Liquorice, or licorice as it is sometimes spelled, is perhaps the ultimate divisive food. Do you love it or hate it? If the answer if negative, this isn’t going to be the recipe to convert you so look away now. If your answer is yes, however, read on for a whole new, healthier-than-ever, raw vegan homemade liquorice.
My answer is that I absolutely love it. The strong flavor is something I can’t get enough of in most forms, but what I especially enjoy is the gorgeous soft-eating stuff that I could munch on pretty much all day.
Liquorice itself can have many health benefits, including being anti-inflammatory, great for your immune system and a hormone regulator. Unfortunately it is often also combined with refined sugars which aren’t so great if you want to avoid a sugar crash later on.
This homemade liquorice on the other hand almost exclusively contains superfoods: dates, quinoa, coconut oil and reishi powder. You could consider the quinoa flakes optional; without them, the liquorice would be softer so it depends on your preference really.
The reishi powder from Four Sigma Foods that I have used in these contains both liquorice root and star anise so it adds just the right amount of flavor as well as having the extra benefits of the reishi mushrooms. I haven’t actually tried out an alternative way of flavouring these but I imagine that adding a little ground liquorice root and a little ground star anise will give you a perfect flavor.
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Four Sigma Foods specialise in producing organic superfoods, medicinal mushrooms and adaptogenic herbs that work together with our bodies and have been used for healing over centuries due to their anti-inflammatory and immune-boosting properties. Reishi mushrooms, in particular, naturally regulate the hormonal system and lower cortisol levels to calm, reduce stress and improve sleep.
I’ve found they are also perfect to add into fresh juices (I’ll be sharing a couple of reishi and chaga superfood juices over on Instagram so keep an eye out) or to simply add to hot water.
Makes approx. 6 serving
Ingredients:
12(ish) dates, soaked and roughly chopped
2tbsp quinoa flakes
1tbsp coconut oil
2 sachets instant reishi (can be subbed for 1/4tsp ground star anise and 1/4 ground liquorice root)
Cornflour, to coat
Method:
1. Add all of the ingredients (bar the cornflour) together in a food processor and blend until they are fully combined and have formed a sticky dough.
2. Divide the dough into 6-7 pieces, cover your work surface in cornflour, and roll into logs around 1cm thick. Cut into small pieces and gently dip the ends in the cornflour to fully coat.
3. Store in the fridge and eat any time you fancy a little pick-me-up!
What’s your verdict? Are you a liquorice lover or a liquorice hater?
