When I was growing up, Sainsbury’s bonbons were coveted. We rarely had sweets, except when we went back to Italy where every aunt south of Rome had a crystal bowlful of boiled choking hazards. So bonbons were special. Though I loved them, two was the limit, because pure sugar, unless it’s mixed with fat – yum – has never really done much for me. But it was the shape of them that appealed: the imperfect sphere, the self-containment, the dusting of icing sugar.
This is what attracted me to chocolate-coated liquorice balls by Lakrids by Bülow (£8/125g, lakridsbybulow.co.uk). Lakrids means liquorice in Danish, whence these babies come. As I’ve said before, I don’t mind liquorice in small quantities, but I don’t go mad for it like some. I’m sure many of us have read the terrible news about a man dying due to excessive liquorice consumption – and you should be careful not to eat too much of it – but that’s hard to do with these. Not because they aren’t delicious, but because they are incredibly satisfying and also not cheap. They come in core flavours: the original is just a liquorice piece at its heart, liquorice powder and coated in 35% cocoa milk chocolate. But there’s also salt-caramel, some fruit flavours and coffee. Specials appear seasonally, in limited edition, such as the newly arrived cinnamon-sugar coated Christmas cookie.
For those who really love liquorice there’s the Christmas Advent calendar (£36), which counts you down to Christmas Eve in liquorice treats. Just as the baby Jesus would have wanted.
