When Krist Novoselic, bassist for Nirvana, chairman of FairVote and all-around awesome guy came to our show, we asked if it might would try Lakrisal on-camera in the green room. And he was totally game.
As luck would have it, Krist told us that he feeds ammonium chloride, one of Lakrisal's main ingredients, to his goats to help clear the calcium deposits from their urethras - which basically saves their lives! He took a small packet of Lakrisal back with him to Seattle, to see if the goats took a liking to the stuff - with a promise to report back to us here at Maddowblog. And he did!
Our Lakrisal investigation saga unfolds, after the jump.
It all began early this summer, when TRMS producer Vanessa introduced the staff to Lakrisal, a weird Swedish candy given to her by a European friend. The friend told her they are a popular treat on the other side of the Atlantic, kind of like their version of Altoids here in the United States. But to us here at the office, they tasted super salty and pretty much gag-tastic - like joke candy. Depending on who you talked to here, it tastes like preserved salted plums or soy sauce candy.
The salty "delicacy" sparked our intrigue. Questions like, "How?" and "Why?" and "Who in their right mind would eat this stuff on a regular basis?" crossed our minds. An investigation was born. And we got some helfpul feedback from our awesome commenters:
Some scientists we spoke to said that the chemistry behind ammonium chloride, a sort of electric salt, may be behind the zingy flavor. But it could also be the combination of the three main ingredients (licorice, ammonium chloride and sugar) that causes the intense salt flavor. Or it may just be a matter of cultural taste.
(IMAGE: the sweetness in licorice, glycyrrhizic acid)
So we went to our "in-house" chemist, Dr. Dina Merrer, associate professor at Barnard College. Though not a food scientist, she helped us test the acidity of a Lakrisal concoction to learn a little bit more about its make-up.
We found that ammonium chloride alone has an acidity of approximately 5.13, a weak, or mild acid. One Lakirsal tablet (mixed in a water solution) had a pH level of about 5.92 - still pretty acidic, but a little more alkaline. Between around coffee and urine on the pH scale (but closest to urine):
That's when Krist came on the show, and we asked him to try the Lakrisal on-camera. His priceless reaction comes at about 2:08 in the video below:
We then gathered three main ingredients in Lakrisal and made our own version in our of Lakrisal, minus the anti-caking agents. To our surprise, it tasted a lot like the real deal:
So in honor of our summer investigation, Rachel made a cocktail on the air to salute the powers of Lakrisal and all that it stands for - and even tried the stuff for the first time!
And now that we know that Novoselic's goats might actually enjoy Lakrisal, maybe the candy isn't so bad after all.
We are always looking for new things to investigate - let us know your ideas in the comment section or via email.
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What a goof! I love his floppy hat with the little string. I thought goats would eat anything. Like, your homework, your library, your curtains.
Dude has a great sense of humor.
Krist is some sort of grunge Walden...the guy is just amazing. You really need to have him back.
... please forgive omission of the word "in" from above screed; re: "Krist is in some sort of grunge Walden". Too much hash in the keyboard...gotta clean that out one day, LOL.
Ok..so goats like it. That knowledge does not increase the likelihood that I'll give it a try.
Goats like it? Apparently, some do, and some don't. And, as Chris Boese said above, "I thought goats would eat anything. Like, your homework, your library, your curtains." Like garbage. But at least one of those goats wouldn't touch... Lakrisal. Bwaahahahahaha! Heh.
Vulture/Voucher 2012
Proving Two Rights DO Make a Wrong!
;-)
Interesting Cocktail, but I can do you two better. In Finland, they have a drink called Salmiakki--their name for this type of candy which you can get in all forms, from hard candy to gummies. I don't think you can get it here, but you can make it they way cheapskate Finns do. Fill an empty liquor bottle (for your testing purposes, just use a flask size bottle) about half way with Turkish Pepper candies (Spelled Tyrkisk Peber--can get them online or just ask Conan O'Brien--he may still have the bag of them that he had on air) then top off with vodka and allow it to dissolve into a nice black drink. Shake (In case it separates) and pour--drink as shots. We killed a bottle of that at a Finnish Bachelor party.
The other drink they call Fisu (Finnish for Fish) and has a similar preperation, except the candy is Fisherman's Friend--a Eucalyptus lozenge you can find at most Wallgreens. Warning--Salmiakki is tame by comparison, but Fisu will help clean out your sinuses.
Greetings from Sweden.
I like to call myself Alsn, but what I would like to talk to you about today is not myself but ammonium chloride and how awesome it is.
We, and by we I mean Swedes, like to call it "salmiak" and Lakrisal is faaar from the only candy with it as it's main tastegiving ingredient. Other very popular candy with salmiak in it are:
Djungelvrål (Jungle Roar):
http://www.malaco.se/content/malaco-djungelvr%C3%A5l
Tyrkisk Peber(Turkish Pepper):
http://www.fazer.se/Varumarken/Tyrkisk-peber/
While I realize the links probably aren't very informative as they are in Swedish(no english version of their sites that contain information about the sweets), I just wanted to show them since they are more popular than Lakrisal.
Tyrkisk Peber in particular is something I always bring with me when I go on vacation outside Sweden, as the shock of people trying it is absolutely hilarious. Rest assured however, that just as spicy food is something you need to get used to before you can enjoy it, so too with salmiak based candies.
As anecdotal evidence, my sister's boyfriend is from the UK, he thought we were nuts at the start but now whenever I come and visit, he asks for some salty liquorice!
One last thing, if you ever get your hands on a bag of Tyrkisk Peber, it is absolutely amazing with vodka as a pepper shot. Just take a bottle of vodka and pour out enough that it won't spill over as you add the peppers, and let it dissolve for about 24 hours or until they are completely dissolved, intermittent shaking of the bottle is advised. Makes for an awesome tasting shot at parties!
P.s. It's awesome that it's possible to watch TRMS via the net from here! D.s.
I have to agree Tyrkish Pepper is so much better - and stronger. I had never noticed nor tried Lakrisal untill the maddowblog started writing about it (I live in Scandinavia). So I bought one the other day and tried it and I thought it was alright - I actually prefer the stronger salt-liquorice like the Turkish pepper.
Krist Novoselic must play harry mudd in some future star trek movie!!!
http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/File:Harry_Mudd2266.jpg
"They don't get close to people." Smart goats.