Today was a good day for the licorice lovers in my house. Of course, there’s only one licorice lover here, so I guess it was simply a good day for ME! Today not only did I receive yet another Amazon.com package full of licorice, but I also got February’s selections of the Licorice of the Month Club.
This month we got to enjoy Wheels by Haribo and Pontefract Cakes from England. I was intrigued by the Cakes, not knowing the origin of the name. It sounded kind of holy and church-ish, so I quickly googled it and discovered that Pontefract is actually a town in England where these sweets are produced. They are also made by Haribo, as evidenced by the imprint on each cake (one other company produces licorice candy in the town), and consist of black wafers about the diameter of a quarter. They are quite good, with a definite flavor of molasses and licorice. They fall quite clearly into the category of sweet licorice, and I found it difficult to stop eating them. Delicious!
Next were Wheels by Haribo. These are flat ropes of black licorice that are coiled into half-dollar size wheels. I found these difficult to bite into, and ended up unrolling a section to bite off and chew. This was somewhat time consuming, and I thought they were just a touch too firm for me. Still, the flavor was good, with a more subdued sweetness than the Cakes.
As extra treats this month we received Kookaburra Natural Black and Kookaburra Natural Raspberry licorices. The black was lovely, very soft with a nice, sweet flavor. The raspberry was a bit harder, and didn’t appeal to me as much. It was very sweet, and the raspberry flavor was nearly overwhelming. Still, they were nice extras to enjoy.
im from the uk, i love both these things but not when made by haribo. Haribo tends to be plasticy and flavourless unlike the traditional versions wich have a stronger plavour and a much softer texture.
March 6th, 2007 at 7:10 pmIf not from Haribo, then where?! I just had Pontefract cakes for the first and I want more, but everything I’m finding on the Web seems to come from Haribo.
March 17th, 2007 at 5:36 pmHI ALL. THE REALLY GOOD PONTEFRACT CAKES WERE MADE BY WILKINSONS. HAVEN’T BEEN ABLE TO FIND THEM IN THE STATES FOR YEARS. I HAVE FOUND SIGHTS IN THE UK WHO HAVE THEM, BUT PRICEY.
April 14th, 2008 at 4:21 pm