Have a spooky Halloween!
Friday, October 31st, 2003
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Have a great time giving out candy and eating candy too. One of these years I am going to buy candy that I don’t like…hmmm what would that be? LICORICE?
here is an article on licorice!(By Tiffany Aron
Crazy for Drop: Licorice candy is a national obsession in the Netherlands
It is found from row houses in Amsterdam to cottages in the Dutch countryside. Sometimes it’s tucked away in cupboards, though often it’s kept in plain sight on the coffee table.
It is sold everywhere from pharmacies to corner stores and shipped by mail everywhere else. Most Dutch like to sneak a little after dinner, and when they travel outside the country, they’re always sure to bring enough to last the entire trip.
Drop, the Dutch licorice candy, is the Netherlands’ national addiction. Coming in more than 50 different shapes, tastes and textures, and made by at least 10 different companies, it is the one thing Dutch expatriates seem to miss most from their homeland.
In Holland, Drop (rhymes with rope) is eaten by about 80 percent of the country’s 16 million residents, who consume about 31 million kilograms, or 68 million pounds, every year. Drop does not at all resemble or taste like American red or black licorice and the repertoire of unusual flavors, such as honey, menthol and even salt, make Dutch Drop a somewhat acquired taste.
“I have tried to feed Drop to Americans, Indians, Japanese, Chinese and a dozen other nationalities and none of them would have anything to do with it,” said Rob Barends, a computer consultant from Rotterdam who has been living in Texas since 1980. “I think you will never like Drop as much as a Dutchman if you didn’t get it first when you were very young.”
In the Netherlands, many believe that Drop’s popularity has to do with the fact that people are exposed to it as toddlers, when their palates are open to new tastes. Making dropwater, by dissolving pieces of licorice in water, is something Dutch kids do for fun. And the soft, chewy dropjes (plural for drop), especially those shaped like coins or farm animals, form the beginnings of a lifelong obsession.
The Drop journey begins with dried licorice root, which has a higher concentration of sweetness than sugar cane. The roots are mixed with water to form a pulp that is then heated, processed into a syrupy extract and poured into molds. The result is block-Drop, the main ingredient of Drop, which is also used to sweeten cigarettes and pills.
“It’s like taking a sip of the North Sea,” he said.
Drop is not just consumed for pleasure, but for its supposed healing properties as well. Doctors in the Netherlands have been known to prescribe salty Drop for patients with low blood pressure. And aficionados claim that a little salty Drop, much like gargling with warm salt water, will sooth a sore throat “like nothing else” and is also great at stopping a cough.
Since the times of the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, licorice root has been known to aid digestion, which is why Barends likes to have a little at night. Be it medicinal or, most likely, just habit.
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