Message #8308

[Heba E. Husseyn]

It is obtained from a herbal plant and is a very old substance.  But nowadays what they call licorice candies sold in colorful little rounds & squares is said to be quite synthetic and has nothing much to do with the traditional licorice from plants.  Also, this synthetic candy is thought to be more harmless than the actual licorice, which, as experts say, can rarely have certain negative effects on health.   The bright color of licorice candies are acquired by using various food colors, mostly the Red # 40 food color (aka "azo" dye) which usually comes in the red & yellow range.
 
However, the common assumption is that licorice comes from plants and licorice extracts are added to food to pep up flavor like vanilla.  True.  And licorice candies are eaten to please one's taste buds.  Regarding food extracts, some are alcohol free and some not.  E.g. it's said that vanilla is often doused in alcohol to extract its complete flavor from vanilla leaves.  Similarly, licorice extract can be alcohol free or not, depending on how a manufacturer processes it to produce its extract.   Check the ingredients listed on the wrapper, although even if the licorice extract used in making candies was soaked in alcohol while processing, that slight use of alcohol may not be listed.  In my personal opinion, it's okay.  After all, I and all my family & friends use vanilla essence while baking cakes and preparing puddings.  I really don't consider that sort of "alcohol presence" as Haram because in such cases alcohol is only used as a processor and there are absolutely NO alcoholic effects in vanilla or licorice.  In fact, whatever bit of alcohol is used during processing, almost nothing of it is retained in the finished product.   Though my kids have never eaten licorice because we've never really seen it anywhere, but I would think it's okay.  I've read much about it and also seen its pics.  It's a plant based cum synthetic product like vanilla.  And yeah, you're right, it does look like marzipans   Black licorice candy is quite common and also thought to be good for colds.  In olden days licorice was widely used for healing colds & coughs.