I posted a little while ago about how much I like liquorice.. it was such a feature of my childhood; not that we had many sweets, there was certainly not the array of confectionery available and it was really only at Christmas or special occasions or as a treat. Liquorice would appear as itself in ‘laces’ or pinwheels, but would also be made into little sets of sweets, like a carpenters set – tools made from liquorice, or – and this would be banned now, a smoker’s set, with a liquorice pipe, licorice cigarettes wrapped in white paper etc, and sometimes a pouch of baccy, roasted shredded coconut… And then there were the liquorice tubes to such sherbet through in sherbet fountains… oh the delights of liquorice! Pontefract cakes, pomfrey cakes…Bassett’s Liquorice Allsorts… …
So I was the one who was always pleased to get the liquorice, and I was really pleased to receive some liquorice form a Dutch friends, and it was very, very different from what we know here in England… Our other Dutch friends had brought us another variety once before which I liked very much. This brand, Old Timers but is was simply yummy, I had to hide the boxes from myself so I wouldn’t just chew my way through it all in one go, I had to ration myself. I see there are other varieties to try…. how exciting!
Lois Elsden 