Licorice root has been used as a medicinal and culinary ingredient for over 4,000 years. In Scandinavia, its history is intertwined with trade routes, pharmacy culture, and the gradual transformation of a medicinal extract into the defining candy of Northern European culture. Understanding this history explains both why Scandinavians developed such a deep relationship with licorice and why real licorice tastes the way it does.
The Origins of Licorice Root Use
Glycyrrhiza glabra, the licorice plant, is native to the Mediterranean basin, the Middle East, and Central Asia. It is not native to Scandinavia. Archaeological and written evidence of its use dates back to ancient Egypt, where licorice root was found in the tombs of pharaohs and referenced in the Ebers Papyrus (circa 1550 BCE) as a remedy for various ailments. Ancient Chinese medicine documented licorice root use over 3,000 years ago, considering it among the most important herbs in the traditional pharmacopeia. Greek physicians including Theophrastus and later Dioscorides wrote about its properties, and the plant's Latin name, Glycyrrhiza (from the Greek, meaning sweet root), reflects the most immediately obvious quality of the root: its exceptional sweetness.
The active compound responsible for this sweetness is glycyrrhizin, a saponin glycoside that is approximately 50 times sweeter than sucrose by weight. Glycyrrhizin also gives licorice root its characteristic bittersweet, earthy aromatic quality, distinct from any other sweet substance.
Licorice Root Arrives in Northern Europe
Licorice root reached Northern Europe through a combination of Arab trade networks and monastic medicine. Arab physicians had systematically catalogued licorice root's properties during the medieval period, and Arab traders brought it to Spain, Sicily, and through the Mediterranean trade routes into the rest of Europe. Dominican friars in Pontefract, England were cultivating Glycyrrhiza glabra by the 14th century, and the town became famous for its licorice confectionery in subsequent centuries.
Into Scandinavia, licorice root extract arrived primarily through Dutch and German trade networks in the 16th and 17th centuries. Dutch merchants, who had established extensive spice and ingredient routes across Northern Europe, traded licorice extract alongside other imported botanical products. Swedish and Danish pharmacists and apothecaries stocked licorice root and licorice extract as standard medicinal supplies, used in preparations for respiratory complaints, digestive issues, and general wellness.
Licorice in the Scandinavian Pharmacy
By the 18th century, licorice extract was a fixture of the Scandinavian apothecary. It appeared in pharmacopeias across Sweden, Denmark, and Norway as a standard ingredient, used in syrups, lozenges, and decoctions. The preparation most commonly associated with this era was a simple boiled extract of licorice root, sweetened and sometimes combined with other botanical ingredients.
The apothecary context is significant for understanding how salmiak became part of Scandinavian licorice candy. Ammonium chloride (sal ammoniac) was also a standard pharmacy ingredient, used in expectorant preparations and throat remedies. Both licorice extract and ammonium chloride sat in the same apothecary context, and their combination in candy form likely developed as confectioners adapted pharmaceutical preparations for the general sweet market in the 19th century.
From Pharmacy to Candy Counter
The transition from medicinal licorice extract to licorice candy accelerated through the 19th century as industrial sugar refining made sweetened products cheaper and more widely available. Swedish, Danish, and Finnish confectioners began producing licorice candy for the general market, drawing on the established familiarity of the flavor from its pharmaceutical context. Licorice was not an exotic imported novelty in Scandinavia; it was an ingredient people already knew from the apothecary.
The addition of salmiak to candy licorice appears to have followed the same path: ammonium chloride was already associated with throat and respiratory preparations, and its combination with licorice extract in hard candy or soft chews was a natural development in a context where both ingredients were well understood. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, salmiak licorice was established across the Nordic countries as a mainstream confection rather than a medicinal product.
What This History Means for the Flavor
The centuries-long pharmaceutical history of licorice root in Scandinavia shaped the cultural expectation of what licorice should taste like. Scandinavian consumers encountered licorice first as a medicinal extract with a bittersweet, intense, slightly medicinal character. When licorice was adapted into candy, that reference point shaped the flavor profile: real licorice extract rather than a sweet approximation of it, boldness rather than mildness, a flavor that made demands rather than simply pleasing.
This stands in sharp contrast to the American candy tradition, where licorice was essentially reimagined as a sweet, mild, anise-flavored product with little connection to the actual root. The divergence in flavor profiles between Swedish and American licorice reflects a divergence in cultural history: one rooted in the apothecary, the other in the candy store.
To understand the ingredient that came from this history, see What Is Salmiak? The Science of Ammonium Chloride in Candy. For the complete guide to salty licorice, see Salty Licorice and Salmiak: The Complete Guide. For the full Swedish black licorice overview, see Swedish Black Licorice: The Complete Guide.