My Curated Tastes is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Dave’s Salted Black Licorice? Who’s Dave? Listen, when you need the IT guy to do you a favor or make some magic happen, you bring him his favorite treat. Everyone knows this, right? Well, this particular IT guy (Dave) has a thing for black licorice and when I came upon this recipe, I had to make it. I switched it up a bit to make it more to my liking and used ingredients easily found in supermarkets.
Truth be told, while he liked the flavor the first time, the consistency wasn’t quite right. I had cooked it a couple of degrees to long and it came out somewhere between a soft caramel and a hard caramel. Look, you have to make a decision…a hard candy or a chewy caramel. LOL He wanted a softer caramel so the recipe above is the result of that. Making candy is all about the temperature so before making this, or any candy, be sure you have a good candy thermometer. For this recipe, keep the temperature between 240 – 245 maximum for a chewy consistency. There are a couple of other things you must have to make great licorice caramels. They are:
- A candy thermometer (can’t say it enough)
- A heat proof rubber spatula
- Candy wrappers
- High quality anise extract
- High quality molasses
- A heavy bottomed pot
While I have made these multiple times, there is always this debate about two things: the black food coloring and the salt. First, you don’t have to use the black food coloring…it is a mental thing. When you “think” black licorice, you want to see black. If it isn’t black, your brain is confused. If you are opposed to coloring your food, don’t use it. The taste is still great it just won’t look like licorice.
Salt. Personally, I can’t say enough about it!!! Sweet and salty has to be an all time favorite combo of mine. I love it. So, I was shocked when a couple of people asked why I “ruined their licorice” with salt? Listen, if you don’t want it, don’t add it. You won’t hurt my feelings. But for me, it makes this candy sing!
I’ve used Maldon Flaky salt (it is my favorite) but feel free to use another type of flaky salt if you have a preference.
These make great gifts too. Just box them up and add a bow. So make up a couple of batches and be sure to gift your IT guy…believe me when I say it, it gets things done! Thanks, Dave.
Looking for other easy candy recipes? Try some of my favorites:
