Talk:Liquorice

Old discussions

Two BBC news links articles were added. Neither is important enough to make it into this article. One referred to a case report, hardly innovative in this context (we already know that liquorice causes hypokalaemia). The other one is a piece of basic scientific research that may still sizzle out before it achieves any degree of encyclopedicity. JFW | T@lk 18:46, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Licorice is a flavor, not a shape of candy. Licorice candy is commonly made into a twist shape. The shape is called a twist, not a licorice. For example, you can have strawberry twists, but you can't have strawberry licorice.

Thank you for your suggestion regarding [[: regarding [[:{{{1}}}]]]]! When you feel an article needs improvement, please feel free to make whatever changes you feel are needed. Wikipedia is a wiki, so anyone can edit almost any article by simply following the Edit this page link at the top. You don't even need to log in! (Although there are some reasons why you might like to…) The Wikipedia community encourages you to be bold. Don't worry too much about making honest mistakes—they're likely to be found and corrected quickly. If you're not sure how editing works, check out how to edit a page, or use the sandbox to try out your editing skills. New contributors are always welcome. JFW | T@lk 13:20, 5 Apr 2005 (UTC)

testosterone

It is correct that one study (Armanini D, Bonanni G, Palermo M. Reduction of serum testosterone in men by liquorice. N Engl J Med 1999; 341: 1158.) claimed that Liquorice would lower serum testosterone significantly. This finding however could not be replicated in a follow-up study (Licorice Extract Consumption and Salivary Testosterone Concentrations, Robert A Josephs, Jennifer S Guinn, Michelle L Harper, Frederick Askari; http://www.jacemedical.com/store/testosterone.html). Armanini's study seems to be flawed. The authors of the follow-up study concluded: "Because we detected only a small reduction in testosterone, we cannot confirm that people with low libido should avoid licorice consumption [...]" MAIN ARTICLE SHOULD THEREFORE BE CORRECTED. thanks! (i'm too clumsy when it comes to editing) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.114.147.43 (talk) 17:36, 22 February 2010 (UTC)

soft drinks?

The article states that licorice is found in some soft drinks but doesn't provide examples or cite a source.

Here is an example: http://www.bevnet.com/reviews/virgils/ I'm unsure how to add this as a source on the main page, so someone else can do so if they like. Snickersnee 23:04, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

Liquorice used in fire extinguishers?

I'm just watching a BBC programme, Rough Science, which asserts that liquorice can be used in fire extinguishers as a foam enhancer. Of course I checked the Wikipedia entry and found nothing. I don't know any more than what I've seen on the TV so it doesn't seem appropriate to edit the page myself. Coconino 20:03, 9 November 2005 (UTC)

I've "heard" the same thing, but don't really "know it for a fact". Perhaps you can search Google for an authoritative citation and then edit the article?

Atlant 20:40, 9 November 2005 (UTC)

Without a source it sounds like a prank :-). The building burnt down but at least it was tasty! JFW | T@lk 20:55, 9 November 2005 (UTC)

More pranks?

There is no evidence that a Alvin Hosenfeld has ever existed, so this must be deleted from the main article. Politis 19:33, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

Mark Trail/Comics Curmudgeon

More information on licorice can be found on the Internet.

Tastes of Europeans/Salty licorice

The article states: "In continental Europe, however, far stronger, saltier, candies are preferred". This seems a quite ridiculous statement to my European self. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 84.30.252.42 (talk • contribs) .

It doesn't seem ridiculous to my American self. I've had salty licorice that a Dane reluctantly let me try, knowing that I would find it inedible. I did. There a r eEuropeans who enjoy some very salty licorice-- I believe it was lableled as "salty starklicorice." Silarius 19:02, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

http://www.dutchsweets.com/saltlicorice.php

http://www.licoriceinternational.com/saltlicorice.php —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.16.189.141 (talk) 21:00, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

Harmful effects on the heart?

My mom has always said that too much licorice will make you suffer a heart attack, but this article doesn't mention anything on the matter. Truth? Old wives' tale? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.52.235.98 (talk • contribs) .

The article on Glycyrrhizinic acid, which is the main sweetener for licorice, says that it can cause hypertension in some people Poobslag 16:58, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

aphrodisiac?

I read or heard somewhere that licorice can be a female aphrodisiac. Any comment on that?

Hear is a quote off of Men's Health Magazine--"Black licorice has been shown to speed up her genital bloodflow by 40 percent". I have no idea if this is true, but at least it has a good flavor for her to increase her libido.

The answer seems to be: No
[1]
91.34.89.229 14:34, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

Search results as a reference

Search results are dynamic, so if you would like to refer to the results, you should archive the results page using WebCite (or similar) and refer to the static page generated. Mike.lifeguard 01:16, 9 November 2006 (UTC)

liquorice international

Do people have an opinion of the liquorice international link in the external links section? I'm equivocal about including it. It's got a lot of different types of liquorice, but is trying to sell them. WLU 22:26, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Toxicity concerns

All but two of the cases where licorice has resulted in hypertension have occurred from people overindulging in Panda concentrated licorice candies. Unlike conventional licorice twists which may contain very little licorice, Panda is a solid extract of the herb. There are two reported cases where hypertension was caused by drinking over four cups of strong licorice tea a day. I belong to an association of herbalists where all cases were vetted, and although I do not have the references at hand, you would be hard pressed to find actual case studies of hypertension except those I have cited. Ksvaughan2 05:53, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

"A simple search of the Medline literature database reveals almost 100 case reports published since 1980 involving licorice-induced hypertension, hypokalemia, decreased plasma renin and aldosterone levels, myopathies, edema and/or muscle weakness. Most patients recover after withdrawal of the licorice source although some deaths have been reported in more extreme cases."

The liquorice affects the liver and prevent absorbtion of potassium which is essential for healthy blood and heart. Fleur Black in West Yorkshire had a nasty liver problem from chewing the liquorice root at th rate of 2-3 roots per day. After a few days she noticed headaches, hypertension, sudden weight gain and edema of her legs. Ceasing chewing the root and eating tomato paste and banans as a quick source of potassium saw her lose about 7pounds/3.5kg of fluid over the course of 5 days. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Fleurblack (talk • contribs) 20:37, 10 June 2011 (UTC)

Also: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=licorice case report Blahdenoma (talk) 09:54, 29 April 2011 (UTC)

Is Licorice a good lightening agent ?

Is Licorice a good lightening agent ?Have heard that it help lighten dark lips —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 203.91.193.5 (talk) 06:34, 30 January 2007 (UTC). I doubt it. I am an herbalist and have never heard of this. Besides, it concentrates down to a black color. Ksvaughan2 05:54, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

This might be due to the effect of lowering ACTH (by inhibiting breakdown of cortisol), which also lowers melanocortin which causes skin-darkening. But I wouldn't expect a melanocortin effect except in cases of severe adrenal insufficiency, and I wouldn't expect licorice to be of much help there. Except in those extreme cases where ACTH would be very high, I wouldn't think licorice could have enough inhibitory effect on ACTH/melanocortin to make any difference. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.9.143.237 (talk) 13:01, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Green stool

Well I've eaten a lot of liquorice (root and candy), and read some about it, and I'm extremely skeptical that it turns your stool green, so I took that part out. Prove me wrong, kids. sNkrSnee | t.p. 06:36, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Proving in process. Whew, may be camping out in the bathroom this weekend. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 219.89.138.200 (talk) 12:41, 21 June 2008 (UTC)

I am in my fifties, and have been a lover of liquorice for many, many years. I thought that it was a known fact that eating liquorice turns your stool green. It happens to me every time I over indulge in the stuff (mainly liquorice ropes). It may not actually be the liquorice, but some filler that is added; but, whatever it is, my stools are definitely (dark) green. 97.115.253.117 (talk) 17:40, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

Pontefract in Yorkshire

I removed the claim that the culinary use of liquorice was "invented" in Pontefract in Yorkshire. The article referenced did not make that claim at all, only that it was known there in the middle ages. Liquorice was used for thousands of years before that, although the use of -candy- is more recent. But the claim that "culinary use" of -anything- was invented somewhere is at best bothersome. If there is better proof of where culinary use of liquorice was "invented", then perhaps it can be integrated in the article, but in practice such claims are normally unsupportable. Mahjongg 11:11, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

Poisonous Plant?

This plant is in Category:Poisonous plants, but the only mention of its toxicity is from overdosing on large amounts of a concentrated extract. It seems misleading. I'm going to go ahead and remove it. Indeterminate (talk) 05:04, 19 November 2007 (UTC)

Almost anything can be toxic if consumed in excess amounts.. Including water. I'd prefer if all toxicity-labled things were also given an LD-50 value (or whatever similar value is for "50% of people/animals get sick") —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.9.143.237 (talk) 13:04, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Licorice is the preferred spelling

1,160,000 Google hits Liquorice, 4,900,000 hits Licorice.

I assume this is an old comment, but it's still worth addressing in case anyone else comes here with the same idea.

There are a few things that one must know before discussing the choice of spelling:

1. Google hits are relatively irrelevant. Beyond illustrating that a spelling exists, it doesn't really mean much. (For example, there's no reason to assume that Google isn't a little ameri-centric. And, even besides that, the results don't indicate how often a word is used; simply how many links that particular search engine has happened to have indexed)
2. You're probably still right anyways. I very highly doubt that 'Liquorice' is used more often than 'Licorice'
3. It's entirely immaterial. The Manual of Style for Wikipedia doesn't even allow that kind of argument to hold any influence in making this decision. The fact is, talk pages would always be jam-packed with bickering back and forth if it did. To prevent needless arguments over what's, realistically, a non-issue, MoS says to simply stick with the first significant contribution to the article. (ie. the first non-stub version) That used the UK spelling. As such, UK spellings need to be used throughout the article.

So, basically, it wouldn't matter if you did have proof that one spelling was used significantly more than the other. That still wouldn't change our policy for handling spelling differences. 209.90.135.92 (talk) 01:45, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/liquorice The dictionary defines liquorice as "chiefly British variant of licorice" There are more English speaking Americans than the total population of all other English speaking countries combined. I think we should use the American spelling. Dream Focus (talk) 08:20, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

I believe that this is wrong. There are more English speakers in India. The number of English speakers in Pakistan is pretty significant too. --SmokeyJoe (talk) 23:56, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

• Just to amplify the earlier comments. Licorice would have been equally acceptable (in fact the name comes from the Old French licoress – without qu), but as this article has been called Liquorice for over five years (since it was started by Simon Pulsifer, a Canadian) it is too late to change it. There's also a Liquorice (confectionery) article that was started in April 2005 by Ike9898, an American. So it is not as though any Brits were involved in the decision! BTW, if you are interested in general guidance on American vs British spelling, there's a Wikipedia manual of style section full of advice, and you might also be interested in the American and British English spelling differences article. Hope this helps - Pointillist (talk) 09:42, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

I had read those idiots guidelines before hand. I recall one example it gave was that instead of using the word airplane, which might be spelled aeroplane or some other way in different nations, its best to just say aircraft. So the official policy is to work around the issue, avoiding it whenever possible. Age of the article doesn't matter, nor who created it. If more than one spelling exist, then Google should determine which is the most common one used on the internet, and that'd be it. But, whatever. No big deal. I'm just pleased I read that too much of it can kill you, or cause other health problems, before I bought a load of this stuff to eat for anxiety disorder. The Wikipedia: saving lives, spelling be damned. Dream Focus (talk) 10:10, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

Well, since it sounds like its moot, I don't suppose there's any harm in mentioning that the liquorice spelling is probably a folk etymology from liquor. Indeterminate (talk) 08:58, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

Anyway, at the moment the article has loads of instances of both spellings and that looks stupid. It should be one thing or the other. 82.20.44.6 (talk) 19:56, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

Overdose

Only 100 gm. is the limit: The European Commission 2008 report suggested that “people should not consume any more than 100mg of glycyrrhizic acid a day, for it can raise blood pressure or cause muscle weakness, chronic fatigue, headaches or swelling, and lower testosterone levels in men.” Haribo, manufacturer of Pontefract cake, stated: “Haribo advises, as with any other food, liquorice products should be eaten in moderation.” Meanwhile, a 56-year-old Yorkshire woman was hospitalized on June, 2008, after liquorice overdose ( 200 grams a day)," which caused her muscle failure. The hospital restored her potassium levels, by intravenous drip and tablets, relieving her after 4 days.news.bbc.co.uk, Woman 'overdoses' on liquorice--Florentino floro (talk) 11:19, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

WikiProject Food and drink Tagging

This article talk page was automatically added with {{WikiProject Food and drink}} banner as it falls under Category:Food or one of its subcategories. If you find this addition an error, Kindly undo the changes and update the inappropriate categories if needed. The bot was instructed to tagg these articles upon consenus from WikiProject Food and drink. You can find the related request for tagging here . If you have concerns , please inform on the project talk page -- TinucherianBot (talk) 15:58, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

Requested info re color and pronunciation

I would appreciate it if someone could add the information as to why licorice candy is traditionally black and why the word is pronounced (sometimes if not most of the time) with a final sh sound. DBlomgren (talk) 20:36, 16 March 2009 (UTC)

The licorice confectionary page has why licorice (the candy) is black, but I wouldn't have thought to look there for it, myself. Its because molasses is added. I'm too lazy to go editing this page more than I already have though, but considering how often I'm changing these wiki pages I'm coming across I should get an account or something and stop being some kind of anonymous wikipedia editing trivia pedant. 121.45.47.118 (talk) 10:53, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

Article needs editing due to only one type of Licorice Species listed

I want to edit the top section of this article as it only lists Licorice as being the species Glycyrrhiza glabra but there are other species of licorice too such as Glycyrrhiza uralensis and im concerned that readers might get misinformation as a lot of the main body is only relevant to Glycyrrhiza glabra. I will go ahead with the edit and add information regarding Glycyrrhiza uralensis and Glycyrrhiza lepidota unless anybody has any opposition to me adding the edit?Severina123 (talk) 15:33, 30 January 2010 (UTC)

'anti-vinam' compound

wtf is a 'vinam' or 'anti-vinam compound'? the only google results point to this article and exact copies regarding licorice or Glycyrr acid. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.235.91.131 (talk) 03:08, 28 May 2010 (UTC)

Merge from Liquorice root

I notice a merge of Liquorice root into Liquorice was proposed a couple of weeks ago. It looks like a good idea to me. Any objections, or shall I go ahead and do it? Thomas Kluyver (talk) 21:39, 10 July 2010 (UTC)

On further inspection, I now think that liquorice root, which is mainly about the use in traditional Chinese medicine, should go to Glycyrrhiza uralensis, which is the Chinese species. I'm going to change the merge templates and open another discussion--let me know if you disagree. Thomas Kluyver (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 21:47, 10 July 2010 (UTC).

I've merged the content (which was largely about its use in traditional Chinese medicine) into Glycyrrhiza glabra, the Chinese species, but I've made Liquorice root redirect to here. Thomas Kluyver (talk) 23:06, 20 July 2010 (UTC) In UK we get liquorice root from Syria and Turkey although there was a flourishing local growing of it around the liquorice allsorts factory in West Yorkshire, UK. Chewing this root gives a greater intake of the active compounds than the diluted coumpounds used in sweets which are mainly sugar and starch. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Fleurblack (talk • contribs) 20:40, 10 June 2011 (UTC)

Move?

The following discussion is an archived discussion of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

No consensus to move. Vegaswikian (talk) 23:05, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

Liquorice → Licorice –

• In Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States, it's known as "Licorice" (or am I wrong?) but in the United Kingdom (and possibly Ireland), they use the longer name. Also, do we change the name of the plant from which it comes from, seeing as it shares the same name and problem? AnimatedZebra (talk) 17:29, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

• This seems like a WP:ENGVAR situation, which would mean it should not move, according to my understanding. -GTBacchus^(talk) 18:48, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

• Support. Wasn't sure about this one, but after a search on gbooks, this looks pretty conclusive. 255,000 hits for "Licorice", compared to half as many (125,000) for "Liquorice". Jenks24 (talk) 01:45, 2 August 2011 (UTC)
  • Even if it weren't an ENGVAR case, I usually don't consider G-tests conclusive unless there's an order of magnitude difference. Those two numbers differ by less than a third of an order of magnitude. -GTBacchus^(talk) 16:02, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

• Oppose. They are both valid English spellings, and this would be governed by WP:ENGVAR and WP:RETAIN. The number of G-hits is entirely irrelevant. --Ohconfucius ^¡digame! 02:20, 2 August 2011 (UTC)
  • Perhaps my understanding of ENGVAR is off, but I thought that was to avoid changing between titles that are split about 50/50 (i.e. color vs colour). If Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the US use one spelling and only the UK uses the other, does this not fall into COMMONNAME territory? Jenks24 (talk) 07:10, 2 August 2011 (UTC)
    • Not as I understand it. Liquorice is clearly listed as one of the differences between American and British English, and thus I believe WP:ENGVAR applies. --Ohconfucius ^¡digame! 08:54, 2 August 2011 (UTC)
      • Fair enough. I've struck my support accordingly. Jenks24 (talk) 07:31, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

• Oppose. ENGVAR covers it perfectly. Absconded Northerner (talk) 10:50, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

• Oppose. per ENGVAR. If we always adopted the spelling that came up most on Google we would invariably use the American spelling. -- Necrothesp (talk) 11:52, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

• Oppose. British English language variant was clearly established at the creation of the article ("flavouring"). WP:CONSISTENCY suggests that the article name should follow that used in the article, i.e., 'Liquorice'. Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 21:42, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

• Comment. I've read the ENGVAR page but I'm still kinda confused. Can anyone explain a little further? AnimatedZebra (talk) 16:38, 6 August 2011 (UTC)
  • I'll try. Basically, if an article is written in British English, then we don't change it to American English, even if the majority of sources use American English. The opposite is also true. We aren't going to take sides in a dispute over which national variety of English we use. That means that the article Honour doesn't get moved to Honor, and the article Color doesn't get moved to Colour.

    The point is that we aren't going to take sides when it comes to differences between English in Australia versus English in Canada. We leave spellings as they are, because otherwise we'll be embroiled in months of debate over countless articles that happen to have been written by English speakers in India, or Kenya, or any other country where English is one of the predominant languages spoken. In this case, the article was originally written about "Liquorice", so we're not going to change the spelling to "Licorice", because that would be favoring American English over British English.

    Does that make it any more clear? -GTBacchus^(talk) 06:17, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

  • That does help thankyou! Since the article is written in British English, I can understand why we use the British spelling of "Liquorice" for the article's name but still, "Licorice" is the more common way of spelling the word isn't it, regardless of what version of English we use. The article "aluminium" for example is written in American English but is using the non-american way of spelling it, so can't we do the same here? AnimatedZebra (talk) 13:18, 8 August 2011 (UTC)
    • I think of it as a cease-fire. It may be that we're not entirely consistent in applying it, but the idea, the way I see it, is that we just don't change from one variety of English to another. I don't know whether "licorice" is also more common in British English - is that true? It just seems like a can of worms that's best not opened. If we change the title of this article, then what next?

      I don't know; maybe someone else can explain it better. My inclination is to leave well enough alone. How does the saying go... "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". This ain't broke. -GTBacchus^(talk) 14:29, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.