MHG Volunteer Blog 27: Liquorice

It's the return of Pontefract Liquorice Festival this weekend (Sunday 13 July)! 

So, we're afraid there's no prizes for guessing our Medieval Herb Garden volunteers' Plant of the Week this week...

Well, after the much longed-for heavy downpour at the weekend, the ground was still too wet to walk on today. Any weeding had to be done at the edges of the MHG.

We took some rose cuttings from the front garden. We put out some motherwort, angelica and goat’s rue plants on the sales barrow. Carole also made sure that there are plenty of liquorice plants available for the Liquorice Festival this weekend.

Whilst carrying out the flower count, Carole decided which plants to include in this Saturday’s free talk (1pm – 3pm). The plant list is always changing, so it’s never exactly the same talk twice.

Plant of the Week: Liquorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra)

Liquorice is more than 30 times sweeter than sugar! It derives its name from the Greek words 'glycys' (sweet) and 'rhiza' (root). This Greek term was Latinized as 'liquiritia', from which came the Anglo-French 'lycorys'. 'Glabra' means smooth (relating to the seed pod). It was sometimes known as sweetwood.

Liquorice is native to West Asia, North Africa and Southern Europe. It is a bushy, deciduous, herbaceous, leguminous, perennial. It will not grow well on clay. It prefers rich, fine soil, where there is a lot of moisture during the growing period.

Liquorice in flower growing in the Medieval Herb Garden

It prefers full sun, facing South or West, where the ground bakes hard. Normally, liquorice doesn't show any growth until late May. It then grows to a height of 4ft with a width of 3ft. Liquorice has pinnate leaves about 7-15cm long, formed of 9-17 opposite pairs of leaflets.

The roots are deep, soft, flexible, fibrous and stoloniferous. Stoloniferous means the roots grow stolons. Stolons are creeping horizontal plant runners that take root at points along its length to form new plants. Liquorice runners can grow up to 20ft in length! It is a mix of the root and runners which are harvested as “liquorice root”.

Liquorice flowers in June to July. It has purple to pale whitish-blue pea-like flowers. The flowers are 8-12mm long produced in a loose inflorescence (cluster). The fruit is a pea-like, oblong pod, 20-30mm long, containing several seeds. New plants can be raised from either seed or root cuttings. 

There are various types of liquorice grown around the world. Glycyrrhiza glabra is the type that was (and still is) grown at Pontefract Castle. This type is considered to have a more delicate flavour than the types later imported into Britain.

Culinary uses of liquorice

Before the 1200s, liquorice was most commonly brewed into a stout beer. At the time of the Renaissance (starting around the 1400s), it began to be added to sweets. Liquorice was also used as a flavouring for bread and other baked goods.

Liquorice has also been used to flavour tobacco, ice-cream and medicines. It is marketed as a dietary supplement. In some parts of the Arabic world, the root of the liquorice plant is used to make a cold drink with a sweet and mildly bitter taste. This is called Erk al-sous.

And, of course - liquorice is still today made into the world-famous Pontefract Cakes!

Pontefract Cakes for sale at Pontefract Castle

Liquorice in Pontefract

Camden's 'Britannia' of 1607 noted that liquorice was growing in Worksop and Pontefract. By 1614, Pontefract was producing small, round lozenges that could ease coughs and stomach complaints. These were hand-stamped with a design to show their quality and authenticity.

In Pontefract liquorice was often grown in people’s 'gardens'. On a map of the 1648 Siege of Pontefract, liquorice is marked as being grown in 'garths' either side of Micklegate.

Soon, liquorice was being grown all over the town to supply the liquorice industry. The Castle was planted with liquorice after the English Civil Wars. The dungeon was used to store the root. Beds of liquorice lined Southgate and Micklegate, and there were plantations in the Friarwood Valley. By 1750, there were 47 growers in Pontefract. These met the increasing demand for liquorice.

In 1760, George Dunhill (an apothecary) created the first liquorice confectionery by adding sugar to the liquorice root extract. Dunhill called them Pomfret Cakes. These cakes were stamped with an image of Pontefract Castle. They were also widely known as Yorkshire Pennies.

A Dunhill's Pontefract Cakes box in the Wakefield Museums and Castles collection

At the liquorice industry's height there were 13 factories in the town, each with their own 'authenticity stamp'. On the 1933 Town Map there are 7 liquorice factories shown within a radius of a few hundred yards of the Buttercross.

Over time, Pontefract's confectioners began to close, merge with one another, or be acquired by their larger rivals. Today, there are only two manufacturers remaining in the town.

Folklore and other facts about liquorice

Roman soldiers chewed liquorice root as a medicinal stick for its thirst-quenching qualities and benefits for sore throats. Liquorice root has been found in excavations along Hadrian’s Wall.

The first secret ballot in a parliamentary election was held in Pontefract on 15 August 1872. The ballot boxes were sealed using a Pontefract Cakes stamp from Frank Dunhill's factory.

The waste root is now being made into a chemical wood pulp. This is pressed into a board and used to make boxes.

Objects made from Pontefract liquorice have appeared many times in films. In the 1979 Bond film 'Moonraker', Jaws is seen biting through a thick electric cable. This was a prop made out of liquorice from Pontefract!

In 1899, Bassett’s salesman Charlie Thompson visited a wholesaler in Leicester with his samples case of liquorice and cream paste specialities. The wholesaler initially refused each item offered. However, the items were accidentally spilled and got jumbled together. The wholesaler liked what he saw and placed an order for a ‘mixed’ delivery. Bassett agreed to this order. He asked Charlie Thompson to give the new assortment a name. Thompson called them 'Liquorice Allsorts'.

Medieval uses*

The earliest documented medicinal use of liquorice can be traced back to ancient Assyrian, Egyptian, Chinese and Indian cultures. Ancient Greek sources provide the first use of liquorice as a drug in Europe.

Liquorice is anti-inflammatory. It was used for asthma, diseases affecting the voice, mouth ulcerations, dry cough and hoarseness, wheezing and shortness of breath and for pains in the chest and lungs.

It was also used for the burning sensation of the stomach, diseases of the liver, bladder and kidney pain, kidney stones, artery diseases, heart palpitations, angina, skin lesions, ulcers, thirst, fever, neuralgia, hair loss, and menopausal symptoms. Liquorice was also used to make a tea which could mask the taste of other bitter medicines.

Liquorice is considered safe as a food ingredient - in moderation. Excessive consumption of liquorice can lead to lowered potassium levels in the blood, increased blood pressure, and to kidney and heart failure.

So, maybe don't devour all your Liquorice Festival goodies at once!

*As always, this isn't to be considered medical advice today. Please don't use any plants mentioned in these blogs as medicine without advice from a doctor.

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