A dark sweet substance made from the root of a plant, used as candy or flavoring, popular in Europe and known for its distinctive strong taste.
From Old French 'licorice,' from Greek 'glykyrrhiza'—'glyk-' (sweet) + 'rhiza' (root). The plant's scientific name literally means 'sweet root,' which accurately describes what medieval herbalists discovered about it.
Licorice root has been used for over 3,000 years by Egyptian, Chinese, and Greek doctors to treat everything from stomach problems to respiratory issues—and modern science is finding they were actually onto something!
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