Facts and Figures

• In 1957, the Lea family developed Darrell Lea’s unique soft eating liquorice.
• 25% of the Australian liquorice market is now soft eating.
• 50 million strands of Darrell Lea’s soft eating liquorice are consumed by Australians of all ages each year, equating to 2.5 strands for every single Australian.
• 40,000km of liquorice is currently produced each year at the Darrell Lea factory (ENOUGH TO CROSS AUSTRALIA 10 TIMES!).
• This will increase to a potential of 83,300km per year (OR TWICE AROUND THE WORLD) with the opening of our new world class liquorice production facility catering for the export market.
• The United States, Canada and United Kingdom are among the countries that now eat Darrell Lea’s famous soft eating liquorice.
• Darrell Lea liquorice is now sold in more than 8000 retail outlets around the world – and growing constantly.

Darrell Lea Fruit Flavoured Liquorice

1998
With the success of our soft eating traditional liquorice and to cater to more palates than ever Darrell Lea introduced the first of its fruit flavoured soft eating liquorice range with the ever popular strawberry flavour.

2004
Demand proved so popular that the tangy green apple flavour was developed in September 2004.

2005
As Australians consume 7 million trays of fresh mangoes each Summer, mango devotees were encouraged to indulge their senses in any season with the introduction of mango liquorice in April 2005.

2006
Blackcurrant joins the flotilla of Darrell Lea fruit flavoured liquorice lining up beside the hugely successful mango, green apple and strawberry flavours which continue to tantalise the taste buds of an ever growing number of Australians.

WHAT’S SPECIAL ABOUT DARRELL LEA LIQUORICE?

• No other liquorice is as soft as Darrell Lea soft eating liquorice. Such soft liquorice can only be obtained by ensuring that it is fresh at all times and by a specific cooking process. Darrell Lea has a significant advantage of being in control of the manufacturing, distribution and sale of their products and therefore can ensure regular turnover and ultimate freshness.
• Compare the shelf life of Darrell Lea soft eating liquorice and other liquorice – Darrell Lea liquorice for the Australian market has a five week shelf life, other liquorice has a 12 month shelf life. Ultimately the difference in the texture and the taste is testimony to the freshness of Darrell Lea Liquorice.
• Darrell Lea Soft Eating Liquorice contains such ingredients as prime Australian wheat flour, semi refined raw sugar, molasses, treacle, natural liquorice extract, glucose and a touch of triple refined pure aniseed oil.
• Darrell Lea liquorice is 97% fat free, cholesterol free and low in salt

JUST WHAT IS LIQUORICE?

• The liquorice plant – also known as the blue flowering snow pea – likes its surroundings hot. It is native to southern European countries like Spain and Italy, parts of central Asia and the Middle East, including Israel. Liquorice for manufacturing is supplied as solid blocks, powder or in its purest form of a brown liquorice paste that is extracted under steam from the liquorice root.
• Liquorice is also good for what ails you. Called the ‘grandfather of Chinese herbs’, liquorice root extract appears in most Chinese herbal remedies for afflictions from coughs to constipation to peptic ulcer.
• Its use as a medicinal remedy date back to as far as Hippocrates in the fourth century BC and this modest plant was also supposed to have healed the wounds of Nero’s armies in the first century AD and accompanied Egyptian pharaohs to a higher plane.