Does anyone like black licorice

When it comes to candy , there are few preferences more polarizing than black licorice. While some love the flavor, others find it absolutely disgusting. But what you might not know is that whichever side you land on might have more to do with your genetics than your upbringing.

According to Marcia Pelchat, an associate member of the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, it's likely that your response to the taste of licorice is programmed into your genes, in much the same way that some people are genetically predisposed to think cilantro tastes like soap via NBC News.

However, flavor isn't just determined by taste but by smell as well, and smell preferences seem to be learned. When we bite into a piece of licorice, we taste glycyrrhizin, a natural sweetener in licorice root, which can taste, to some, like saccharin, the artificial sweetener found in Sweet 'n' Low.

With licorice, this sickly sweet lingers, causing some to wrinkle their noses in displeasure. Glycyrrhizin is also the reason behind the FDA consumer update : it can significantly lower the body's potassium levels, leading to abnormal heart rhythms, elevated blood pressure levels, edema and even congestive heart failure, in extreme cases.

Licorice also contains anethole, which is aromatic and plays on our olfactory sense. Anethole also occurs in anise and fennel, both of which licorice haters might find more tolerable.

Anise and fennel flavor absinthe, for anyone who thought it, too, might be a licorice liqueur. This is an updated version of an article that was originally published in August When we eat, we use both the sense of taste and smell to detect flavor. Taste includes sweet, bitter, salty and sour. When we bite into a piece of licorice, we taste glycyrrhizin, a natural sweetener in licorice root, which can taste, to some, like saccharin, the artificial sweetener found in Sweet 'n' Low.

With licorice, this sickly sweet lingers, causing some to wrinkle their noses in displeasure. Licorice also contains anethole, which is aromatic and plays on our olfactory sense.