Description
Presenter: Matthew Cottam, BCH Limited
The extract from the long, woody roots of the Glycyrrhiza glabra plant contains glycyrrhizin, which is more than 30 times sweeter than sucrose. This is a very sweet glycoside occurring in the roots as the calcium plus potassium salts of glycyrrhizin acid. The roots are dug up from the river plains of Turkey and eastwards through the southern ex-Soviet states to China. By grinding, cooking and pressing the roots, the extract is removed and processed into block form (which needs dissolving prior to use), spray-dried powder (can be used directly but is dusty) and more recently as pellets (which are dissolved directly).
