Angelica archangelica
Angelica archangelica known as garden angelica, wild celery, Norwegian angelica, is a biennial plant from the Apiaceae family, a subspecies of, cultivated for its sweetly scented edible stems and roots. Like several other species in Apiaceae, its appearance is similar to several poisonous species, should not be consumed unless it has been identified with absolute certainty. Synonyms include Archangelica officinalis Hoffm. and Angelica officinalis Moench. During its first year it grows only leaves, during its second year, its fluted stem can reach a height of 2.5 meters, from that stem the root, used in medicinal preparations. Its leaves comprise numerous small leaflets divided into three principal groups, each of, again subdivided into three lesser groups; the edges of the leaflets are finely serrated. The flowers, which blossom in July, are small and numerous, yellowish or greenish, are grouped into large, globular umbels which bear pale yellow, oblong fruits. Angelica grows only in preferably near rivers or deposits of water.
Angelica archangelica grows wild in Russia, Sweden, Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Iceland in the northern parts of the countries. It is cultivated in France in the Marais Poitevin, a marsh region close to Niort in the department Deux-Sèvres. Commercially available sources of angelica are sourced from Hungary, Bulgaria and Poland; some Angelica is sourced from Asia as well, though it may be confused with similar plants like Angelica Glauca, which are sometimes sold as Angelica. From the 10th century on, angelica was cultivated as a vegetable and medicinal plant, achieved popularity in Scandinavia in the 12th century and is still used today in Sami culture. Angelica is a shamanic medicine among the Laplanders. A flute-like instrument with a clarinet-like sound can be made of its hollow stem. Linnaeus reported that Sami peoples used it in reindeer milk, as it is used as a flavouring agent. In 1602, angelica was introduced in Niort, it is used to flavour liqueurs or aquavits and trout, as jam. The long bright-green stems are candied and used as food decoration.
John Gerard's Herball praises the plant and states that "it cureth the bitings of mad dogs and all other venomous beasts". Angelica is unique amongst the Umbelliferae for its pervading aromatic odour, a pleasant perfume different from fennel, anise, caraway, or chervil, it has been compared to juniper. The roots are fragrant, form one of the principal aromatics of European botanical origin. Angelica archangelica roots have been used in the traditional Austrian medicine internally as tea or tincture for treatment of disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, respiratory tract, nervous system, against fever and flu; the roots are among the most common botanicals used in gin distillation used in concert with Juniper berries and coriander as gin's chief aromatic accord. They are used in absinthes and bitters, in addition to culinary uses such as jams and omelettes; the hollow stems of Angelica archangelica are eaten. The stems are picked clean of their leaves, crystallized in sugar syrup and colored green as cake decoration or as candy.
The fruits are tiny mericarps and are used in the production of absinthes and other alcoholic drinks. Seeds of a Persian spice plant known as Golpar are mislabeled as "angelica seeds," and are not true seeds of Angelica archangelica; the essential oil content of angelica root varies based on the age of the roots. The roots have high levels of terpenes, including α-pinene and β-phellandrene. Studies have found upwards of over eighty different aroma compounds present in samples. Of particular interest to perfumers and aroma chemists is Cyclopentadecanolide, which although present in small quantities, it's responsible for angelica root's distinctive musky aroma and was found in the roots. Though the essential oil yield of Angelica seeds are higher, it's the roots which are preferred for culinary and aroma uses. Angelica seeds have a similar chemical composition to the roots, including α-pinene, β-pinene, myrcene, β-phellandrene, caryophyllene, borneol and others. Both the seeds and roots contain furocoumarins.
Among these are 2′-angeloyl-3′-isovaleryl vaginate, oxypeucedanin hydrate, byakangelicin angelate, isoimperatorin, isopimpinellin, 8-psoralen, ostruthol, phellopterin and xanthotoxin, can be isolated from a chloroform extract of the roots of A. archangelica as well as several heraclenol derivatives. The water root extract of A. archangelica subsp. Litoralis contains adenosine, the two dihydrofurocoumarin glycosides apterin and 1′-O-β-d-glycopyranosyl--marmesin, 1′-O-β-d-glucopyranosyl--3-hydroxymarmesin and 2′-β-d-glucopyranosyloxymarmesin. Archangelica comes from the Greek word "arkhangelos", due to the belief that it was the archangel Michael who told of its use as medicine. In Finnish it is called väinönputki, in Kalaallisut kuanneq, in Northern Sami fádnu, boska and rássi, in English garden angelica, in German Arznei-Engelwurz or Echte Engelwurz, in Dutch grote engelwortel, in French angélique, in Persian Sonbol-e Khatāyi سنبل خطایی, in Swedish kvanne, in Norwegian kvann, in Danish kvan, in Icelandic hvönn, in Polish arcydzie
Caucasus
The Caucasus or Caucasia is an area situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea and occupied by Russia, Georgia and Armenia. It is home to the Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus mountain range, considered a natural barrier between Eastern Europe and Western Asia. Europe's highest mountain, Mount Elbrus, at 5,642 metres is located in the west part of the Greater Caucasus mountain range. On the southern side, the Lesser Caucasus includes the Javakheti Plateau and grows into the Armenian highlands, part of, located in Turkey; the Caucasus region is separated into northern and southern parts – the North Caucasus and Transcaucasus, respectively. The Greater Caucasus mountain range in the north is within the Russian Federation, while the Lesser Caucasus mountain range in the south is occupied by several independent states, namely Georgia, Armenia and the recognised Artsakh Republic; the region is known for its linguistic diversity: aside from Indo-European and Turkic languages, the Kartvelian, Northwest Caucasian, Northeast Caucasian families are indigenous to the area.
The term Caucasus is not only used for the mountains themselves but includes Ciscaucasia and Transcaucasia. According to Alexander Mikaberidze, Transcaucasia is a "Russo-centric" term. Pliny the Elder's Natural History derives the name of the Caucasus from Scythian kroy-khasis. German linguist Paul Kretschmer notes that the Latvian word Kruvesis means "ice". In the Tale of Past Years, it is stated that Old East Slavic Кавкасийскыѣ горы came from Ancient Greek Καύκασος ), according to M. A. Yuyukin, is a compound word that can be interpreted as the "Seagull's Mountain" According to German philologists Otto Schrader and Alfons A. Nehring, the Ancient Greek word Καύκασος is connected to Gothic Hauhs as well as Lithuanian Kaũkas and Kaukarà. British linguist Adrian Room points out that Kau- means "mountain" in Pelasgian; the Transcaucasus region and Dagestan were the furthest points of Parthian and Sasanian expansions, with areas to the north of the Greater Caucasus range impregnable. The mythological Mount Qaf, the world's highest mountain that ancient Iranian lore shrouded in mystery, was said to be situated in this region.
In Middle Persian sources of the Sasanian era, the Caucasus range was referred to as Kaf Kof. The term resurfaced in Iranian tradition on in a variant form when Ferdowsi, in his Shahnameh, referred to the Caucasus mountains as Kōh-i Kāf. "Most of the modern names of the Caucasus originate from the Greek Kaukasos and the Middle Persian Kaf Kof"."The earliest etymon" of the name Caucasus comes from Kaz-kaz, the Hittite designation of the "inhabitants of the southern coast of the Black Sea". It was noted that in Nakh Ков гас means "gateway to steppe" The modern name for the region is similar in the many languages, is between Kavkaz and Kawkaz; the North Caucasus region is known as the Ciscaucasus, whereas the South Caucasus region is known as the Transcaucasus. The Ciscaucasus contains most of the Greater Caucasus mountain range, it consists of Southern Russia the North Caucasian Federal District's autonomous republics, the northernmost parts of Georgia and Azerbaijan. The Ciscaucasus lies between the Black Sea to its west, the Caspian Sea to its east, borders the Southern Federal District to its north.
The two Federal Districts are collectively referred to as "Southern Russia." The Transcaucasus borders the Greater Caucasus range and Southern Russia to its north, the Black Sea and Turkey to its west, the Caspian Sea to its east, Iran to its south. It contains surrounding lowlands. All of Armenia and Georgia are in the South Caucasus; the watershed along the Greater Caucasus range is perceived to be the dividing line between Europe and Southwest Asia. The highest peak in the Caucasus is Mount Elbrus located in western Ciscaucasus, is considered as the highest point in Europe; the Caucasus is one of the culturally diverse regions on Earth. The nation states that comprise the Caucasus today are the post-Soviet states Georgia, Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation; the Russian divisions include Dagestan, Ingushetia, North Ossetia–Alania, Kabardino–Balkaria, Karachay–Cherkessia, Krasnodar Krai and Stavropol Krai, in clockwise order. Three territories in the region claim independence but are recognized as such by only a handful entities: Artsakh and South Ossetia.
Abkhazia and South Ossetia are recognized by the world community as part of Georgia, Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan. The region has language families. There are more than 50 ethnic groups living in the region. No fewer than three language families are unique to the area. In addition, Indo-European languages, such as Armenian and Ossetian, Turkic languages, such as Azerbaijani, Kumyk language and Karachay–Balkar, are spoken in the area. Russian is used as a lingua franca most notably in the North Caucasus; the peoples of the northern and southern Caucasus tend to be either Sunni Muslims, Eastern Orthodox Christians and Armenian Christians. Twelver Shi'
Ocimum tenuiflorum
Ocimum tenuiflorum known as holy basil, tulasi or tulsi, is an aromatic perennial plant in the family Lamiaceae. It is native to the Indian subcontinent and widespread as a cultivated plant throughout the Southeast Asian tropics. Tulasi is cultivated for religious and traditional medicine purposes, for its essential oil, it is used as a herbal tea used in Ayurveda, has a place within the Vaishnava tradition of Hinduism, in which devotees perform worship involving holy basil plants or leaves. The variety of Ocimum tenuiflorum used in Thai cuisine is referred to as Thai holy basil. Holy basil is 30 -- 60 cm tall with hairy stems. Leaves are purple; the purplish flowers are placed in close whorls on elongate racemes. The three main morphotypes cultivated in India and Nepal are Ram tulsi, the less common purplish green-leaved and the rare wild "vana tulsi". DNA barcodes of various biogeographical isolates of tulsi from the Indian subcontinent are now available. In a large-scale phylogeographical study of this species conducted using chloroplast genome sequences, a group of researchers from Central University of Punjab, have found that this plant originates from North-Central India.
The discovery might suggest the evolution of tulsi is related with the cultural migratory patterns in the Indian subcontinent. Tulsi leaves are part in the worship of Vishnu and his avatars, including Krishna and Rama, other male Vaishnava deities, such as Hanuman and some brahmanas. Tulsi is worshipped as the avatar of Lakshmi. Traditionally, tulsi is planted in the centre of the central courtyard of Hindu houses or may be grown next to Hanuman temples; the ritual lighting of lamps each evening during Kartik includes the worship of the tulsi plant, held to be auspicious for the home. Vaishnavas traditionally use Hindu prayer beads made from tulsi stems or roots, which are an important symbol of initiation, they have such a strong association with Vaishnavas, that followers of Vishnu are known as "those who bear the tulsi round the neck". Tulsi Vivah is ceremonial festival performed anytime between Prabodhini Ekadashi and Kartik Poornima; the day varies regionally. Tulasi has been used in Siddha practices for its supposed treatment of diseases.
Traditionally, tulasi is taken as herbal tea, dried powder, fresh leaf or mixed with ghee. The leaves of holy basil, known as kaphrao in the Thai language, are used in Thai cuisine for certain stir-fries and curries such as phat kaphrao — a stir-fry of Thai holy basil with meats, seafood or, as in khao phat kraphao, with rice. Two different types of holy basil are used in Thailand, a "red" variant which tends to be more pungent, a "white" version for seafood dishes. Kaphrao should not be confused with horapha, known as Thai basil, or with Thai lemon basil. For centuries, the dried leaves have been mixed with stored grains to repel insects; some of the phytochemical constituents of tulsi are oleanolic acid, ursolic acid, rosmarinic acid, carvacrol, linalool, β-caryophyllene. Tulsi essential oil consists of eugenol β-elemene, β-caryophyllene and germacrene, with the balance being made up of various trace compounds terpenes; the genome of Tulsi plant has been sequenced and reported as a draft, estimated to be 612 mega bases, with results showing genes for biosynthesis of anthocyanins in Krishna Tulsi, ursolic acid and eugenol in Rama Tulsi.
Media related to Ocimum tenuiflorum at Wikimedia Commons
Apiales
The Apiales are an order of flowering plants. The families are those recognized in the APG III system; this is typical of the newer classifications, though there is some slight variation and in particular, the Torriceliaceae may be divided. Under this definition, well-known members include carrots, celery and Hedera helix; the order Apiales is placed within the asterid group of eudicots as circumscribed by the APG III system. Within the asterids, Apiales belongs to an unranked group called the campanulids, within the campanulids, it belongs to a clade known in phylogenetic nomenclature as Apiidae. In 2010, a subclade of Apiidae named Dipsapiidae was defined to consist of the three orders: Apiales and Dipsacales. Under the Cronquist system, only the Apiaceae and Araliaceae were included here, the restricted order was placed among the rosids rather than the asterids; the Pittosporaceae were placed within the Rosales, many of the other forms within the family Cornaceae. Pennantia was in the family Icacinaceae.
In the classification system of Dahlgren the Apiaceae and Araliaceae families were placed in the order Ariales, in the superorder Araliiflorae. The present understanding of the Apiales is recent and is based upon comparison of DNA sequences by phylogenetic methods; the circumscriptions of some of the families have changed. In 2009, one of the subfamilies of Araliaceae was shown to be polyphyletic; the largest and closely related families of Apiales are Araliaceae and Apiaceae, which resemble each other in the structure of their gynoecia. In this respect however, the Pittosporaceae is notably distinct from them. Typical syncarpous gynoecia exhibit four vertical zones, determined by the extent of fusion of the carpels. In most plants the synascidiate and symplicate zones bear the ovules; each of the first three families possess bi- or multilocular ovaries in a gynoecium with a long synascidiate, but short symplicate zone, where the ovules are inserted at their transition, the so-called cross-zone.
In gynoecia of the Pittosporaceae, the symplicate is much longer than the synascidiate zone, the ovules are arranged along the first. Members of the latter family have unilocular ovaries with a single cavity between adjacent carpels
Thyme
Thyme is any member of the genus Thymus of aromatic perennial evergreen herbs in the mint family Lamiaceae. Thymes are relatives of the oregano genus Origanum, they have culinary and ornamental uses, the species most cultivated and used for culinary purposes being Thymus vulgaris. Ancient Egyptians used thyme for embalming; the ancient Greeks used it in their baths and burnt it as incense in their temples, believing it was a source of courage. The spread of thyme throughout Europe was thought to be due to the Romans, as they used it to purify their rooms and to "give an aromatic flavour to cheese and liqueurs". In the European Middle Ages, the herb was placed beneath pillows to aid sleep and ward off nightmares. In this period, women often gave knights and warriors gifts that included thyme leaves, as it was believed to bring courage to the bearer. Thyme was used as incense and placed on coffins during funerals, as it was supposed to assure passage into the next life; the name of the genus of fish Thymallus, first given to the grayling, originates from the faint smell of thyme that emanates from the flesh.
Thyme is best cultivated in a sunny location with well-drained soil. It is planted in the spring, thereafter grows as a perennial, it can be dividing rooted sections of the plant. It tolerates drought well; the plants are found growing wild on mountain highlands. In some Levantine countries, Assyria, the condiment za'atar contains thyme as a vital ingredient, it is a common component of the bouquet garni, of herbes de Provence. Thyme is sold both dried. While summer-seasonal, fresh greenhouse thyme is available year-round; the fresh form is more flavourful, but less convenient. However, the fresh form can last many months if frozen. Fresh thyme is sold in bunches of sprigs. A sprig is a single stem snipped from the plant, it is composed of a woody stem with paired flower clusters spaced 1⁄2 to 1 inch apart. A recipe may measure thyme by the sprig, or by the tablespoon or teaspoon. Dried thyme is used in Armenia in tisanes. Depending on how it is used in a dish, the whole sprig may be used, or the leaves removed and the stems discarded.
When a recipe specifies "bunch" or "sprig", it means the whole form. It is acceptable to substitute dried for whole thyme. Leaves may be removed from stems either by scraping with the back of a knife, or by pulling through the fingers or tines of a fork. Thyme retains its flavour on drying better than many other herbs. Oil of thyme, the essential oil of common thyme, contains 20–54% thymol. Thyme essential oil contains a range of additional compounds, such as p-cymene, myrcene and linalool. Thymol, an antiseptic, is an active ingredient in various commercially produced mouthwashes such as Listerine. Before the advent of modern antibiotics, oil of thyme was used to medicate bandages. Thymus citriodorus – various lemon thymes, orange thymes, lime thyme Thymus herba-barona is used both as a culinary herb and a ground cover, has a strong caraway scent due to the chemical carvone. Thymus praecox, is cultivated as an ornamental. Thymus pseudolanuginosus is grown as a ground cover. Thymus serpyllum is an important nectar source plant for honeybees.
All thyme species are nectar sources, but wild thyme covers large areas of droughty, rocky soils in southern Europe and North Africa, as well as in similar landscapes in the Berkshire and Catskill Mountains of the northeastern US. The lowest growing of the used thyme is good for walkways, it is an important caterpillar food plant for large and common blue butterflies. Thymus vulgaris is a used culinary herb, it has medicinal uses. Common thyme is a Mediterranean perennial, best suited to well-drained soils and full sun. S. S. Tawfik, M. I. Abbady, Ahmed M. Zahran and A. M. K. Abouelalla. Therapeutic Efficacy Attained with Thyme Essential Oil Supplementation Throughout γ-irradiated Rats. Egypt. J. Rad. Sci. Applic. 19: 1-22. Flora of China: Thymus Flora Europaea: Thymus Rohde, E. S.. A Garden of Herbs. Easter, M.. International Thymus Register and Checklist
Plant
Plants are multicellular, predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Plants were treated as one of two kingdoms including all living things that were not animals, all algae and fungi were treated as plants. However, all current definitions of Plantae exclude the fungi and some algae, as well as the prokaryotes. By one definition, plants form the clade Viridiplantae, a group that includes the flowering plants and other gymnosperms and their allies, liverworts and the green algae, but excludes the red and brown algae. Green plants obtain most of their energy from sunlight via photosynthesis by primary chloroplasts that are derived from endosymbiosis with cyanobacteria, their chloroplasts contain b, which gives them their green color. Some plants are parasitic or mycotrophic and have lost the ability to produce normal amounts of chlorophyll or to photosynthesize. Plants are characterized by sexual reproduction and alternation of generations, although asexual reproduction is common.
There are about 320 thousand species of plants, of which the great majority, some 260–290 thousand, are seed plants. Green plants provide a substantial proportion of the world's molecular oxygen and are the basis of most of Earth's ecosystems on land. Plants that produce grain and vegetables form humankind's basic foods, have been domesticated for millennia. Plants have many cultural and other uses, as ornaments, building materials, writing material and, in great variety, they have been the source of medicines and psychoactive drugs; the scientific study of plants is known as a branch of biology. All living things were traditionally placed into one of two groups and animals; this classification may date from Aristotle, who made the distincton between plants, which do not move, animals, which are mobile to catch their food. Much when Linnaeus created the basis of the modern system of scientific classification, these two groups became the kingdoms Vegetabilia and Animalia. Since it has become clear that the plant kingdom as defined included several unrelated groups, the fungi and several groups of algae were removed to new kingdoms.
However, these organisms are still considered plants in popular contexts. The term "plant" implies the possession of the following traits multicellularity, possession of cell walls containing cellulose and the ability to carry out photosynthesis with primary chloroplasts; when the name Plantae or plant is applied to a specific group of organisms or taxon, it refers to one of four concepts. From least to most inclusive, these four groupings are: Another way of looking at the relationships between the different groups that have been called "plants" is through a cladogram, which shows their evolutionary relationships; these are not yet settled, but one accepted relationship between the three groups described above is shown below. Those which have been called "plants" are in bold; the way in which the groups of green algae are combined and named varies between authors. Algae comprise several different groups of organisms which produce food by photosynthesis and thus have traditionally been included in the plant kingdom.
The seaweeds range from large multicellular algae to single-celled organisms and are classified into three groups, the green algae, red algae and brown algae. There is good evidence that the brown algae evolved independently from the others, from non-photosynthetic ancestors that formed endosymbiotic relationships with red algae rather than from cyanobacteria, they are no longer classified as plants as defined here; the Viridiplantae, the green plants – green algae and land plants – form a clade, a group consisting of all the descendants of a common ancestor. With a few exceptions, the green plants have the following features in common, they undergo closed mitosis without centrioles, have mitochondria with flat cristae. The chloroplasts of green plants are surrounded by two membranes, suggesting they originated directly from endosymbiotic cyanobacteria. Two additional groups, the Rhodophyta and Glaucophyta have primary chloroplasts that appear to be derived directly from endosymbiotic cyanobacteria, although they differ from Viridiplantae in the pigments which are used in photosynthesis and so are different in colour.
These groups differ from green plants in that the storage polysaccharide is floridean starch and is stored in the cytoplasm rather than in the plastids. They appear to have had a common origin with Viridiplantae and the three groups form the clade Archaeplastida, whose name implies that their chloroplasts were derived from a single ancient endosymbiotic event; this is the broadest modern definition of the term'plant'. In contrast, most other algae not only have different pigments but have chloroplasts with three or four surrounding membranes, they are not close relatives of the Archaeplastida having acquired chloroplasts separately from ingested or symbiotic green and red algae. They are thus not included in the broadest modern definition of the plant kingdom, although they were in the past; the green plants or Viridiplantae were traditionally divided into the green algae (including
Liquorice
Liquorice or licorice is the root of Glycyrrhiza glabra from which a sweet flavour can be extracted. The liquorice plant is a herbaceous perennial legume native to the Middle East, southern Europe, parts of Asia, such as India, it is not botanically related to anise, star anise, or fennel, which are sources of similar flavouring compounds. Liquorice flavours are used as candies or sweeteners in some European and Middle Eastern countries. Liquorice extracts have been used in traditional medicine. Excessive consumption of liquorice may result in adverse effects, such as hypokalemia, increased blood pressure, muscle weakness; the word "liquorice" is derived from the Greek γλυκύρριζα, meaning "sweet root", from γλυκύς, "sweet" and ῥίζα, "root", the name provided by Dioscorides. It is spelled "liquorice" in Commonwealth usage, but "licorice" in the United States, it is a herbaceous perennial, growing to 1 metre in height, with pinnate leaves about 7–15 cm long, with 9–17 leaflets. The flowers are 0.8–1.2 cm long, purple to pale whitish blue, produced in a loose inflorescence.
The fruit is 2 -- 3 cm long, containing several seeds. The roots are stoloniferous; the scent of liquorice root comes from a complex and variable combination of compounds, of which anethole is up to 3% of total volatiles. Much of the sweetness in liquorice comes from glycyrrhizin, which has a sweet taste, 30–50 times the sweetness of sugar; the sweetness is different from sugar, being less instant and lasting longer. The isoflavene glabrene and the isoflavane glabridin, found in the roots of liquorice, are phytoestrogens. Liquorice, which grows best in well-drained soils in deep valleys with full sun, is harvested in the autumn two to three years after planting. Countries producing liquorice include India, Italy, the People’s Republic of China, Iraq, Uzbekistan and Turkey; the world's leading manufacturer of liquorice products is M&F Worldwide, which manufactures more than 70% of the worldwide liquorice flavours sold to end users. Most liquorice was once used as a flavouring agent for tobacco for flavour enhancing and moistening agents in the manufacture of American blend cigarettes, moist snuff, chewing tobacco, pipe tobacco.
Liquorice provided tobacco products with a natural sweetness and a distinctive flavour that blends with the natural and imitation flavouring components employed in the tobacco industry. As of 2009, the US Food and Drug Administration banned the use of liquorice as a "characterizing flavor" from manufactured tobacco products. Liquorice flavour is found in a wide variety of sweets. In most of these candies, the taste is reinforced by aniseed oil so the actual content of liquorice is low. Liquorice confections are purchased by consumers in Europe, but are popular in other countries such as Australia and New Zealand. In the Netherlands, liquorice confectionery is one of the most popular forms of sweets, it is sold in many forms. Mixing it with mint, aniseed, or laurel is quite popular. Mixing it with ammonium chloride is popular. A popular example of salmiak liquorice in the Netherlands is known as zoute drop, but contains little salt, i.e. sodium chloride. Strong, salty sweets are popular in Nordic countries.
Dried sticks of the liquorice root are a traditional confectionery in their own right in the Netherlands, although their popularity has waned in recent decades. They were sold as sticks of zoethout to chew on as a candy. Through chewing and suckling, the intensely sweet flavour is released; the sweetness is 30 to 50 times as strong as sucrose, without causing damage to teeth. Since about the 1970s, zoethout has been replaced by easier to consume candies. Pontefract in Yorkshire, was the first place where liquorice mixed with sugar began to be used as a sweet in the same way it is today. Pontefract cakes were made there. In County Durham and Lancashire, it is colloquially known as'Spanish' because Spanish monks grew liquorice root at Rievaulx Abbey near Thirsk. In Italy and France, liquorice is popular in its natural form; the root of the plant is dug up, washed and chewed as a mouth freshener. Throughout Italy, unsweetened liquorice is consumed in the form of small black pieces made only from 100% pure liquorice extract.
In Calabria a popular liqueur is made from pure liquorice extract. Liquorice is used in Syria and Egypt, where it is sold as a drink, in shops as well as street vendors. Properties of glycyrrhizin are under preliminary research, such as for hepatitis C or topical treatment of psoriasis, but the low quality of studies as of 2017 prevents conclusions about efficacy and safety. In traditional Chinese medicine, liquorice is believed to "harmonize" the ingredients in a formula. Liquorice has been used in Ayurveda in the belief it may treat various diseases, although there is no high-quality clinical research to indicate it is safe or effective for any medicinal purpose, its major dose-limiting toxicities are corticosteroid in nature, because of the inhibitory effect that its chief active constituents and enoxolone, have on cortisol degradation, include oedema, weight gain or loss, hypertension. The United States Food and Drug Administration believes that foods containing liquorice and its derivatives
