Chinese Licorice Tincture & Alcohol-Free Extract

Chinese Licorice (Glycyrrhiza uralensis), known as Gan Cao, is a perennial of the pea family, Fabaceae, native to the dry steppes, sandy riverbanks, and saline flats of northern China, Inner Mongolia, Mongolia, and southern Siberia. It grows 30 to 100 centimeters with sticky, glandular-hairy stems, pinnate leaves of 7 to 17 oval leaflets, and dense spikes of small purple to violet pea flowers followed by curved, bristly pods. The deep, running roots and rhizomes are reddish-brown outside and bright yellow within, fibrous, and intensely sweet; glycyrrhizin makes them many times sweeter than sugar, with a lingering, slightly bitter finish. We extract the dried root.