Why 'Spanish'...?

Liquorice… or maybe Spanish!

Do you call liquorice ‘Spanish’? Chances are if you do you are from Yorkshire. And in parts of Lancashire the word is used specifically for liquorice sticks. But why call it Spanish? – well the story is…..

Not long after the Spanish armada were defeated a Pontefract schoolmaster was walking along the beach on the east coast and spotted something. There were bundles of “twigs” washed up from the wreckage of one of the Spanish galleons. He gathered all the bundles together and took them back to Pontefract with him. He then used the “twigs” to punish his pupils! 

The boys started to bite down on the twigs to stop the master hearing their screams and they found, to their utter shock, that it tasted rather nice. The ‘twigs’ were in fact liquorice roots. This is alleged to have been the beginning of the association between Pontefract and liquorice.

Could this story have any credibility? Well, the Spanish armada battles took place in 1588 and there are historical documents that indicate that liquorice was first grown in Pontefract in 1600.

So who knows?

If this little bit of history has whet your appetite, why not treat yourself to our Liquorice Box?