# Do you like the flavor of licorice?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-the-flavor-of-licorice/1026071
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [December 26, 2025, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-the-flavor-of-licorice/1026071 "2025-12-26T14:42:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2025, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-the-flavor-of-licorice/1026071/41 "2025-12-26T19:41:49Z")
I didn’t think licorice root tasted like anise at all. Reminded me more of _Angelica_ _sinensis_.
I’ve never tried salmiakki. I’m not interested in trying it either.
Although, what’s Pontefract cake like? It isn’t available in America.
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### Author:  [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2025, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-the-flavor-of-licorice/1026071/42 "2025-12-26T20:02:20Z")
Went through a period of seriously enjoying Sambuca.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2025, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-the-flavor-of-licorice/1026071/43 "2025-12-26T20:07:34Z")
Malort is pure wormwood flavored alcohol, AFAIK. It’s possible there are some supporting botanicals, but I sure as hell can’t tell, and I thought years ago I read it was only that. I like it fine — there’s a similar Polish drink called _piołunówka_. The Polish drink is made by macerating a distillate with wormwood. I think Malort is similarly infused (as opposed to the wormwood being thrown into the mash before distilling. Or it could be a combo of both, I suppose.) My criticism of it is that it’s one dimensional, for this reason. It’s like drinking the essence of bitter (which is fine with me, as I have a bitter tooth instead of a sweet tooth.) But there’s a number of other bitter spirits that are more interesting.
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### Author:  [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2025, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-the-flavor-of-licorice/1026071/44 "2025-12-26T20:09:02Z")
Trans-anethole is the compound in anise and fennel that most respond to as tasting and smelling like licorice. There are however variants of the receptors associated with its perception.
And “salt licorice” apparently hits a possible _sixth_ sort of taste receptor tuned to ammonium chloride!
> **[Ammonium chloride tastes like nothing else. It may be the sixth basic taste](https://bigthink.com/health/ammonium-chloride-sixth-basic-taste/)**
>
> Ammonium chloride activates a specific sensor on sour taste receptor cells, making it eligible to be a primary taste.
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### Author:  [@sb1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sb1953)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2025, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-the-flavor-of-licorice/1026071/45 "2025-12-26T20:32:13Z")
For my B-day and Xmas my G-daughter buys me Australian licorice. I have never met anyone else who enjoys it. The sweet twizzler variety is not nearly as good as the “wiley wallaby” stuff MMMM.Oh, I cannot eat it when driving the car with the missus ..she hates the smell
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### Author:  [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2025, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-the-flavor-of-licorice/1026071/46 "2025-12-26T21:24:37Z")
Love it, salmiak as well (introduced to it through one of the threads on the board)… love/heavily prefer dark chocolate… not a big coffee drinker, but one of the best cups I’ve ever had was a turkish coffee served black (and weirdly thick…)
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### Author:  [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2025, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-the-flavor-of-licorice/1026071/47 "2025-12-26T21:34:38Z")
It’s not my favorite, but if given the chance, I will eat _quality_ licorice candies (like the ones that are popular in the Netherlands).
Cheap, run-of-the-mill licorice (like Twizzlers, mentioned upthread), umm…no thanks. I’ll pass.
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2025, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-the-flavor-of-licorice/1026071/48 "2025-12-26T22:39:51Z")
It’s really hard to find liquorice these days. It used to be reasonably commonly available in supermarkets, but now, though they are packed to the rafters with sour candy, finding liquorice is nigh impossible. This is the opposite to my own tastes, so it’s annoying that I have to look in specialist stores. Subsequently, it must be five or more years since I deliberately bought liquorice.
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### Author:  [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2025, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-the-flavor-of-licorice/1026071/49 "2025-12-26T22:48:38Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#):
>
> What doesn’t surprise me is that not than 90% either love or hate it.
To be fair, the poll doesn’t have options for “mildly like it” (maybe that’s what “take it or leave it” means?) and “mildly dislike it” so that may tend to push votes towards “love it” and “hate it” instead.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2025, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-the-flavor-of-licorice/1026071/50 "2025-12-26T22:50:30Z")
Typo for “more then ..” sigh.
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### Author:  [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2025, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-the-flavor-of-licorice/1026071/51 "2025-12-26T23:00:24Z")
> [@aceplace57](#):
>
> Red licorice blah!!! Nasty, I haven’t bought it since childhood.
Red licorice isn’t.
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> I’m surprised with 32 votes in, it’s 2/3 pro licorice. I would have bet at least the other way around.
gotta take the results with a grain of Dutch dubbel zout (double salt, as in licorice). You know how polls go… all the licorice lovers saw there was a poll and wanted to represent.
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> Even better for me is Scandinavian salty licorice (salted with salmiak/ammonium chloride.) Literally no one (except for some people on this board) I know like it.
I sure like the salty Dutch “drop” (licorice). Nothing like a bite of sweetened ammonia! But not too much at once.
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### Author:  [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2025, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-the-flavor-of-licorice/1026071/52 "2025-12-26T23:02:14Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> Right. Anise flavor can be good, when it’s so slight that you have to ask yourself “Is that a hint of anise I’m tasting?”. See also pizzelles.
So much this. A hint can add a nice “that flavor, it’s on the tip of my tongue, is it anise?” but anything where it’s dominant is a polite “No.” from me. So I selected “Yuck”, but it’s milder than that.
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### Author:  [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2025, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-the-flavor-of-licorice/1026071/53 "2025-12-27T00:31:57Z")
When I was doing online dating I was exchanging messages with a prospect, and we were sharing likes/dislikes. She shot me this:
Her: Red Vines or Twizzlers?
Me: Neither. Black licorice, like god intended.
Her: Freak!
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### Author:  [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2025, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-the-flavor-of-licorice/1026071/54 "2025-12-27T00:36:49Z")
I also like anise, Anisette, and the scent of fennel. I’ve never tasted fennel, though.
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### Author:  [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2025, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-the-flavor-of-licorice/1026071/55 "2025-12-27T01:05:14Z")
All right; well, maybe I have some useful data.
I fine licorice so disgusting, that I do not even consider things thus flavored to be food. Honestly. It makes me gag. If I am ever poisoned, and need to induce vomiting, this is what I will ask for, as it is safer for your heart than syrup of ipecac, and more likely to be effective.
I hate anything flavored with anise or fennel. (Or Caraway, for that matter.)
I don’t like black coffee, but more to the point, I don’t like coffee. Using cream and Splenda to make it taste like a dessert item makes it somewhat palatable, but I find No-Doz much more convenient. Dark chocolate is fine. I’d rather have milk chocolate for the creaminess, not for the sweetness. If I’m given chocolate that is mostly just sweet, and not very chocolatey, I’m not happy.
I do like strong tea though, just lightly sweetened. And while we’re talking about it, I hate beer.
I also like Splenda, Stevia and maltitol, but other artificial sweeteners just taste chemically to me-- they are barely sweet, and overpoweringly nasty.
I can taste that bitter chemical on paper that you are given in biology classes and sometimes chemistry classes in high school (and how), so maybe that is in licorice, and it actually tastes different to me than it does to people who cannot taste the chemical.
I don’t particularly have a sweet tooth. I like sweet things, but I don’t like overindulging on them. One cookie is enough. Unless it’s a Thin Mint.
I also quite like all kinds of vegetables, some cooked, some not-- but mostly I like the green ones cooked until they are less bitter.
I love fruit, and prefer fruit to candy or baked goods when I want something sweet.
That’s all I can think of now.
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### Author:  [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2025, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-the-flavor-of-licorice/1026071/56 "2025-12-27T01:27:54Z")
I like black licorice OK; while I have never chewed on licorice root, I assume that is what I like the flavor of, since I despise the flavor of anise. I tried to enjoy absinthe, but can’t get past that wretched taste. Fennel is OK in small quantities. I do like dark chocolate and strong black coffee, I can taste PTC and whatever it is that makes cilantro taste like soap, and I also hate the characteristic flavor of raw tomatoes. However, I love sweets. I will linger behind at parties to get unobserved access to the cake platter with the left-behind frosting.
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### Author:  [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2025, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-the-flavor-of-licorice/1026071/57 "2025-12-27T02:55:05Z")
I like black licorice in moderation, defined as a couple of bites. Yum!
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2025, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-the-flavor-of-licorice/1026071/58 "2025-12-27T03:59:30Z")
I like sweet, not salty licorice. My favorite is imported from Finland under the Panda brand. It’s made with only four ingredients: licorice extract, anise oil, molasses and wheat flour. Pleasantly sweet with a strong licorice flavor. Moist and soft, but not too soft.
I find it at most supermarkets for $3-4 for a 7oz bag of bites.
> **[Amazon.com : Panda Licorice Chew, 7 oz (Package May Vary) : Grocery &...](https://www.amazon.com/Panda-Licorice-Chew-7-oz/dp/B000QSTE4Y)**
>
> Made from all natural ingredients.
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### Author:  [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2025, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-the-flavor-of-licorice/1026071/59 "2025-12-27T04:08:25Z")
Panda. That’s the one I buy too. Honest licorice for once, none of that red vine nonsense.
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### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2025, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-the-flavor-of-licorice/1026071/60 "2025-12-27T05:07:22Z")
> [@Shoeless](#):
>
> Black licorice is one candy that I can buy where I know nobody else is going to get into it and eat it.
Growing up with nine siblings, that was a good strategy. So yeah, I cultivated a taste for it.
ETA: I also get irrationally annoyed when anybody plays the licorice people to a candy that is not anise-flavored.
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