Cherry Sour – small

Lakrids Cherry Sour small. Cherry juice, white chocolate, a dark core.

Lakrids Cherry Sour small is the 115-gram tin of the winter variety from Lakrids by Bülow: strong licorice in white chocolate, coated in crispy cherry shards. No gummy candy, no sweet licorice for beginners, no salmiak.

Lakrids Cherry Sour small is a chocolate licorice from Lakrids by Bülow with a boiled licorice core, white chocolate, and dried cherry juice granules. Imagine an afternoon in December. It gets dark outside at four o'clock, and the small tin with the golden band is on the table. As you twist off the lid, cream-colored balls lie before you, each speckled red as if dabbed with juice. The first bite is dry and crisp, then the chocolate melts, and only at the end does the licorice reveal itself. This sequence is the whole appeal of the variety.

First sour, then creamy, finally licorice

Cherry Sour tastes in three stages: cherry shards bring acidity and bite, white chocolate adds creaminess, and the licorice core finishes dark and long-lasting. Four percent cherry juice granules sit in the coating. By drying the juice, the cherry aroma becomes concentrated, tasting more intense than fresh fruit. Acidity enhances the sour note without turning sharp.

The white chocolate makes up 54 percent of the ball and has a cocoa content of at least 26 percent. It tastes cool and milky, with a light vanilla note that softens the acidity of the cherry. The core is a strong licorice with two percent liquorice extract, so noticeably stronger than the light fruit varieties like Pink Pineapple or LEMON. On the finish, a slightly bitter, woody tone remains, which cleans up the sweetness of the chocolate again.

For beginners who have only known licorice as a soft, sweet variety so far, Cherry Sour is not suitable as a first variety. Anyone expecting salmiak will find the ball too fruity: Cherry Sour is sour and sweet, not salty. And anyone who has the cherry taste of cough drops in mind should rethink. Dried cherry juice tastes more tart and darker than cherry flavoring.

With espresso, with vanilla ice cream, with dark compote

Cherry Sour complements drinks and desserts that bring bitterness or fat, because the acidity of the cherry catches both. A short black espresso after dinner, with three balls on a small plate: That replaces dessert without overloading the table. Four to five balls fit with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, roughly chopped and sprinkled over it, so that the shards retain their bite in the cold ice cream.

With a compote of sour cherries or Zwetschgen, place two balls on the edge of the plate; the licorice core picks up the dark fruit. With cheese, the variety works with a young goat cheese, not with blue cheese. A glass of port wine or a strong black tea with a little milk holds up well to the sweetness. Anyone who likes the acidity will find the next relative with strawberry under a green sugar coating in C – Sour Strawberry.

An idea for the Advent coffee: Whip 200 milliliters of cream with a teaspoon of sugar until stiff and fold in six finely chopped balls. This cherry-licorice cream goes well with gingerbread, waffles, and a piece of dark chocolate tart. The shards remain crispy in the cold cream, the licorice core gives off its color after a few minutes and colors the cream slightly gray, which suits the taste.

From experience: Place the tin in the refrigerator one hour before serving. At 8 to 10 degrees, the chocolate remains firmer, the shards crackle more clearly, and the acidity works more clearly. For baking, however, Cherry Sour is not suitable, because the coating melts under oven heat and the core becomes tough. On a finished tart or a tiramisu, sprinkled just before serving, however, it works well.

From the taste panel of the Lakrids Lovers into the winter tin

Cherry Sour is the first cherry variety in the range of Lakrids by Bülow and came into the winter collection via the in-house taste panel. Johan Bülow founded the company in 2007 in Svaneke on Bornholm, in a kitchen with a single copper kettle. Today, it is boiled in Copenhagen, with electricity from wind energy. New recipes are submitted for approval by the Lakrids Lovers, a group of regular customers who evaluate every variety. Cherry Sour received 4.6 out of 5 points from the panel, one of the highest scores for a new product, and therefore landed in both winter gift boxes.

The production follows the dragée process: The boiled licorice core rotates in a drum, while liquid white chocolate is applied in thin layers. Each layer must set before the next follows, which is why the dragéeing takes several hours. Only after that does the cherry juice granule come onto the still slightly sticky surface. A coating of gum arabic and shellac fixes the shards and gives the ball its matte shine. A portion of cocoa butter keeps the shell brittle: It splinters on the bite, instead of sticking to the palate.

The core is boiled with rice flour instead of wheat flour and is therefore gluten-free. Molasses and invert sugar syrup bind it and give it the dark color and the soft, slightly chewy texture that distinguishes Danish licorice from the hard British variety. Gelatin is not used. The boiling itself takes longer than in industrial production, because the mass thickens at a low temperature until it releases itself from the kettle. Only a slowly boiled core remains shape-stable during dragéeing. The liquorice extract comes from roots grown outside the EU, mainly in the Mediterranean region and Central Asia.

The small tin for the tasting bite and the gift

With 115 grams, the small tin is the right size to get to know a new variety without committing to 270 grams. It contains around 25 balls and lasts for two to three evenings or a coffee table with four people. On the golden band sit two cherries with a red bow, and thus the tin is already packaged. As a gift for the Advent coffee or as a secret Santa gift, it needs no paper.

Anyone who knows the variety and wants to have it on the table over December will reach for the regular tin with 270 grams. The winter collection is reassembled every year, which is why Cherry Sour is only available in the cold months. Sealed and stored cool, the tin lasts well into spring; once opened, the balls should be consumed within three weeks, otherwise the shell loses its crunch.

A variety for everyone who likes licorice, but prefers to reach for cherry in winter instead of salt.