We’ve reviewed a few varieties of Gustaf’s Dutch licorice in the past, and we’ve liked all of them. They’re a quality company. They make tasty, authentic licorice.
Recently at World Market, I went for it and bought a bag I hadn’t tried, the Double Salt, or Zout as it’s called in Dutch.
Our take on licorice here has always been: if it’s red, it aint licorice. Doesn’t mean it’s not good, it just means it’s chewy candy. Also, when it comes to licrice, salt it or don’t even come at us. Sweet sweet licorice is for the birds. It’s all about the contrasts and aromatics.
Licorice can have so many herbaceous accents. Many are pleasing to some while being horrifying to others: ammonia, molasses, menthol, eucalyptus, etc. But for me, I’m a chewy salty guy. Neither the ammonia or molasses accented licorice works for me, which is why I tend to love most German and Dutch licorice: it’s just chewy, salty goodness.
However. I’ve discovered that it’s possible to have too much of a good thing. Whereas Gustaf’s “hint of salt” is a nice salt level, and many others with much more are also yum, this bag…is just too much.
It’s all salt. For me, it was tough to discern that classic licorice flavor, which is what this is all about. So the balance just didn’t work for me. By no means am I saying that these aren’t good though: these are for a very specific demographic of licorice lovers: for them, this is probably peak licorice.
If you’re daring, give them a try. Amazon has a great deal on them, or World Market is another option. Let me know what you think!
Hello. This is fairly close to the DZ licorice I tried in the Netherlands, and I’m quite fond of the stuff.