Going Dutch

May is such a busy month! Everyone seems to be out taking advantage of all this city has to offer. If you haven't seen the tulips at the various Tulip Festival sites around town, you've got one weekend left to take it all in. They truly are a fantastic sight and a lovely reminder of the story of Princess Margriet from the Netherlands.

To really "go Dutch" and celebrate while traipsing through the tulips, we recommend Dutch licorice. We have a selection in store of nearly twenty varieties and can offer advice and samples on the types and tastes. Dutch licorice, unlike its North American counterpart, really focuses on the licorice root and does not partake in excess sweeteners. In fact, a common name for Dutch licorice is salty licorice, but don't be fooled: not all of the licorice on offer is salty!

Dutch licorice types are defined by their taste and their texture. Sweet, single salted, double salted and menthol are a few of the taste categories. While soft, semi-soft, semi-hard, hard and stiff are texture categories. For the newly indoctrinated licorice taster, start with something that is more familiar: honing, a honey-sweetened licorice or skoolkrijt, a candy-coated minty flavoured licorice. Both of these have tastes and textures that are common in North American licorice, without being too sweet and offer a great starting point for moving up to the advanced salted licorice!

What is advanced licorice you ask? Well, if you ask some of our regular Dutch licorice lovers, they'll tell you nothing is too salty, but for those who have not acquired the taste (and trust us, you will - this stuff is uniquely addictive!), moving up to munten drop, a sweet but stiff licorice might be a good step. Advanced licorice lovers skip the baby steps and go right to the source: D.Z. Rond, a double salted and hard little drop or zwart & witjes, a salted hard licorice with a menthol taste (excellent for sore throats).

For the more adventurous, try really taking advantage of the large selection found at The Candy Store and choose from each jar! Our licorice is sold by weight and is all the same price, so pick up a bag and tongs and make your own little mix - you just might find that yourself going Dutch more often!

Labels: licorice

posted by The Candy Store @ 3:01 PM