Three open Lakrids by Bülow tins in black, cream and coral showing chocolate-coated licorice balls, one cut in half to reveal the black licorice center, on a pale wooden table with a sprig of licorice root

Lakrids by Bülow Guide: Chocolate-Coated Licorice from Bornholm

Published 9 Sep 20264 min read

Filed under Licorice Lakrids by Bülow Denmark

Johan Bülow started making licorice in 2007 on Bornholm, a Danish island in the Baltic Sea off the coast of Sweden that is known for its smokehouses and its round churches. On 7 July 2007 he opened a shop in the town of Svaneke where, in the company's own account, the idea was to cook the licorice on the premises so it could be smelled 100 meters away. He set out, in VisitDenmark's telling, to challenge perceptions of what licorice could be, and the same page describes the product as gourmet licorice.

By 2008 production had moved to a factory in Taastrup, outside Copenhagen. Today, according to Øresundsbron, the company runs 44 of its own shops in eight markets. The company later began coating its licorice in chocolate, and the coated range includes flavors such as passion fruit and sour strawberry. For licorice as a category, start with the licorice complete guide.

The beginnings

In the company's telling of opening day in Svaneke, the last customer even bought the sample bowl from the counter. Demand moved production off the island quickly. In 2008, the company says, Bülow bought a licorice machine and installed it in a newly rented factory in Taastrup to scale up production, and the first four numbered licorices, NO.1 to NO.4, were made there. Øresundsbron, the company behind the bridge between Denmark and Sweden, describes the same step, with production scaled up to Taastrup, and notes that several staff at the company's head office and factory in Hvidovre commute across the bridge every day.

From Svaneke to eight markets: a timeline

7 July 2007. The first shop opens in Svaneke, on Bornholm, with the licorice cooked on the premises.
2008. A licorice machine goes into a rented factory in Taastrup, outside Copenhagen, and NO.1 to NO.4 follow.
Next. The first chocolate-coated licorice: a sweet licorice core in milk chocolate, rolled in licorice powder. The lettered range lists it as A, the original.
Later. The factory and head office are in Hvidovre, on the Copenhagen side of the Øresund.
Today. 44 company-run shops in eight markets, according to Øresundsbron.

Read together, the sources show that production went from a single island shop, opened in July 2007, to a rented mainland factory in Taastrup in 2008.

How the licorice is made

Licorice comes mainly from the root of Glycyrrhiza glabra. The root is cut and boiled into an extract, which is dried into a hard lump of raw licorice and sold whole or granulated into a powder. The root's sweet compound, glycyrrhizin, is 50 to 200 times sweeter than sugar, with a sharp, lingering taste, according to Sweden's food agency, Livsmedelsverket. The ingredient list on the B tin includes white chocolate, sugar, rice flour, invert sugar, molasses, glucose syrup, freeze-dried passion fruit and spray-dried licorice.

Panning: the chocolate shell

Chocolate-coated licorice balls like these are generally made by panning, the same family of processes behind a malted milk ball or a Jordan almond. Licorice pieces tumble in a rotating drum while melted chocolate is added in thin layers. Each layer sets before the next goes on, and the shell builds up gradually until it is thick, even and glossy. A single batch can take several hours. The last layers are often a colored or flavored chocolate, finished with a dusting of powder or freeze-dried fruit. Because the shell is chocolate, the tins keep best cool, dry and out of the refrigerator, where condensation can dissolve surface sugar and leave a gritty white film, as the chocolate bloom and storage guide explains.

What the letters mean

The tins carry single letters, A, B, C and onward, each marking a different recipe. A, the original, was the first chocolate-coated product. B is passion fruit: sweet licorice coated in white chocolate and passion fruit, finished with a crunchy sugar shell (shop Lakrids B passion fruit). C is sour strawberry: red licorice in white chocolate, with the flavor of green strawberries. E is the salty one, salmiak licorice under white chocolate.

How a Lakrids ball tastes

In our tasting, the flavored dusting reaches the tongue first, then the chocolate, and the licorice last, as a long, dark finish. That finish matches Livsmedelsverket's description of glycyrrhizin as sharp and lingering.

Which tin to try first

For someone who already likes licorice: passion fruit, where, as the company puts it, the licorice unites the acidity of the passion fruit with the sweetness of the chocolate (shop Lakrids B passion fruit). For licorice in other styles, browse the collection (shop the licorice collection). One ball at a time dropped into a mug of dark drinking chocolate is a good way to finish a tin, the kind of setup the hot chocolate bar party guide lays out.

For other Danish producers, see the Copenhagen Sparkling Tea Company guide and the Noma Projects mushroom garum guide.

The shop is at 263 Josephine Street in Cherry Creek, Denver, and products ship across the continental U.S. from theambrosianpantry.com. Start with one ball and wait for the licorice.

One of the sweeter flavors is Strawberries & Cream, licorice coated in white chocolate with strawberry.