Liquorice (British English) or licorice (American English; ) is a confection usually flavoured and coloured black with the extract of the roots of the liquorice plant Glycyrrhiza glabra. A wide variety of liquorice sweets are produced around the world. In North America, black liquorice is distinguished from similar confectionery varieties that are not flavoured and coloured black with liquorice extract but commonly manufactured in the form of similarly shaped chewy ropes or tubes and often called red liquorice. Black liquorice, together with anise extract, is also a common flavour in other forms of confectionery such as jellybeans. In addition to these, various other liquorice-based sweets are sold in the United Kingdom, such as liquorice allsorts. In addition to the sweet variations typically found in the United Kingdom and North America, Dutch, German and Nordic liquorice characteristically contains ammonium chloride instead of sodium chloride, prominently so in salty liquorice, which carries a strong salty rather than sweet flavor. The essential ingredients of black liquorice confectionery are liquorice extract, sugar, and a binder. The base is typically starch/flour, gum arabic, gelatin or a combination thereof. Additional ingredients are extra flavouring, beeswax for a shiny surface, ammonium chloride and molasses. Ammonium chloride is mainly used in salty liquorice candy, with concentrations up to about 8%. However, even regular liquorice candy can contain up to 2% ammonium chloride, the taste of which is less prominent because of the higher sugar concentration. Some liquorice candy is flavoured with anise oil instead of or in combination with liquorice root extract. Production During manufacturing, the ingredients are dissolved in water and heated to . In order to obtain sweets of the desired shapes, the liquid is poured into molds that are created by impressing holes into a container filled with starch powder. The liquid is then dried and the resulting sweets are sprayed with beeswax to make their surface shiny. Health effects The liquorice-root extract contains the natural sweetener glycyrrhizin, which is over 50 times sweeter than sucrose. Daily consumption of 50 g or more of liquorice candy for as little as two weeks may increase blood pressure by a small amount. Glycyrrhizin can cause potassium levels in the body to fall, triggering abnormal heart rhythms, edema (swelling), lethargy, and congestive heart failure in some people. Excessive black liquorice consumption can cause chloride-resistant metabolic alkalosis and pseudohyperaldosteronism. In one particularly extreme case from 2020, where a man