By Ines Keane
Start with the shapes. A bag of Dutch drop does not tell you what is inside by its colour, because almost all of it is black. The FoodCrumbles site, written by a food scientist, says the shapes do the work instead, and that several of them are used consistently across brands.
The two flavours
FoodCrumbles says drop gets its character from two things, liquorice and salmiak. Liquorice comes from the root of the plant Glycyrrhiza glabra, which contains glycyrrhizin, described as up to a hundred times sweeter than sugar. Salmiak is ammonium chloride, a salt, and the site says candy seems to be one of the few uses of it in food.
Wikipedia’s article on salty liquorice gives the same basics. It says salmiak salt gives the sweet an astringent, salty taste, that anise oil can be added, and that extra-salty types are coated with salmiak salt or powder. The Matador Network, a travel magazine, says the salty flavour comes from ammonium chloride and not from the sodium chloride in table salt.
Sweet or salty, soft or hard
FoodCrumbles says the labels sweet and salty name the stronger flavour and do not mean the other is absent. Sweet drop can contain as much salt as salty drop, it says, with more sugar and glycyrrhizin to balance it. The second split is texture, soft or hard, which it says manufacturers adjust through gelling agents and starches. Any texture can be sweet or salty.
The shapes
FoodCrumbles says drop in farm-themed shapes is a hard, salty type, and that coin-shaped drop is also hard but tends to be sweet. In other cases the shape identifies the brand, as with Autodrop, whose pieces are cars. Matador says something different: it calls the coin and the diamond mildly salty, and singles out the Dubbel Zout rounds, stamped with the letters DZ, as the most infamous variety. Wikipedia lists a black diamond as the traditional shape and says the Dutch term dubbelzoute drop means double-salted liquorice. So the sources disagree on coins, sweet or mildly salty, and we show both. Our reading: the shape is a hint, and the bag’s own wording is better evidence.
Where it came from
Nobody is sure. Wikipedia says it is unclear where and when ammonium chloride and liquorice were first combined, and that by the 1930s salty liquorice was produced in Finland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands as a confectionery. FoodCrumbles, a food-science blog, says the salt’s source is not clear, that it was used in the early twentieth century in several northern countries and the Netherlands, and that it likely started in a pharmacy.
Dates in order
- Early twentieth century: ammonium chloride used in sweets, according to FoodCrumbles.
- By the 1930s: salty liquorice made in five countries including the Netherlands, according to Wikipedia.
Questions a buyer would ask
Which flavour leads, sweet or salty? Is it soft or hard? What shape does it use, and does the pack explain the shape? Where was it made? We name no brand and give no taste advice.
Quick answers
What gives Dutch drop its salty taste? According to Wikipedia and FoodCrumbles, salmiak salt, which is ammonium chloride, not the sodium chloride of table salt.
What is the difference between sweet and salty drop? FoodCrumbles, a food-science blog, says the names show the stronger flavour only. Both kinds contain sugar and salt, and either can be soft or hard.
Related on this site: maastricht-limburg-oldest-stone-bridge, amsterdam-canal-house-gables-how-to-read, oliebollen-dutch-new-year-fried-dough
Roam first. Shop later.