Sugarelly, Spanish water, or liquorice water, is a traditional
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.
* British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
soft drink
A soft drink (see #Terminology, § Terminology for other names) is a class of non-alcoholic drink, usually (but not necessarily) Carbonated water, carbonated, and typically including added Sweetness, sweetener. Flavors used to be Natural flav ...
made with
liquorice
Liquorice ( Commonwealth English) or licorice (American English; see spelling differences; ) is the common name of ''Glycyrrhiza glabra'', a flowering plant of the bean family Fabaceae, from the root of which a sweet, aromatic flavouring is ...
that was popular in Scotland in the early to mid-20th century.
It could not usually be bought as such, but instead was prepared by leaving several strands of liquorice to diffuse in water for a period of time before drinking. This tradition seems to have been well known throughout Britain. It is mentioned in many of
Richmal Crompton
Richmal Crompton Lamburn (15 November 1890 – 11 January 1969) was a popular English writer, best known for her ''Just William (book series), Just William'' series of books, humorous short stories, and to a lesser extent adult fiction books.
L ...
's "
William
William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...
" series, Pip makes it in his room in ''
Great Expectations
''Great Expectations'' is the thirteenth novel by English author Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel. The novel is a bildungsroman and depicts the education of an orphan nicknamed Pip. It is Dickens' second novel, after ''Dav ...
'' and the Scottish cartoon "
Oor Wullie
''Oor Wullie'' () is a Scottish comic strip published in the D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd, D.C. Thomson newspaper ''The Sunday Post''. It features a character called Wullie; Wullie is a Scots language, Scots nickname for boys named William, equival ...
" also makes mention of it. Napoleon Bonaparte was known to enjoy liquorice water, as he reportedly believed it helped with his digestion.
Traditionally, this drink was made with "chemist's liquorice", a hard, black liquorice stick cut into sections and dropped into a bottle of cold water. This was left in a cool, dark place for a week or so. Once infused, the liquorice water could be enjoyed by shaking the bottle and sucking the brown foam from its neck.
In a 1959 letter to a fan, Richmal Crompton gives her recipe for liquorice water — "We bought strings of liquorice at a chemists', chopped them up & put them in a bottle of water, shook it till they melted. I've forgotten what it tasted like but it sounds horrible!"
References
{{Reflist
External links
A guide to making Sugarelly
British soft drinks
Cocktails with liquorice