The More You Know Monday: Licorice, nasty nasty licorice

Hey, real quick, thanks so much for everyone who linked up to Storytellers this weekend. Another great turn out. I love seeing who all joins in for hop. I have lots of veteran readers (sounded better than 'old readers', ha) that are always great, and I usually have a few new reads that even I am unfamiliar with! Love it, so diverse.

A big welcome to the new readers, hop you enjoyed the hop, and thanks to all of you old timers that are always great about participating.

It's Monday and I haven't done one of these in a few weeks. So get out your thinking caps and get ready to be learned.

It's The More You Know Monday! Yippeee!

Don't roll your eyes at me. You get excited to learn about something so random that will most likely never come in handy unless you are on Jeopardy one day and and ask Alex "I'll take 'random things no one has interest in' for $1000, please". So there.

For all that I am loving Finland for, there is one itsy, bitsy little bone I must pick with their taste. No, not taste in clothes. I'm all for the skater punk, semi 80s look, complete with the comeback of the mullet. Yes, posting soon about that. Not in music, I've already told you my love of Finnish Reggae.

But their taste in candy. Oh the Finns LOVE their sweets. But, unfortunately, they have some crazy love affair with black licorice. Nasty, nasty, nasty, licorice. IMHO.

No, those aren't rocks, that is the candy (source)

Ok, to be fair, I have never loved licorice. Just recently got myself to even eat red licorice, which in my book doesn't even really count. I was the kid that when I accidentally ate the licorice jelly bean at Easter, thinking it was a grape one, ran around spitting it out. You know what I'm talking about.

But not here. They love the black, salty, super strong and potent licorice. It is by far the most popular candy in the country. It comes in hard forms, in soft forms, in drops, in gum form, in ropes. You name it, they got it.

They even have SM-Liiga (the hubs' hockey league) licorice candy. I thought that was pretty funny.

You leave a restaurant, you don't get mints or sweet candy, you get licorice. Go to a friend's house, a dish of licorice is out. Gum, yep, even gum is licorice flavored. Gag.

I picked up these candies called Salmiakkis. Finnish salty licorice. Salt should never ever be in a name for a candy. (exception: Chocolate and sea salt is yummy, thanks Jordan!)

Don't be fooled by their cute little shapes (source)

I wanted to do a video where I ate them and you saw my reaction. But I couldn't wait after I bought them. I wanted to try a piece, and was hoping that I liked them. Ended up rolling down my window on the way home, and spit out the candy, while scraping my tongue in a very dramatic way. Yes, it was that bad.

Although, I do know a lot of people really like them, so more power to you guys. Just don't breath on me. Even the smell makes my stomach turn.

In honor of the Finns love for the candy, a love I can respect although most certainly do not reciprocate, here are some fun facts about licorice.

· The licorice plant, a shrub, is officially a weed. It is about four feet tall with purplish flowers and grows in hot, dry places. So definitely doesn't grow here, so why eat it?!

· Licorice helps relieve the pains that accompany certain types of ulcers, and it is good for the adrenal glands.

· Manuscripts from 360 A.D. talk of licorice helping eye ailments, skin diseases, coughs, and loss of hair. Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar are on record as endorsing the benefits of eating licorice. Since the 14th century, it has been used to soothe coughs, colds, and bronchitis. It contains a chemical that has cough-suppressant properties. GREAT, looking forward to cold season. Blech.

· Salmiakki is a variety of licorice that gets its name from the relatively large amount of sal ammoniac (Latin traditional name for ammonium chloride, a salt of ammonia) that it contains in addition to the liquorice root extract, sugar and starch or gum arabic that constitute regular liquorice. Ammonium chloride has a spicy taste that vaguely resembles that of sodium chloride (table salt) with a hint of ammonia smell.

Wow, don't think I want ANYTHING that has these compounds in them.

· A study conducted by the Oxford Journal of Medicine took a sample of over 1000 Finnish women who had just given birth. They were trying to see if licorice, more importantly the main sweetener ingredient glycyrrhizin, affected birth weight in humans. While babies exposed to heavy amount of the sweetener were not significantly light at birth, they were significantly more likely to be born earlier.

· And last, but certainly not least gag worthy, the Finns, love them, have come up with a Salmiakki flavored liquor. It basically the exact taste of the candy in vodka form. I almost threw up typing that. As you can imagine, it is by far the most popular shot to order in the bar. I don't like shots, and I definitely don't like this one. Dare I say, it is even worse than Jägger. Now THAT is saying a lot.

Why yes, nothing sounds more interesting at the end of the night than a shot glass full of thick, black liquor. (source)

Basically, it all boils down to this. If you love licorice, Finland is the place for you. I can just imagine that as the new tourism slogan now! And I respect you Finland, and your undying love for the candy. I get it, it is a national treasure.

But please please please, if you see me out one night, do not buy me a shot. My patience for pretending I actually like these things is wearing out.

Have a great Monday, a great start to the week!