Liquorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) is a herbaceous perennial legume grown for its root. Liquorice root is used in many cultures’ herbal medicine as well as in tobacco products. Liquorice extract contains glycyrrhizin that has a taste 40 times sweeter than sucrose. Liquorice sweets are a much more recent invention, created in Pontefract (Yorkshire, England) by adding sugar to medicinal liquorice extract. These coin-shaped sweets are still known as Pontefract cakes are were originally made from liquorice grown around the town. They were stamped with an image of Pontefract Castle as a trademark to indicate their quality. In those days, liquorice was grown on magnesian limestone across a swathe of England, but its cultivation in England died out in the 19th century. Much of today’s liquorice comes from plants harvested from the wild in China. There is increasing global demand for liquorice extract is as a sweetener.