Black Licorice Lovers: Unite!

'Allo!

Black licorice is a time-honored, much celebrated treat that should be given the regard it deserves. While I realize there are many dissidents in the GWJ community that would see black licorice's good name tarnished, I know there are also many of you that value it as much as I do!

I finally managed to get some double salted black licorice yesterday. I had been on the hunt for it for a long time. And while I could have always ordered it online, I wanted to find it in the wild and lo, I did! It's not bad at all. I prefer regular black licorice, but it's alright and I would definitely get it again.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/cBGQvSY.jpg)

nom nom. I love black licorice. Haven't had it in forever. I'd take it over red "licorice" any day.

My son and I share a love for black licorice. Glad to know that there are others!

I adore black licorice! Love of it dose seem shamefully uncommon though, the majority of people I know who also like it share a name with me... Two names now that I think of it.

I have a buddy who's obsessed with black licorice to the point the he has a dedicated licorice shelf in his pantry. Everytime I visit he has me try a couple of different kinds.

It's not really my thing, but it's kinda growing on me. I do have to admit I was quite surprised by salted licorice. It's actually tasty.

I’ve loved black licorice since before I can remember, I’m told.

My mother loves telling a story about a visit to the zoo, where I, as a toddler, was riding in a backpack carrier she was wearing. She thought I was just looking cute since everyone seemed to be smiling when they saw me. It took a while until she discovered that I had managed to grab the end of her licorice rope and I had covered my mouth in black as I snacked on it.

She tells me this was my first time eating black licorice. My love of it hasn’t abated after all these years.

There's a Dutch brand I really like (the Dutch are bonkers for black liquorice), but I can't tell you what it is because the bag ripped so I poured it into a Ziploc.

Black licorice, I occasionally enjoyed. A few years ago, a diabolical Goodjer gifted me some salted licorice.

I have yet to recover.

My wife hates it. Can't stand the taste... smell... thought...

I adore it - easily one of my favorite candies. For several Christmas' past, she bought me some with the stipulation that I would take it to work to eat it. Unfortunately (for her), at some point, she also opened the bag of gag-gift stocking stuffers.

This year, I decided to return the favor and got her a box of Good n Plenty. Needless to say, she was not amused.

I WAS.

And I was immediately gratified when she immediately handed the box back to me.

Nom nom nom nom nom!!!

I loved it as a kid but I can't even get close to black licorice without getting nauseous now because of a bad run-in with Jägermeister back in my military days. The smell makes my stomach want to blow up.

I'm a big black licorice fan myself. Prefer the soft Australian brands but would not turn down the chewy, salty Dutch ones either. Also don't mind a bag of licorice all-sorts.

The bonus of really liking it is that many other people can't stand it so you can buy a bag of the candy and know your partner or roommate will not mooch off you.

I have a taste for black licorice as well, salted/nonsalted, non of my friends like it so more for me. I have yet to come across any that I don't like.

kuddles wrote:

The bonus of really liking it is that many other people can't stand it so you can buy a bag of the candy and know your partner or roommate will not mooch off you.

Bonus #2 - it scratches the same itch that chocolate or candy does, but with much less caloric impact, 'cos while I can eat half a tub of ice cream in a sitting, I rarely want to suck my way through more than 5 bits of hard salty licorice.

I am both deeply moved and vindicated by the many respondents to this post! GWJ is truly a bastion of humanity's best qualities. It's so exceedingly rare to meet people that like black licorice. And like some of you have said, it is both a blessing and a curse. Never have to worry about people taking your candy and the black jellybeans are all ours, hah.

Slack, eat your (black) hearts out! The voices of black licorice lovers have been heard and we are a chorus, lol.

On one hand, each and every lover of black licorice is A-OK in my book. On the other hand, every post in this thread is trolling the fact that I have no black licorice close at hand :-/ I hope you gits all turn into stone. Exceptions made for anyone that likes black licorice toffee -- that stuff is the cat's meow.

Black licorice toffee? Never had it, but now I am intrigued!

^ Much like black licorice love, it's probably an acquired taste. But yeah, the rare times I run across it, always snag me a few bags at least. Good stuff. I may Amazon some up, this thread has me jonesing for it and\or regular black licorice something fierce.

Some thread titles I see and I think "Hoo boy, this could go south." So contentious.

Anyway, if you like black licorice then these hard little bastards my Oma would give us should do you right.

Certis wrote:

Some thread titles I see and I think "Hoo boy, this could go south." So contentious.

Anyway, if you like black licorice then these hard little bastards my Oma would give us should do you right.

Gonna have to check these out next time I order some candy from amazon. Menthol -and- Licorice? That sounds great.

I like black licorice, but I prefer it a little milder than the truly hardcore group.

I got some of the Darrell Lea soft Australian Liquorice at the store today and had five pieces for lunch dessert. Soooooooo good!

I too love black licorice. Fortunately I rarely have enough on hand for it to be dangerous.

FeralMonkey wrote:

I too love black licorice. Fortunately I rarely have enough on hand for it to be dangerous.

Interesting fact, the shoe Charlie Chaplin ate in "The Gold Rush" 1925, was made of licorice, there were so many takes of him eating it he had to be hospitalized multiple times because of the side effects. Edited: I misread some things I was reading.

I’ve always loved black licorice, and I figure I must have had salted licorice, or more likely a cough drop with that ingredient in it as a kid, because I didn’t try it until a year or two ago and it was great. As a kid, I was a huge Good ‘n’ Plenty fan, but as an adult, I’ve graduated to stronger flavors.

One fun thing is to find some actual licorice root. You don’t want it to be completely dry and dessicated, the best has a moist center to it. Chew it to bits a quarter inch or so at a time and it will clean your teeth as well as taste very nice. And you can make a nice tea with it too.

Not going to say anything negative about black licorice, unfortunately never cared for it, and a bad experience on my 21st with Jagermiester made sure I never would. Enjoy your licorice no matter what color or flavor it is

You know, I just had a thought: I'm one who absolutely loathes black licorice, and have trouble imagining any human being wanting to eat the stuff. But I know I have a genetic taste quirk already, in that cilantro tastes soapy to me, not lemony. (I still kinda like it, from exposure, but it's not lemony in the least.)

So now I'm wondering if maybe some of us taste it differently? For me, it's this really powerful oily .... I want to say "stench", but that's not quite right. It is fragrant, it's just incredibly strong and vile. So I'll never voluntarily eat any, and I didn't even like using anise oil on my fishing lures, back when I still fished.

But a ton of you really love the stuff, so I can't help but wonder if it's another genetic thing, perhaps? I always wondered why people loved cilantro so much.

It'd be real interesting to hook a bunch of lovers and haters up to MRI machines to see what the differences were.

^ Science question: would soap and oil taste like proper cilantro and black licorice? I'm not suggesting you take one for the team mind you... ok, maybe just a dab...

I too would like to see more studies on objectively superior people who like black licorice and cilantro.

FYI: Black Licorice nearly killed me last year. Almost gave me a heart attack. Ate some while sick and taking Dayquil and drinking caffeine. Apparently the black stuff is a stimulant and so are the other two. AKA be careful while sick and don't do what I did and pick some up at the drug store along with a Coke Zero to take your medicine!

But I do love the stuff. Black Licorice jelly belly's are my favorite (I only do the sugar free ones and sugar free licorice and the black tastes like full sugar stuff)

BoogtehWoog wrote:

Black licorice toffee? Never had it, but now I am intrigued!

Can confirm, is delicious.

Also put me down for team loves licorice.

I have no troubles with cilantro or licorice. I know that people can taste things differently; I’ve had to overcome a sensitivity to bitterness in greens (mostly Brassica) and teas and alcohol, and I’m told that is genetic. It looks like licorice and cilantro are also genetically variant in how people perceive their tastes (and aromas).