More Facts!

The legume or bean family is easily

identified from its flowers which usually have
a white or purple color to them, their pinnate
(feather-like, compound) leaves and from the
tell-tale pods in which its seeds grow. The
fabales order (as in the taxonomic group)
includes such plants as the Acacias, the
Mimosa trees and the well-known sweet pea
and snow pea. Legumes are of extreme
economic importance as food, for the
production of medicine and critically as
nitrogen fixers plants that add nitrogen to
the soil. This family was critical in the British
Agricultural Revolution, a cultural leap which
is understood as a necessary precursor to the
Industrial Revolution. WITHOUT LEGUMES,
MAYBE WE WOULD NOT HAVE COMPUTERS!
Ask Your Friends
Interestingly, most if not all European
languages refer to this plant and its tasty root
with a word derived from the same Latin
word! Ask your friends how they say
licorice in their language. Does it sound like
Latin: liquiritia?
Bibliography:

Fiore, Cristina, et al. "A history of the
therapeutic use of liquorice in
Europe."Journal of
ethnopharmacology 99.3 (2005): 317-324.
"Licorice." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation,
3 Mar. 2014. Web. 5 Mar. 2014.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Licorice>.
"Online Etymology Dictionary." Online
Etymology Dictionary. N.p., n.d. Web. 5
Mar. 2014.
<http://etymonline.com/index.php>.
Licorice
Regaliz



A natural native Spanish treat!
The product you are buying today is the raw,
un-processed root of the licorice plant.
Sagrario
and her
family
harvest
the root
of this
plant in
order to earn much needed additional
income. They wash the roots, bundle them
and bring them to you here, the heart of
Madrid.
They are engaged in an ecologically-
sustainable trade, since it is in their best
interest to harvest the root in such a way
that the mother-plant continues to provide
them with a source of income. Furthermore,
this is a native plant of the Mediterranean
and as such has been part of the lives of
Iberians since time immemorial.
Please enjoy this natural treat knowing that
your purchase goes to support local eco-
friendly stewardship of Spains natural
resources, a local family, and a more
culturally meaningful form of tourism.
Glycyrrhiza glabra, (glabra means hairless)
is in fact one of the many members of the
legume family. Much of the sweetness in
licorice comes from the compound called
glycyrrhizin, which has a sweet taste about
3050 times the sweetness of sugar.

According to archaeological research,
humans have known about and used
Glycyrrhiza glabra since prehistoric times. It
is native to southern Europe and the Asian
continent. Licorice grows best in deep
valleys, well-drained soils, with full sun, and
is harvested in the autumn, two to three
years after planting.
Licorice is known by many names in
Spanish. Some of the word origins are a bit
obscure; however some sense can be made
of others.
Paloduz is most like from the elements palo
stick + duz dulce, sweet. The word palo
is related to such English words as peace and
palisade and such Spanish words as paz,
pacto and pgina. These all come from the
Latin pangere to join. The Old English
cognate of this Latin verb was fegan to join.
Regaliz is another common name for this
sweet root. It, in fact, is etymologically
related to English licorice (liquorice) and is a
derivative of the same Latin word! The word
entered into English (by way of French) from
the Latin liquiritia; a word which is itself an
alteration of the Greek
glykysrriza meaning sweet root. The
latinization of the original Greek word makes
evident the connection with the words:
glucose and rhizome. Interestingly, the word
root is etymologically related to the Greek
word rhizome. The element:
gluku is related to the Spanish word for
sweet dulce (see above) which also gives us
the English word dulcimer, a sweet-
sounding instrument.