Glycyrrhiza glabra = Liquorice

The liquorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra L) is a perennial species of the Papilionaceae.

It was known from the past and it is called Glycyrrhiza from the Greek = sweet and root, meaning sweet root.

The liquorice grows spontaneously near to the sea throughout the Mediterranean area. According to the British Encyclopedia in Calabria grows the best liquorice of the world, especially on the ionical Coast, where the microclimate enhances the content of glycyrrhizin, a sweetener which gives the distinctive flavour to the liquorice juice.

The plant reaches 70 - 100 cm of height and it has thin green stems with a lot stolons in the subsoil which have a sweet and agreeable taste and they grow near to the soil surface.
The stolons have branches which allow the expansion of the plant far from 2 meters from the mother plant.
In the subsoil there are the roots which can reach more than 1 meter of depth.
They are strongly fixed in the land, in fact they reinforce, with their structure, the clay soil.

Liquorice & Curiosity

The name of Liquorice in the Italian Regions is:

Argolizia in Piemonte
Regolissia, radis dolce in Lombardia
Zizlat nigulezia in Emilia
Regolizia In Toscana
Liquirizu, rebulizia in Abruzzo
Dionizio in Campania
Maurizia in Basilicata
Licurizia in Puglia
Rigulizza in Calabria
Riculigia, riulizia, niculizia in Sicilia
Gurigulizia,arregalizia in Sardegna.

Pasta Morizia in Rossano... Amarelli in The World!

Liquorice & Amarelli

Once upon a time there was a child who spent his time drawing and colouring.
After he went to school, he learned a lot of things becoming a little artist.
One day, he had an idea that he transformed in a nice sketch, while he was tasting a little piece of liquorice.
It was the year 1931 and a sweet baron, whose family had been producing liquorice since two hundred years, received that nice sketch with a letter:
-"Dear Sir, if the children like the liquorice, why don't you create a tin like this for themselves?"
The Three dwarfs playing with liquorice sticks were really fun, the bright colours let the imagination run wild and the delicious liquorice flavour seemed to spread into the forest.
"Let's make a Try!"" said the baron to his faithful collaborator.
"And soon, please!"
And so, it was born the pretty Tin that still today is the symbol of the Amarelli liquorice and it conveys the perfume and the flavour of the land of Calabria all over the world.