Cooking with Liquorice

More than a snack

Liquorice isn't just for snacking straight from the bag — it's a genuinely versatile ingredient once you start experimenting with it in the kitchen, and it's having a real moment in modern British and Nordic-inspired cooking.

Baking

Liquorice root powder and liquorice syrup are brilliant additions to baking — a small amount stirred into a chocolate cake batter, brownie mix, or ganache adds a deep, slightly earthy complexity that pairs surprisingly well with dark chocolate. Start small; liquorice flavour builds quickly and can easily overpower a recipe if you're not careful.

Sauces and glazes

A touch of liquorice syrup works well in savoury glazes for roasted vegetables, duck, or pork — the sweetness and subtle aniseed note bring something genuinely different to a familiar dish. It's popular in Nordic cooking for exactly this reason.

Drinks

Liquorice root can be steeped like a tea for a naturally sweet, caffeine-free drink, and a small amount of liquorice syrup can round out a cocktail or mocktail in the same way bitters do — a little goes a long way.

Where to start

Our Cookery Liquorice range includes liquorice root, liquorice syrup, and liquorice powder — all suited to experimenting in the kitchen rather than eating straight from the packet. If you're new to cooking with it, start with the syrup; it's the easiest to control and works in both sweet and savoury applications.

Once you've tried it in one recipe, it's hard not to start looking for excuses to use it in another.