The liquorice flavour in sarsaparilla is something we relish but we’ve never been a fan of the black candy itself. We tried Twizzlers once and avoided them for the next decade because they were far too plasticky in texture and flavour. But then we also avoided Darrell Lea’s soft eating liquorice simply because the non-liquorice flavours also contained liquorice as an ingredient.
Come 2018, though, we spotted bags of Darrell Lea Soft Eating Liquorice Strawberry and Apple Flavour in time for Christmas and just could not pass up the strawberry and apple flavours.
Each piece is about 5 cm in length with a 1 cm diameter.
The strawberry soft eating liquorice is a deep red colour with a faint strawberry aroma. Each piece is pliable in the hand and on biting through, gave way with just enough resistance for a satisfying mouthfeel it’s chewy but doesn’t require excessive jaw work like a Twizzler or stick between our teeth like Allen’s Redskin. The strawberry flavour came through immediately on biting through, with the same sweet richness as a strawberry jam.
The apple flavour was a bright green colour with a gentle apple aroma and similar texture to the strawberry. The flavour was a green apple although the visual association definitely helps. It’s sweet with a gentle tartness that recalled a Granny Smith apple, although the overall flavour was less punchy than the strawberry.
Overall, the soft eating liquorice is soft, as promised, without a hint of the plasticky quality we wanted to avoid. We’re pleasantly surprised by how much we enjoyed it and kicking ourselves for not trying them earlier!
This Darrell Lea Soft Eating Liquorice Strawberry and Apple Flavour contained 200 g. It was produced in Australia and purchased in Sydney, Australia in 2018.