The liquorice plants are dug out in summer. The roots can be up to 4 m in length. When the plant is dug up, part of the roots is cut off. The plant is replanted and will continue to grow.
The roots that are cut off are dried in the sun to avoid the growth of moulds. Afterwards the dry roots are ground, frayed and made to pulp together with water. This pulp is filtered and concentrated. The concentrated extract is poured into blocks and dried. The final product is appropriately called block liquorice.
Block liquorice is exported to candy, tobacco and pharmaceutical companies for further use.
To process block liquorice it is dissolved in warm water. As block liquorice is approximately 50 times more sweet than granulated sugar, only a little bit is needed. The final percentage of block liquorice in most liquorice candy is 3-5%.