Licorice sticks with milk chocolate

Licorice in milk chocolate with crunchy granules

Milk Chocolate Licorice Sticks from Lakritsfabriken are soft salty licorice sticks from Helsingborg, dipped in milk chocolate and sprinkled with black licorice granules. The mildest of the three chocolate varieties – and the only one with a crunch. 45g per pack.

Milk Chocolate Licorice Sticks are the gentle introduction to the Swedish licorice-chocolate world of Martin Jörgensen. Instead of dark chocolate, creamy milk chocolate coats the soft salty licorice containing 6% licorice powder, and is topped with coarsely ground licorice granules that provide a crunch when chewed. Two textures of licorice in one bar: soft and crispy at the same time.

Creamy on the outside, soft on the inside, crunchy on top

The milk chocolate melts faster than dark chocolate and spreads creamily over the tongue. Beneath it is the soft licorice, and on top, the crunchy granules.

These three textures in one bite are the real trick. While the dark chocolate of the sister variety provides a contrast, the milk chocolate here complements it – it mellows the salmiak without hiding it, adding a milk-powder sweetness that carries the anise notes particularly well.

The licorice granules add a pure, bold finishing touch. It is the same licorice mass, just dried and broken, and it provides exactly the edge that the light chocolate would otherwise lack. Creamy, crunchy, savory.

Of the three chocolate varieties, this is the most accessible. Those who shy away from dark chocolate and steer clear of chili should start with the Milk Chocolate Licorice Sticks.

With coffee and treats

With a latte in the afternoon, this bar is almost too perfect – milk meets milk, and the licorice gives it an edge.

Children love it because the milk chocolate tastes familiar and the salmiak only comes through gently. And for those who don't actually like licorice, it is the best attempt to learn to love it – the path here leads through the chocolate rather than the salmiak.

Slightly chilled, the bar shows a different side. The chocolate snaps when you bite into it, the granules become even crunchier, and the licorice underneath remains soft. Twenty minutes in the fridge is enough; no need to wait any longer.

If you have only known licorice as hard chunks from a bag, you will be surprised here. The bar yields instead of splintering – that is the whole difference. Mildly chocolaty, savory, crunchy.

Things get bolder with the dark chocolate sticks with sea salt, and truly spicy with chili flakes. The salty premium licorice is available without chocolate in a 150-gram box.

519 meters of licorice and a Guinness record

On April 4, 2012, Lakritsfabriken pulled the longest licorice stick in the world – 519 meters, measured and certified in Hököpinge near Malmö.

The old record came from Australia and had stood at 244 meters since March 8, 2008. Martin's team more than doubled it, filmed the whole thing and streamed it live online, and on August 10, 2012, Guinness World Records confirmed the entry.

Anyone who knows how quickly licorice mass sets while cooling down can imagine what a race against time that was. The strand had to remain warm and pliable until the very last meter was laid.

It all started a year earlier at the Licorice Festival in Stockholm. Sweden's first premium licorice, that's how Martin described what he put on the table there for the first time in 2011. Today, his licorice is sold in shops in London and Paris, and since 2019, the licorice root has been grown on 8 hectares in Southern Sweden.

For everyday life, the finger-length bar is enough. The entire history of the factory is in the profile of Lakritsfabriken from Helsingborg.