Richmal Crompton's William keeps drinking Licorice Water.

How is this made, anyone? Do we use the root, or is it the proprietary sweet
merely boiled up.

"jonathan.west1" > wrote in message
news:FIfzc.32$e%.6@newsfe2-win...
> Richmal Crompton's William keeps drinking Licorice Water.
>
> How is this made, anyone? Do we use the root, or is it the proprietary
sweet
> merely boiled up.


I always thought it was neither, or at least not the kind of sweet you might
be thinking of, rather a processed form of the root.

My uncle told me about the time when he was he lad (about the the time of
WW2): the children used to fake having sore stomachs because then they would
be given liquorice to make sugerelly water (liquorice water) to sooth their
pains. They way he told it, it was the only way they could get anything
approaching sweets during rationing. I'm pretty sure the doctor was in on it
too:-)

Anyway, what he described (IIRC) was more like a thick black lump you could
chew at for a whole day.

Colin L

" Colin Lamond" > wrote:

> Anyway, what he described (IIRC) was more like a thick black lump you could
> chew at for a whole day.

Which probably is juice from the boiled-down root. Which they used to make
licorice the candy from, but most licorice candy on the market is anise oil +
flour + sugar + salt, these days.

Henriette

--
Henriette Kress, AHG Helsinki, Finland
Henriette's herbal homepage: http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed

"Henriette Kress" > wrote in message
...
> " Colin Lamond" > wrote:
>
> > Anyway, what he described (IIRC) was more like a thick black lump you
could
> > chew at for a whole day.
>
> Which probably is juice from the boiled-down root. Which they used to make
> licorice the candy from, but most licorice candy on the market is anise
oil +
> flour + sugar + salt, these days.

That sounds about right to me - my uncle was at pains to explain that it was
for medicinal purposes, not a sweet at all, just the closest thing to one he
could get his hands on at the time. No sugar added, no additives whatsoever.

Colin L

I think you will find that William drank 'liquorice' water. You can
read Richmal Crompton's own recipe at

http://www.manuscripts.co.uk/stock/8030.HTM


On Tue, 15 Jun 2004 00:00:26 +0100, " Colin Lamond"
> wrote:

>
>"jonathan.west1" > wrote in message
>news:FIfzc.32$e%.6@newsfe2-win...
>> Richmal Crompton's William keeps drinking Licorice Water.
>>
>> How is this made, anyone? Do we use the root, or is it the proprietary
>sweet
>> merely boiled up.
>
>
>I always thought it was neither, or at least not the kind of sweet you might
>be thinking of, rather a processed form of the root.
>
>My uncle told me about the time when he was he lad (about the the time of
>WW2): the children used to fake having sore stomachs because then they would
>be given liquorice to make sugerelly water (liquorice water) to sooth their
>pains. They way he told it, it was the only way they could get anything
>approaching sweets during rationing. I'm pretty sure the doctor was in on it
>too:-)
>
>Anyway, what he described (IIRC) was more like a thick black lump you could
>chew at for a whole day.
>
>Colin L
>

Richard Wright wrote:

> I think you will find that William drank 'liquorice' water. You can
> read Richmal Crompton's own recipe at
>
> http://www.manuscripts.co.uk/stock/8030.HTM

Oh, yes, the old 'bootlaces' - which you can still get here! We
used to do that too: chop them up into half inch lengths, stuff them in
a bottle, and leave them a day or so to dissolve. Takes ages! It makes
a dark brown sticky liquid that is OK if you like licorice - which I don't!


--
Kate XXXXXX
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.diceyhome.free-online.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

"Richard Wright" > wrote in message
...
> I think you will find that William drank 'liquorice' water. You can
> read Richmal Crompton's own recipe at
>
> http://www.manuscripts.co.uk/stock/8030.HTM

Just to clarify, the stuff I was describing was used to make the liquorice
water, or as my uncle called it, sugarelly water. But my uncle would chew on
it as a substitute for sweets (candy). You were meant to add it to water,
much as the recipe you quoted does. Pretty sure he said it was not like the
bootlace liquorice I knew and described in that recipe, though.

Colin L

Wow. I hadn't thought of the William books in years!

Thanks for the blast from the past!

Lis


"Richard Wright" > wrote in message
...
> I think you will find that William drank 'liquorice' water. You can
> read Richmal Crompton's own recipe at
>
> http://www.manuscripts.co.uk/stock/8030.HTM
>
>
> On Tue, 15 Jun 2004 00:00:26 +0100, " Colin Lamond"
> > wrote:
>
> >
> >"jonathan.west1" > wrote in message
> >news:FIfzc.32$e%.6@newsfe2-win...
> >> Richmal Crompton's William keeps drinking Licorice Water.
> >>
> >> How is this made, anyone? Do we use the root, or is it the proprietary
> >sweet
> >> merely boiled up.
> >
> >
> >I always thought it was neither, or at least not the kind of sweet you
might
> >be thinking of, rather a processed form of the root.
> >
> >My uncle told me about the time when he was he lad (about the the time of
> >WW2): the children used to fake having sore stomachs because then they
would
> >be given liquorice to make sugerelly water (liquorice water) to sooth
their
> >pains. They way he told it, it was the only way they could get anything
> >approaching sweets during rationing. I'm pretty sure the doctor was in on
it
> >too:-)
> >
> >Anyway, what he described (IIRC) was more like a thick black lump you
could
> >chew at for a whole day.
> >
> >Colin L
> >
>

On Mon, 14 Jun 2004 11:10:48 +0100, "jonathan.west1"
> wrote:

>Richmal Crompton's William keeps drinking Licorice Water.
>
>How is this made, anyone? Do we use the root, or is it the proprietary sweet
>merely boiled up.
>
The proprietary sweet is now made with flavoring of some kind, not
real licorice. I think you might have to find a source that sells to
herbalists to get real licorice root.
--

rbc:vixen,Minnow Goddess,Willow Watcher,and all that sort of thing.
Often taunted by trout.
Only a fool would refuse to believe in luck. Only a damn fool would rely on it.

http://www.visi.com/~cyli

I'm not certain, of course, but I believe it would be much like barley water
or orange flower-water. That is, these all have in common that they are an
infusion of liquid and *insert flavoring here* (probably sweetened somehow
for youngsters and served "straight" for the more intrepid). My children
love to chew on licorice root from thealth food store.

Lis

"jonathan.west1" > wrote in message
news:FIfzc.32$e%.6@newsfe2-win...
> Richmal Crompton's William keeps drinking Licorice Water.
>
> How is this made, anyone? Do we use the root, or is it the proprietary
sweet
> merely boiled up.
>
>
>
>