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Friday, April 11, 2008
Black Licorice Twists & Snaps
Licorice has a long and wonderful history as a confection and even a medicine. It’s also very flexible, used as a flavoring in hundreds of different sweet and savory items. It has some companion flavors as well, such as anise and fennel. One of the more commonly found licorices is the Red Vines Black Licorice Twists.
The most common kind of licorice here in the United States is the twist. It has a wheat base and is usually flavored and sweetened with molasses (and in this case, corn syrup too). Molasses is a great companion to licorice. While pure licorice is very sweet and soft on the tongue, molasses is deep and only mildly sweet with some interesting mineral notes. The earthy combination and less sticky complexity to it all makes Red Vines Black Licorice Twists a nice treat. They’re not very licoricey, but that’s okay, they do have a nice texture and feel more like a snack than a candy sometimes. (Wheat-based candies can do that.) I think they’re best when they’re fresh, but stale is okay. I’ve revived stale licorice before by placing it in the microwave on top of a very lightly damp paper towel, covered with another paper towel and zap it for 10 seconds. Licorice and licorice-like candies are increasing in popularity, probably because of their low caloric density and satisfying chew. As a grocery store purchase of licorice, I prefer Good and Plenty, but if you put Red Vines Black Licorice in front of me, I’ll definitely eat it. Rating: 6 out of 10
I’d never had them until I started the blog. I picked them up two years ago to try and found the bag was so horribly stale that it wouldn’t have been fair. So again with full warning this time that National Licorice Day was approaching, I picked up another bag. It’s mind boggling. I don’t even know where to begin with how confused, anxious and actually angry these make me. First, I opened the bag and it smelled like sweet musk. Yes. Like the Australian Musk Lollies. And I know this smell because I recently bought a bag.
At first I thought I was crazy. I’ve had smell hallucinations and I’ve heard that simply coloring a food one way will make someone expect that flavor, so maybe I was just having some sort of synapse malfunction. But it’s been a full week and I’ve checked with others. The reaction to the smell ranges from “It smells like my grandmother’s purse” to “that’s like a bad candle shop.” None of it gets better. The colors are odd, like slightly bleached by the sun or perhaps rinsed in the colander with some fresh veggies and they’ve run. The texture is like eating surgical tubing ... that’s been sitting next to leaking perfume samples for several months. They candy is made of little tubes of a similar wheat-based licorice vine (no twist to it) that is then coated on the outside with a candy shell (I can’t call it crunchy, only colorful). After chewing a bit the flavor does kind of warm up, after the musk has gone away it’s a little bit like licorice, but lacking the anise punch and the deep earthy molasses flavors.
The American Licorice Company explains them this way:
Maybe it’s just because I don’t like musk. But someone must like these candies or they wouldn’t be making them for those rabid fans. Or maybe people just use them for craft projects. They might make some decent kid-safe chunky beads for stringing on some embroidery thread. I just ... don’t know what else ... to write about them. I can only assume that those people who hate licorice have tasted this and I can’t blame them for their hostility towards the stuff. (Go ahead and call me hypocritical for hatin’ on this stuff, I can take it.) Rating: 2 out of 10 The Red Vines Giveaway closes on Saturday, April 12th, so enter if you want some! (Don’t worry, there will be no Snaps in the winner packages.) Related Candies
POSTED BY Cybele AT 11:24 am 
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Meticulously photographed and documented reviews of candy from around the world. And the occasional other sweet adventures. Open your mouth, expand your mind.
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COPYRIGHT NOTICEAll content (text and photos unless otherwise credited) is copyright 2005-2008 by Cybele MayPlease do not use my photos on your own site without permission directly from me, they represent what I ate in preparation for these reviews and are not to be used for other purposes. Design by Hop StudiosPowered by ExpressionEngine
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I have never had the snaps, so I can’t comment on those, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE black licorice, especially jelly beans, but I too have encountered many a hater!
I believe my exact quote about the Snaps of evil was, “It smells like my grandmother’s powdery neck.” Seriously, the Snap was the most disgusting piece of candy I’ve ever tried, and since I work in the office next to Cybele’s, I’ve tried some doozies. It’s the first one I’ve had to spit out.
I also don’t understand why people hate black licorice. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!! I also like the jeely beans (of course) and lollipops thta come in the black licorice flavour!!
I have eaten Snaps as a child, it was one of those candies that would sit in the candy dish forever, and after everything else in the house was gone, you’d eat a couple in desperation.
They’re so tough that the outer shell is like chewing on thick, wet cardboard. I remember them as being hideous, but you know what? Your mentioning them here has made me want to have a couple just to remember.
i can honestly say that the only licorice ive really ever have had are the jelly beans, and i liked them (i hate the red ropes, no matter the brand). but i have never seen, heard or read anyone ever say anything good about Snaps.
My father LOVES licorice snaps. He eats them by the handful. I tried them once when I was younger, and they are disgusting.
At least the packaging has improved over the years. I suppose the intent is to trick kids who don’t know how gross these things are into buying a bag!
i hate to say this but Snaps are a guilty pleasure of mine. i can’t say why, but i was very upset years ago when American discontinued them. they have a distinct and unique taste that for some reason resonates with my tongue. i don’t put them in the same category is “real” licorice…
Try explaining droppies to the rest of the world. They are Dutch treats, and I really like the double salted black licorice.
Yeah, Snaps, yuck....you’re a brave woman to eat those a second time, willingly, Cybele.
You know, I like anise and fennel (especially traditional Italian pizelle with anise!), but I just can’t get into black licorice. My dad’s nuts about it, but sadly I didn’t inherit this good quality from him.
I love black licorice, but I’ve never had the Snaps. I think I’ll pass them up after your article though. Thanks for the heads up. My favorite version is black licorice salt-water taffy! Mmmm.
I love the taste of licorice jelly beans (though I always hated them when I was younger because of the strong taste), but the twists have always tasted too mealy too me. Probably because of the flour they’re made with. I like the licorice ropes better than the red ropes though. :D
Snaps are a candy you don’t think about unless you see them in the store. We have a candy store in our area that sells them in bulk. They are the only black licorice-like candy I eat. Seeing this on the blog has given me craving for it.
Our office has increased the sales of red licorice lately. We go through about a bag a day among 3 women. We could sure use a free supply....
Mmmm… I can smell the Vines through the screen!
I tried Snaps once. I finished the package, but have never been remotely tempted to buy them again.
on a non-licorice note—i keep looking for the tootsie pop drops and the crispy mint M&Ms;and can’t find them. are they slowly sweeping across the country, making my FL location unfortunate, or am i just not looking hard enough?
of course what i’m really waiting for is the rockin nut road snickers… mmm.
The snaps coating looks like..painted paper mache?
on another side note, i went to some scottish games this weekend, and their was a tent selling various foodstuffs from the british isles. among all the various european candy bars was a few different bags of licorice. i thought about buying a bag, but had no idea which would be good and which ones wouldnt. oh well. bought some Aero bars instead.
I love black licorice...except snaps. Those are the NASTIEST things I’ve ever tasted. Picked some up at a local Rite-Aid and had 3 pieces before throwing them out. Ick!
I saw that picture of the snaps (poured out of the bag) and just about gagged. I must’ve had em before, cause you really nailed your description with some weird memory - I think they’d been in my grandmothers candy dish a year or 2 too long ... eeeewwwww!
“I’m probably one of those people and maybe I take it a little personally when someone calls something that I appreciate disgusting.”
Yeah, but don’t you do that to cherry fans all the time? Cherry is my favorite flavor, but I don’t take it personally when you complain about it (which is a lot.) You shouldn’t take it personally when people think black licorice is the disgusting.
Snaps are one of my favorite candy. I had a hard time finding them for awhile but now they sell them in a few grocery stores. I use to buy them by bulk but haven’t seen them like that for a long time.
I’ll stick up for Snaps - I love them! The colors are great, emblematic of some past extraterrestrial design era that never existed. And the ziti “surgical tubing” shape is a winner for me. A very mild licorice for when I’m on the fickle side of my love-hate relationship with the stuff. That musk coating is like nothing else, and works for me. But, then I like floral/perfumey flavors, like C. Howard’s Violet mints.
Snaps have been a part of my candy intake since my 1950’s childhood and still make my mouth water. I love the salty european black licorice as a result of that time in my life. I can still taste the sugar blast from the candy coating (you gotta ingest a handful for this) and being left with the salty, chewy black licorice after the sugar. Best enjoyed by the handful as a child would eat them!
I love Snaps! And yes----best eaten by the handful to appreciate the floral nose, sweet candy coating, then black licorice.
SNAPS Rule!!!! Have loved them all my life. Great taste. I like them better when they are a little bit stale.
I too, love snaps and have for about 40 years. I love the weird smell and the odd flavors and how the colors don’t match up to anything you would imagine. The pinks taste a bit like soap but the rest are yummy. Here’s the key though - they must be fresh and its hard to get them fresh probably due to the long time sitting on the shelves due to their unpopularity.
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