Amarelli Spezzata "Oro" Sugar-Free Licorice Pellets - Italian Pure Black Hard Liquorice Pastilles - 40g Tin

I have the yellow tin and the blue tin ones which are supposed to be the same. I thought the blue tin ones were minty versions when I ordered them, oh well. They are absolutely delicious though (not sure what I'll do with the kajillion tins now that I realize they are the same), although the blue tin ones taste a little weaker, which (if they are the same) is probably just due to age or storage. FYI Spezzata are larger (a little under 1/4 inch square) and the spezzatina ones are smaller about half the size. Anyway long story short, I love this candy. It's just pure unadulterated black licorice. You can heat it in water and use the licorice water for recipes and desserts (goes good with key lime type flavors!). Try sucking on one while you drink some coffee! For those who haven't had real black licorice, it is similar to the fake stuff that is infused with anise (like store bought black licorice rope candy) but once you get over the initial similar bitter flavor that it shares with anise and start to get used to that, there is a subtle earthy... mossy...woody...kind of cream soda flavor underneath. The more you eat, the more you notice this subtle flavor the less you notice the initial bitter whammy. I used to be okay with black licorice, now it has grown to be my favorite flavor in all of nature. Dont settle for anise, get real black licorice!

God aweful taste dosnt taste anything like Sen Sen. Not even like liquorish has a smoke flavor.

This is not a sweetened, diluted confection. If a fine aged Cuban cigar might appeal to you, or maybe a double espresso made in an Italian pastry shop, you owe it to yourself to try this fine liquorice. As a young boy in the early 1950's I grew up with locally brewed root beer that was all complex natural flavor and not much sugar. I saved my money from cashing in deposit bottles to buy Liquorice "cables" that would bend in summer, but would snap in winter. After years of searching I have finally come home that luxuriously dark, syrupy long lasting pure essence of pure liqurice which is soothing to a raspy throat and quieting to a cough. It was the main ingredient of cough syrups (remember Father John's) until dextromethorphan HydroBromide( a form of synthetic morphine) was introduced to Vicks Formula 44. Now that has become an abused over-the-counter drug, just like codeine in the fifties. this Liquorice is an all-natural, non-narcotic, calorie free, multi-use herbal remedy whose properties have been poorly imitated but never duplicated by today's sickeningly sweet cough drops, life savers, dry mouth remedies and throat lozenges.I am happy to find this product from my paternal Grandmother's birthplace (Calabria) after many years of searching for favorite things from my childhood.Tom Scarpitta, Baltimore MDNow...If could find a hearty naturally brewed pure root beer with just a touch of cane sugar as it's only sweetening ingredient

This is directed to my fellow American licorice aficionados: I have been guzzling down licorice, anisette, and anise products since an early age due to Italian ancestry. Amarelli, Tabu, and a slew of other concentrated licorice products abound in the smoke shops and apothecaries of Mediterranean Europe. I cannot explain to an American user who has never tried these products the intensity and to some degree, complexity, of flavor that comes out of these spezzata/tronchetti. There is nothing like it on the American market at present. Sen Sen, no longer manufactured, may have been the closest analog. Many US stores carry Swedish and German licorice products now and while this is an improvement over the American junk, the northern Europeans are basically cooking up a wheat compound and flavoring it with licorice root or anise oil and adding salt. Not a bad product but no comparison to the Italian goodness. Amarelli pellets are pure, concentrated, licorice root. I am not sure how this stuff gets made but each pellet looks like shimmering, black/brown piece of glass or obsidian. The flavor is unreal... dense licorice, smoke, nuttiness and sweet. The Amarelli Rossa spezzata are larger than the Amarelli spezzatina but they are both delicious. If you crave licorice, get this. You'll never eat a Twizzler again.

No sugar, which I do not need; no artificial sweetener, which can cause intestinal problems; no chemicals that should not be in food; just plain and simple licorice, what more could I, who has an addiction to black licorice, want?! I love Amazon for carrying stuff we can't get any other place!

On the order it states return is eligible until November 25. Then when I went to return it, it said not eligible for return. I will tell you that this is the worst tasting anything I’ve ever had. I had to spit it out and so did my husband.

Not dense, hard and breaks easily

didn't know what to expect. definitely an acquired flavor