Lakrids by Bülow – B – Passion Fruit
As far as snacks go, I don’t tend to go premium very often. These are probably near the top of priciest snacks I’ve purchased. I’ve had these before, and the experience was somewhat positive. Positive enough that I wanted to give more of their flavours a try despite the price tag. The sacrifices I make for science…
The marketing around these is using chocolate in combination with licorice as a gateway to get people into the wonderful world of licorice, the black stuff that a lot of people tend to have an apprehensive response to. At least in my neck of the woods. If you tell people you like black licorice they assume it’s the weird stuff you get from mass market brands that tastes, well…like black licorice. The truth is licorice is a huge swath of various shapes, flavours and I myself have gone down the rabbit hole. I haven’t quite been converted to dropping salty drops like no tomorrow, but I’ve definitely come around to them.
These are supposed to help ease people into things with a nice tasty chocolate shell, and encase a piece of actual licorice. It’s a smart approach that isn’t done to great success currently – at least not in a way that convinces non-licorice lovers to try licorice. I’m hopeful to see how these do and if they live up to their hype.
The texture is pretty well done here – the outer shell is enough to keep the chocolate in, and has a nice crisp snap to it as you bite in. The chocolate is smooth and not too firm but not too melty, and gives way just the right way to make way for the chewy licorice in the centre. The entire experience is sort of like chewing a chocolate gumball, except the gum in the middle is licorice. Actually it reminds me a bit of All Sorts, except there’s a layer of chocolate and I actually like the licorice in the middle.
The flavour is predominantly passion fruit flavoured white chocolate, and once you get the centre you’re hit with the distinct, herbal, earthy flavour of what I can only describe as a quality licorice. The licorice has a distinct herbal flavour that helps to balance out the sweet chocolate outer shell. This candy is definitely made to chew threw and consume all in one go, as opposed to eating it layer by layer. The contrast between the fruity sweetness and the earthy, slightly salty flavour of the licorice works surprisingly well. I was cynical about whether it would work, but these are quite addictive.
To be frank, these are quite pricey. I wouldn’t recommend these to very many people just because of what they are. If you want high quality licorice, probably better to go with the licorice flavours. If you want chocolate, there’s better options than this. If however you enjoy the novelty of combining chocolate and licorice, or want to provide a gateway candy to get someone into considering harder licorice, this is a good option if you don’t mind the price tag. I would get these again sure, but it would have to be quite a bit cheaper to be considered more than a one off purchase.
