noncaloric sweetener. It is 180–200 times
sweeter than table sugar, so that though it
carries the same number of calories in a given
weight, much smaller amounts are needed.
Aspartame’s disadvantage is that it is broken
down by heat and by acidity and therefore
can’t be used in cooked preparations.
Modern Licorice
Today licorice is seldom used as a
sweetener. The root of the licorice plant is
extracted with ammonia to produce an
ammonium salt of the sweet-tasting
glycyrrhizic acid. The extract is much
more expensive than molasses (the source
of blackness in traditional licorice
candies), sugar, gelatin, starch, and other
ingredients in licorice candy, so it’s used
mainly as an aromatic flavoring. Licorice
is especially popular in Denmark, where
it’s strangely combined in candies with salt
and with ammonia. Glycyrrhizin also has