Black Licorice: Trick or Treat?

U.S. Food & Drug Administration ^ | October 30, 2017 | U.S. Food & Drug Administration

[Trillian]

Any of these look familiar or similar?

Real Licorice

Italian Licorice

[trebb]

Always someone trying to 'do a public service" by telling us how too much of something "may be bad for us" and "may cause some problems".

Too much Potassium and you get heart beat problems - and now licorice can cause too low a Potassium level and heart beat problems.....

Almost seems like they are wanting to inundate the medical folks by having a million minor things that folks can "self diagnose" with and go looking for their favorite "seen on TV" drug...

[gnarledmaw]

Unfortunately, no. It used to come in 5(?) rectangular blocks in a cardboard sleeve. The best stuff had each block in a diagonal silver and black foil. The sleeve was black, no pictures or symbols, at least none were prominent enough to remember. The licorice was quite soft and melted in the mouth rather readily, almost no resistance to the bite which left one deep rootbeer colored end. I want to say that this one was English, could have been repackaged there.

I believe the second most common offering was Swiss but I could be making that up. A dark blue sleeve, some sort of distant mansion in artwork, blue and silver foil.

[Trillian]

My husband says he remembers that. He hasn't seen it since he was a kid.

Did it look like this?

[gnarledmaw]

Of course, its difficult to judge the substance by appearance. It was dull and didnt shine but I suppose different processes may make it look different. In form it wasnt a large segmented bar, it was individual foil wrapped bars each of which had the proportions similar to a pack of Wrigleys but slightly smaller.

[NELSON111]

If medicine tasted like black licorice I’d Me an addict. I guess that’s why they say to each his own. I love the stuff. Can’t get enough.

[Fantasywriter]

Lol. Here’s another one. I can’t abide the taste of coffee. I once managed to dilute a cup with enough milk and sugar to down a few swallows. I didn’t enjoy them, though.

Let me guess; you love coffee.

[wideminded]

Glycyrrhizin can cause potassium levels in the body to fall.

I recently noticed some strange problems with my heartbeat and thought maybe it was time to consult a cardiologist. But then I realized that this issue always seemed to occur when I had been drinking a certain kind of tea. It was Earl Grey tea, a brand with "double bergamot oil". I looked up whether other people had had similar problems and I read that bergamot oil can deplete potassium from the body.

[mass55th]

Can’t help you with the tea question, or bergamot oil. I don’t drink tea, and have never heard of bergamot oil. Hope you can get some answers.

[wideminded]

I didn't mean to be questioning you. I included you in the "ping list" because I had noticed you commented about potassium levels in the same thread.

Earl Grey tea seems to be one of the most common types of tea you can buy. It has something called bergamot oil added to it, which I don't know very much about either, but I think I have read that it is a flavoring that comes from a kind of oranges.

Anyway, I felt better after I stopped drinking that type of tea. A main reason I drink tea is that I add butter to it, but that's another story.