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LIQUORICE

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 759 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LIQUORICE . The hard and semi-vitreous sticks of See also:

paste, See also:black in See also:colour and possessed of a sweet somewhat astringent See also:taste, known as liquorice paste or black See also:sugar, are the inspissated juice of the roots of a leguminous plant, Glycyrrhiza glabra, the radix glycyrrhizae of the See also:pharmacopoeia. The plant is cultivated throughout the warmer parts of See also:Europe, especially on the Mediterranean shores, and to some extent in See also:Louisiana and See also:California. The roots for use are obtained in lengths of 3 or 4 ft., varying in See also:diameter from 4 to 1 in.; they are soft, flexible and fibrous, and internally of a See also:bright yellow colour, with a characteristic, sweet pleasant taste. To this sweet taste of its See also:root the plant owes its generic name Glycyrrkiza (' XuKi b/u a, the sweet-root), of which the word liquorice is a corruption. The roots contain See also:grape-sugar, See also:starch, See also:resin, See also:asparagine, malic See also:acid and the See also:glucoside glycyrrhizin, C24 H36 09, a yellow amorphous See also:powder with an acid reaction and a distinctive See also:bitter-sweet taste. On See also:hydrolysis, glycyrrhizin yields See also:glucose and glycyrrhetin. Stick liquorice is made by crushing and grinding the roots to a pulp, which is boiled in See also:water over an open See also:fire, and the decoction separated from the solid See also:residue of the root is evaporated till a sufficient degree of concentration is attained, after which, on cooling, it is rolled into the See also:form of sticks or other shapes for the See also:market. The preparation of the juice is a widely extended See also:industry along the Mediterranean coasts; but the quality best appreciated in the See also:United See also:Kingdom is made in See also:Calabria, and sold under the names of Solazzi and Corigliano juice. Liquorice enters into the See also:composition of many cough lozenges and other demulcent preparations; and in the form of aromatic syrups and elixirs it has a remarkable effect in masking the taste of nauseous medicines.

End of Article: LIQUORICE

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