{"id":2309,"date":"2013-09-05T13:00:15","date_gmt":"2013-09-05T04:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2013-09-05\/2309"},"modified":"2013-09-05T13:00:15","modified_gmt":"2013-09-05T04:00:15","slug":"another-festival-of-lakerol-licorice-goodness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2013-09-05\/2309","title":{"rendered":"Another Festival of L\u00e4kerol Licorice Goodness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>30 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 500 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\nColorful Tastiness<\/span>\nL\u00e4kerol Licorice\n<\/div>\n\n

Photo-buddy Damien Douxchamps<\/a> came back from a trip<\/span> to Finland, and sent me a huge<\/span>\ncare package of L\u00e4kerol, the not-available-in-Japan candy he introduced me to last year (seen on my blog in\n“Cornucopia of Tasty L\u00e4kerol Licorice<\/a>”\nand then later in\n“Priceless: Candy and Pottery in a Surprisingly<\/span> Tasteful Display<\/a>”).<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 70mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f<\/span>\/5, ISO 4500 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\nSanta Came Early<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

The care package included 122(!) boxes of a dozen<\/span> different L\u00e4kerol flavors (many new to me), plus a few<\/span> extra odds and ends.<\/p>\n\n

Some of the boxes were exceptionally colorful, and some were exceptionally colorless...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>20 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 500 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\nColorful<\/span>\nthough I don't yet know what actual flavor “Africa Gold” might be describing\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>25 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 500 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\nColorful and Colorless<\/span>\nin real life, the name of the black-box candy is almost undetectable\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>4 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 500 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\nName Revealed (Sort Of)<\/span>\nthrough some aggressive post processing\n<\/div>\n\n

I'm also not sure what tastes these names (“Black Diamond” and “Sparkling”) might represent. At least “Elderflower”\nis probably pretty clear to someone who has an idea what an elderflower tastes like, but I'm not among them.<\/p>\n\n

Discovering the tastes, and mixing and matching them, is half the fun.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>15 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 500 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\nBemuse<\/span>\nyet beguiling\n<\/div>\n\n

Another taste I'm not currently familiar with is kumquat, nor what that\ntaste might have to do with elephants (in what might be northern India?).\nMaybe elephants eat kumquat? Maybe elephants taste like kumquat? Having\neaten neither, at present the connection is left up to the imagination.<\/p>\n\n

Among the non-L\u00e4kerol items in Damien's care package was a bottle<\/span> of\nlicorice liquor from Finland, with an almost unreadable label.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 5 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 500 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\n“The Original 013”<\/span>\nwhatever that means\n<\/div>\n\n

It took some creative lighting and aggressive post-processing to make out the full label:<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 3 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 500 —\nimage data<\/a><\/span>\n\nKOSKENKORVA<\/span>\nSALMIAKKI<\/span>\nTHE ORIGINAL 013<\/span><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

The third line is clearly English, but I don't<\/span> understand the rest.\nPerhaps it's Finnish?<\/p>

As far as I know, this stuff is not marketed\nin any English-speaking country, but there's English all over. Maybe it's\nthe same as it is in Japan, where English is “cool”. But then, Japan has a\nhistory<\/span> of deep ties to America (not the least of which is having been\noccupied and ruled by America for seven years after WWII), so the English\nhere is a bit<\/span> more baffling.<\/p>\n\n

The bottle neck labeling says “Suomi \u301c Finland” (Suomi is Finnish for “Finland”). The back label<\/span> is almost all English:\n“Deep in its dark, liquorice-infused heart, Koskenkorva Salmiakki is an unforgettable drinking experience waiting to be released. Drink as shots, but don't be misled.<\/i>” I have<\/span> no idea what that means, either. It goes on<\/span> “Experience the spirit of Finland and taste Finnish folklore.<\/i>” This is marketingspeak on overdrive.<\/p>\n\n

It also notes: “Please, shake well.<\/i>”  So very polite.<\/p>\n\n

It says “Liqueur” and “Contains Liquorice” in English and two other languages.<\/p>\n\n

Anyway, despite labeling that leaves me scratching my head, the stuff is\ntasty<\/i> when used in extreme moderation. Adding a few<\/span> drops\n(literally) to a big<\/span> glass of Coke gives it a surprisingly<\/span> strong, durable,\npleasing licorice taste. I can't<\/span> possibly imagine taking a spoonful<\/span> of this\nstuff, much less a shot<\/span> as it suggests.<\/p>\n\n

Damion had once given me an almost-empty bottle he happen to have\nbrought with him to Kyoto, with less than 1mm of liquid left at the\nbottom, but it lasted me almost a year.<\/span> This full bottle may well last 30. It's a gift<\/span> that keeps on giving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo-buddy Damien Douxchamps came back from a trip to Finland, and sent me a huge care package of L\u00e4kerol, the not-available-in-Japan candy he introduced me to last year (seen on my blog in \"Cornucopia of Tasty L\u00e4kerol Licorice\" and then later in \"Priceless: Candy and Pottery in a Surprisingly Tasteful Display\").<\/p>

The care package included 122(!) boxes of a dozen different L\u00e4kerol flavors (many new to me), plus a few extra odds and ends.<\/p>

Some of the boxes were exceptionally colorful, and some were exceptionally colorless...<\/p>

I'm also not sure what tastes these names (\"Black Diamond\" and \"Sparkling\") might represent. [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2309"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2309\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}