Today I received my very first month of selections from the Licorice of the Month Club from the good folks at Licorice International. Needless to say, I couldn’t wait to dig in! This month’s selection brought me Katjes Kinder and Licorice Scotties.
I decided to start with the Katjes Kinder. I chose them because I saw they were German, and I’m immediately drawn to anything in the only foreign language I know. As the package states, these are fat-free hard licorice candies with licorice root juice. “Kinder” means children, but I’m not really sure why, since these are actually little cat-shaped bites.
At first, I was a little unsure of how to even eat these. They are quite hard, yet they aren’t technically a hard candy. You can’t really suck on them until they disappear, yet I certainly couldn’t chew them, either. I settled on something in between – sucking a bit, chewing a bit, and then finally managing to swallow.
To be honest, this consistency doesn’t appeal to me at all. I much prefer my licorice to be soft and easily chewed, and not to stick to my teeth. However, the flavor is very nice. It doesn’t have the bite that some licorice candies have, yet it leaves a nice aftertaste at the back of the tongue. It isn’t overpowering, but is still loyal to the licorice flavor.
I probably won’t finish the bag, simply because I’m finding them much too hard to chew, but I will admit that this is one of the more interesting licorice flavors that I’ve tried. For those with strong jaws, these would be a very nice choice.
The second selection, Licorice Scotties, were a bit more to my liking.
These adorable little Scottie dogs taste as good as they look. With a chewy, smooth texture and very mild licorice flavor, I found myself continually reaching into the bag for more. The only issue I discovered was that they do tend to stick in your teeth, which irritated me after a while. Still, the sweet, mild flavor and the uniform smooth texture were enough to lure me back time and again. I would definitely recommend these as an option that has just enough flavor to be pleasant, but not enough to overwhelm the senses.
Of the two choices, my preference would definitely be for the Scotties. I guess it proves that I’m a dog person after all!
- Katjes Kinder at Licorice International
- Licorice Scotties at Licorice International
- Licorice of the Month Club
Katjes means cat. I think katjes kinder means “kitten”.
I had some earlier this year and didn’t realize they were supposed to be rock hard.
RESPONSE: I suspected that but couldn’t confirm it so I didn’t point that out :)
August 23rd, 2006 at 6:35 pm–Brian
Actually, cat is katze. Katzen is the plural. I’ve never heard katjes in German, but perhaps it’s from a dialect or related language. I’m pretty sure it isn’t High German. Kätzchen is kitten.
RESPONSE: Good – so maybe we weren’t wrong :)
August 23rd, 2006 at 8:56 pm–Brian
Ah, I know where I got mixed up, katje is kitty in Dutch … it’s hard to keep track!
August 24th, 2006 at 12:42 amA Katje is a little cat in dutch. And they speak dutch in Holland, not in Germany.
Kinder is children in german, so that’s kind of strange.
August 25th, 2006 at 10:17 amWe still eat katjes drop in Holland. We eat al kinds of drop(licorice)and you can buy it per pound or kg
I´m from Germany and we love >Katjes Katzen
September 3rd, 2006 at 4:55 amKatjes is actually situated near the border between Germany and the Netherlands and the name comes from the fact that the first type of licorice they produced was shaped like little cats. Kinder here doesn’t really refer to the shape of the candy but to the fact that it’s meant for children (which is why it says “with calcium and vitamin c” on the packet.)
September 25th, 2006 at 4:24 amKat is dutch for cat, Katjes is dutch for kittens.
March 2nd, 2007 at 7:48 amKinder is German for children.