licorice-root-msg - 10/5/19
Medieval licorice root.
NOTE: See also the files: mandrake-art, garlic-msg, ginger-msg, Growing-Hemp-art, Growg-Tbacco-art, Gum-Mastic-MA-art, musk-msg, pepper-spices-msg.
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From the fb "SCA Subtleties/Sotelties/Entremets/Sweet!" group:
Beth Johnson
November 7 at 5:20 AM
Hi all, I have been having a play with licorice root, and reading through papers and period texts (mostly medical) that have various references and recipes involving licorice. Licorice root is around 20% starch, so I decided to experiment with it to find out a bit more about how it works.
I boil some sliced, dried licorice root in some water and see what happened when I reduced it. As ane experiment, I tried another version that was juice from soaked licorice root and around 1/3 sugar, and boiled it down.
All of the sensory indicators for working with cane sugar do not apply to licorice. I felt like I was on the verge of burning it the whole time. Sugar cane starts out pale/clear, whereas licorice juice is naturally caramel coloured, and goes almost black when it's nearing hard crack stage. Licorice has a lot of bitter notes, much like burnt caramel. It froths up *a lot* when you cook it down, so I needed to have a very deep pan. It also gives off this greyish steam, which I thought was it burning but wasn't. It was very confusing. Anyway, after a lot of patience I now have something that looks and has the consistency of blackstrap molasses, but is in fact very reduced licorice juice!
Sue Barzda-Ryan
What a great experiment!!!
Anwyn Davies
How does it taste?
Beth Johnson
Like really concentrated, not very sweet licorice. It's... potent. Licorice root has many bitter notes and flavours, kind of like coffee
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