Drop (Dutch Licorice)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •20cm square baking tin
• •Small heavy saucepan
• •Candy thermometer
• •Fine sieve
• •Whisk
• •Oiled knife or kitchen scissors

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the tin

   Lightly oil a 20cm square tin, line it with parchment, and dust the bottom with potato starch. Keep a little more starch nearby for your knife and fingers. Drop is generous in flavor and adhesive in temperament; a bare tin will keep more of it than you do.

2. 2

   Brew the root

   Put the cracked zoethout, sweet wood, and the water into a small saucepan. Bring it to a quiet simmer, cover, and let it draw for 20 minutes. Strain through a fine sieve and measure out 220ml of dark licorice tea, topping up with water if the pan has been too enthusiastic.

3. 3

   Hydrate the binders

   Pour 80ml of warm licorice tea into a bowl and sprinkle in the gum arabic while whisking steadily. In a second bowl, pour 60ml cold licorice tea over the gelatin and let it bloom. Give both 10 minutes. Gum arabic hates being dumped in a heap; sprinkle it slowly and it will behave like an old apothecary ingredient should.

4. 4

   Boil the syrup

   Combine the remaining 80ml licorice tea, sugar, molasses, glucose syrup, and sea salt in a heavy saucepan. Stir over medium heat until dissolved, then let it boil without stirring until it reaches 118C on a candy thermometer. The bubbles will thicken and slow, and the syrup will look almost black at the edges. This is where the chew is made.

   Use the thermometer. Dutch pragmatism is not guessing with hot sugar.
5. 5

   Finish the drop

   Take the pan off the heat. Stir in the gum arabic mixture until smooth, then stir in the bloomed gelatin, licorice extract powder, salmiak if using, and anise extract if you want that old sweet-shop note. Start with 2g salmiak the first time; dubbelzout, double-salted drop, is not a dare. The mixture should fall from the spoon in thick black ribbons.

6. 6

   Set and cut

   Scrape the licorice into the prepared tin and smooth the top with an oiled spatula. Dust lightly with starch and leave uncovered at cool room temperature for at least 8 hours, preferably overnight. Lift out the slab, oil a knife or kitchen scissors, and cut into small diamonds or squares. Toss the pieces lightly in starch so they keep their manners in the jar.

7. 7

   Dry and store

   Spread the pieces on parchment and let them dry for 12 to 24 hours, turning once, until the surface is no longer sticky and the center bends before it breaks. Store airtight with a pinch of starch. The flavor settles after a day, and that is when the licorice root, molasses, and salmiak stop shouting over one another.

Chef Tips

• •Buy food-grade licorice extract powder and food-grade salmiak only. The hardware-shop version of ammonium chloride belongs nowhere near a kitchen, no matter how confidently the label speaks chemistry.
• •Real licorice can raise blood pressure and affect potassium levels when eaten often or in large amounts. People with high blood pressure, kidney or heart disease, or who are pregnant should avoid regular servings of real licorice.
• •For softer drop, cut after the overnight set and store sooner. For firmer drop, dry the pieces a full 24 hours. The Dutch argument between zacht, soft, and hard drop begins right here on your counter.
• •If you want sweet drop, leave out the salmiak and use the anise. If you want zoute drop, salty licorice, use 2g salmiak. If you already know you love the sharp mineral bite, go to 4g and accept responsibility.

Advance Preparation

• •Drop is best made one to two days before serving; the cut pieces need time to dry and the flavor becomes rounder after a day in the jar.
• •Keeps for about two weeks in an airtight jar at cool room temperature, with a little starch shaken through to prevent sticking.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 8g)