Liquorice flourishes in salty soils of the dried-up Aral Sea | Hacker News Reader

Liquorice flourishes in salty soils of the dried-up Aral Sea

economist.com

32 pointszeristor19 comments

Real Licorice has quite a unique flavor, but don't eat too much because of the Glycyrrhizin in it, which can cause medical problems.

Is that an Elven spice?

No, it's an abolished house at Hogwarts.

Yeah, people have died from licorice! I think you can have a few pieces a day without a problem. Just don't have a pack a day.

I love Dutch licorice, the less readable the label the better. I look for the stuff that is "zacht" & "zout" (salty and soft).

Salmiak licorice is incredibly good! It blows my mind that American black licorice doesn't have it. (I guess it's an acquired taste?)

Does anybody have any recommendations for candies to try? I love "Lakrisal" a lot!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_chloride

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salty_liquorice

I quite like the Swedish one Djungelvrål

I like the ones that are tiny, rock-hard pellets, and you can't keep them in your mouth long enough to dissolve, because they are so strong it hurts. Is there a name for those?

I’m not sure I’ve tried those. You’re not referring to Tyrkisk Peber are you?

Can't recall. Got them in Sweden. The name includes "lakrits", but that is on everything.

I think most Danes will agree that Lakrisal is fantastic!

- A dane :-)

Heya, Dutch person here. Pretty sure that the whole heart problems angle on licorice is at best overstated. I, and plenty of people I know, have occasionally eaten much more than a pack of licorice in a day and survived. I'm sure you probably shouldn't if you've already got heart issues, but otherwise dig in.

Wikipedia mentioned a guy who ate some 200 grams every day and got medical problems. A fifth of a kilogram every day is arguably a lot.

Well yes, 200 grams every day is different from a kilogram every now and then. I'm not saying that you can't get into trouble with licorice, you're just reasonably unlikely to, and the claim that "a few pieces a day" is the limit is just asinine.

Yet, a few pieces a day is plenty.

I easily consumed over a pack a day of liquorice without problems for a long time, and already had heart issues. My blood pressure when I stopped taking it didn't change a dim; medicines and diet helped, as did eating less salty/fat meals and reducing alcohol.

Not only does it grow well in salted land... it regenerates the land in the process by sucking salt out of the soil.

Salt is adrenal support. So is liquorice. I had no idea it was such a salt-loving plant but it makes perfect sense.

Amazing. Bioremediation is usually focused on plants that hyperaccumulate heavy metals, but desalination is probably an even more impactful area of research. Another great accumulator of salt that is also edible is sea purslane (Sesuvium portulacastrum)

https://archive.ph/PZKii

The article doesn't say how they add liquorice to vodka, anyway I've tried at a friend's house some vodka to which he simply put one or two liquorice roots into the bottle before letting it sit into the freezer for some days/weeks. It tasted exquisite.

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