Red Liquorice
© Denzil Green
Many people who despise black liquorice will eat the red — that’s because Red Liquorice is not really liquorice at all. It does not contain any liquorice extract or anise flavouring.
Red Liquorice is sweeter than the black, and is usually strawberry or cherry flavoured. It comes in several forms. One is hollow twisted sticks called Twisters, Twizzlers, Vines or some variation on that; another is long, thin strings called “shoe laces”; yet another is small pieces of candy called “Bites” that are hollow inside like honeycombs (the Kookaburra brand of Red Liquorice in Australia is similar to these.)
People who love black liquorice snort in the general direction of Red Liquorice. The reaction from people who like Red Liquorice is generally that nothing could induce them to eat the black, so the others might as well chill.
Red Liquorice was made into the same shapes as was black liquorice candies — sticks, pipes, bites, etc, for those who didn’t like the taste of black liquorice. Because the shapes and texture of the candy were the same, the name liquorice was applied.
