Izzy's - Black Licorice

Black Licorice - Black Licorice Ice Cream

Today's flavor is from Izzy's Ice Cream in Saint Paul.  This is their Black Licorice flavor.  I have not had licorice in ice cream before.  Licorice is an interesting flavor.  It comes from root of an Old World plant called Glycyrrhiza glabra.  The flavor of licorice is similar to the spices of anise, star anise and fennel (see label tags on the sidebar for ice creams that I have tried which include those ingredients), but the plant whose roots give us licorice is not at all botanically related to the plants which give us those spices, but they all contain a chemical called anethole which is responsible for the distinctive flavor.  You can read more about licorice and anethole in this interesting NPR article from ten years ago.  Licorice is one of my mother's favorite candies, so I plan on sharing this pint with her and getting her feedback to help me with this review.

Popping off the lid, the ice cream is brown!  It is not jet black like a piece of black licorice candy.  It is brown.  At first glance, it almost looks like chocolate.  Digging in, this is definitely black licorice!  It tastes exactly like it!  It's a rich, creamy base -- I get the impression that Izzy's has a high buttercream content -- but underneath all of the creamy texture, I would swear that I was tasting black licorice candy.  You can smell it as you are eating it and it has the exact same aftertaste.  I gave my mother a healthy serving and she loved it!  She's biased of course because she loves licorice, but it does say that she greatly approves of how the flavor was incorporated into the ice cream.

This is an extremely well-done implementation of a black licorice ice cream from Izzy's.  The color is not what you would expect but I guess that's what happens when you add milk and cream. It proves they did not try to use artificial flavors.  Now, I do understand that black licorice is not for everyone.  Some people love it and some people hate it.  But if you one of the people who love this flavor, you should try at least a scoop of it the next time that Izzy's has it available.