When I went to Copenhagen last year, I had to squeeze in a visit to the Lakrids by Bülow factory, not far from the capital. LbB holds a special place in the heart of my youngest and I. Neither of us really likes liquorice – at the centre of everything LbB does – and yet we devour these. Although LbB does liquorice on its own (and the slow-crafted one is something else – when given a hunk of this to try at the factory, I couldn’t let it go), most of its creations are bonbons. A nugget of liquorice, covered in flavoured chocolate and sometimes further armoured with a crisp candy shell. The liquorice is basically Trojan horsed in.
There are currently 16 classic flavours, plus seasonal additions, but our favourite is the coffee one (ground coffee is put in with the chocolate coating). Although at Christmas the chart topper was Frozen – a crispy shelled mint.
It’s impossible to overstate how popular liquorice is in Denmark, it’s everywhere. At the factory I looked at every stage of production from the making of the liquorice to the packing. It was fascinating and, of course, I over-tasted everything to the point of nausea. There was a flavour in testing – Sour Strawberry – which was really delicious, but sadly there are no plans to bring it into mass production yet.
I learned two things while there. One is too top secret to divulge yet, but the other one is that the first LbB UK store will soon be opening in London (mail order otherwise) at St Pancras station which is, coincidentally, just down the road from Observer HQ. Prices start at £9/150g.
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