Gluten free liquorice

admin June 19, 2016 3 Comments

Gluten free liquorice — or gluten free licorice, if you prefer — is not always easy to find.

Even natural brands’ you might hope to be GF — such as Biona’s — contain wheat flour, and popular products found in health stores — such as Panda Licorice, Darrell Lea and RJ’s Natural Licorice — are also gluten-containing.

These, though, are safe:

Fini Liquorice Blacks. These tasty products contain none of the 14 EU allergens, and no ‘may contain’ warnings are on pack either. Liquorice extract content is not provided. Distribution and availability does not presently seem wide, but they’re on Amazon worldwide, and in the UK sold by Real Foods. Note that some Fini liquorice products are not GF, so double check the version you’re buying is safe and display their GF logo on front of pack.

Black Liquorice Company’s Gluten Free Soft Eating Liquorice. Uses cornmeal in place of wheat. Exclusive to the company, and in their own branded bags, but note the precautionary allergen warnings if you have sensitivities to foods other than gluten-containing grains. Find it here.

Lakrids. Imaginative, luxury and handmade liquorice products from Scandinavia, which contain a much more generous proportion of liquorice (typically around 6%, and raw) than many other sweet products on the market. Use rice flour in place of wheat flour, and confirmed gluten free. You can order them from their own site here. In the UK, some products are stocked by Harvey Nichols, Selfridges, and Skandium. In the US, Chelsea Market Baskets have a decent selection.

Lakritsfabriken (‘liquorice factory’) is another premium line of Scandinavian luxury liquorice products, from Sweden, including some salty varieties. They’ve also more recently introduced a more affordable, ‘everyday’ Lakritskungen range, too. The former uses rice flour and 6% liquorice powder; the latter corn starch and a lower proportion of liquorice. Browse on their website. You can buy it at Totally Swedish or at the online store of their UK distributor, Appetitus. In the US, it is distributed by Chicago Importing. Check out their ‘Where to Buy‘ page for stockists and online ordering.

YumEarth Gluten Free Licorice. Mostly fruit-flavoured (strawberry, pomegranate, peach) candy — child friendly, I imagine, although some might not count this as ‘proper’ liquorice! — but there is a plain variety too for the grown-ups. I can only find them in the US, sold on Amazon or on the YumEarth site directly.

Online licorice stores

In the UK:

All Things Liquorice has a GF section, including Lakrids (see above) and Italian brand Amarelli, renowned for the purity of its liquorice products and collectible tins.

Liquorice with a Twist also has a GF page, including a selection of Dutch products (apparently, the Dutch like their liquorice salty).

And another, Liquorice World, also has a GF collection. They too stock Lakrids and Amarelli.

In the US:

Licorice International – which has a large GF section.