Licorice is a herbaceous plant, perennial, with a powerful root system and belongs to the legume family. The most common are Ural licorice, as well as naked licorice. The licorice fruit is elongated and slightly curved in the form of a naked bean, having a brown color and from two to six seeds. Seeds have a greenish-gray shiny color or slightly brownish. Licorice begins to bloom in June and ends in August, and its fruits reach their maturity in late August and capture September. Licorice propagates by seeds and vegetatively. The large thickets that it forms are located along the steppe zones, along river banks and sands. Many consider it a malicious weed, so there is a lot of controversy and reasoning around it about what licorice does - harm or benefit?
Licorice is called licorice, licorice and another yellow root. Licorice root is provided with vitamin C, sucrose, glucosides, esters, mineral salts and pectin. The dried roots and shoots of licorice, respectively processed and prepared, serve as a good expectorant, due to the content of glycyrrhizin in the roots, which enhances the secret function of the upper respiratory tract, and increases the activity of the ciliary epithelium in the bronchi and trachea. Licorice also contains laxatives.
Diuretic teas also include licorice root. Improving the taste of drugs also depends on the presence of licorice root in them, which, by the way, is also used to prepare various tablets. Thanks to its palatability, licorice syrup is very popular among children and is an excellent medicine. The root serves as an integral part of such a remedy as liquiquirton, which is prescribed to patients with gastritis, a stomach ulcer. In addition, licorice root normalizes metabolic processes in diabetics. Licorice is also used for allergic dermatitis, eczema, pemphigus.
So, from all of the above, it immediately becomes clear that licorice does not bring harm at all, and a lot can be said about its benefits. Licorice root is used in confectionery and culinary products and, oddly enough, even brewing is not complete without it.
Licorice contains substances that resemble in their structure and action steroid hormones produced by the cortical layers of the adrenal glands and have very strong anti-inflammatory properties. Licorice has a number of biologically active substances that lower blood cholesterol.
How to take licorice root and its use as a medicine is described in the ancient Chinese “Book of Herbs”, written a lot of millennia ago. Licorice root, which is part of some medicinal mixtures, can neutralize the action of toxic substances that enter the body from the outside. And in Tibet it was believed that the degree of their longevity depends on licorice. The healing properties of licorice roots were also used by the doctors of Ancient Egypt.
Korean traditional medicine uses licorice as a remedy for raising blood pressure, suffering from chronic bronchitis, with sore throat and dry cough, as well as with pneumonia, and liver diseases.
Licorice, the harm of which has not been proven, finds its application in the food industry. Its roots and rhizomes are an integral part of syrups, various extracts, are used as foaming agents in many non-alcoholic drinks, such as beer, kvass, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, tonic drinks. Licorice roots also serve as a flavoring additive to green and long leaf tea.
So, on the basis of the material described above, we can conclude: if licorice does harm, then only to those who consider it a “malicious weed” and who are not familiar with the healing and truly miraculous properties of this plant.