built on liquirizia di Calabria DOP (protected 2011); the Egyptian cold infusion erk soos sold by street vendors in Ramadan; the Dutch zoute drop salty candies spiked with ammonium chloride; and Italian pastis-style liqueurs. Medicinal dosing demands caution: sustained glycyrrhizin intake above 100 milligrams per day can cause pseudo-aldosteronism, hypertension and hypokalaemia.