Little middle ground exists between those who love and those who abhor black licorice. A solid step beyond this distinctively bittersweet candy is salt licorice, or salmiak. Favored in Northern European countries, this so-called treat combines ordinary licorice root extract, starch or gums and sugar with ammonium chloride. The compound gives salmiak not just a salty, numbing kick prized for its expectorant qualities, but also a tangy aftertaste that sticks around long after the candy is gone.
Salt licorice began its rise to Nordic delicacy as a centuries-old ingredient in cough medicines. Since both licorice extract and ammonium chloride are longstanding ingredients in expectorants, pharmacists in Finland started turning the two into candied lozenges at the beginning of the 20th century. All that was needed was sugar and some form of binding compound like a plant starch or acacia gum. Everyday Finns, Swedes, Norwegians and others took to the flavor combination over time, even though saltiness and bitterness are not exactly candy-like characteristics. Eating them as hard candy became the norm, and some even started to add them as bitters to alcoholic drinks.
The sick or health-conscious used the candies to fight respiratory disorders or to keep them from taking root. Singers used them to clear the pipes before performances, and some salt licorice manufacturers used opera singers as spokespeople. Nidar Co.'s IFA® brand, founded at the beginning in 1930, is named after famous singer Ivar F. Andresen, and his picture and signature still appear on the wrapper in 2011. The largest market for these candies is still in Finland, with the average Finn consuming more than 2 lbs. (about 1 kg) of salt licorice every year. Norwegians are in second place, eating half that amount annually.
Some can stomach only so much ammonium chloride though, before salt licorice starts to taste more like medicine and less like candy. The average content of the chemical appears to hover around 6 percent, though some brands like Double Zout®, or Double Salt, have twice that amount or more for a palate- and sinus-cleansing vaporization. On the other end of the spectrum are salmiak candies like pantteri, Finnish for panther, which softens the blow by dipping the final candies in course sugar to ease the senses into the experience.
Several other varieties manage to endure, including the brand Lakrisal®. This candy is prepared with just ammonium chloride, sugar and licorice, leaving the tablets fragile and light-colored. An even brasher flavor is available as Tyrkisk peber, Dutch for Turkish pepper, which leaps yet another culinary boundary.
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