By HRS Food · Reviewed
Types of liquorice sweets: find your favourite
Allsorts, soft black liquorice, chewy gums and filled Flyers offer quite different flavours and textures. Start with the kind of sweet you like, then compare the pack format. This guide uses the products in our liquorice range to explain the choices.
Shop liquorice sweets →Compare liquorice sweets at a glance
| Style | Texture | Flavour | Explore |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liquorice Allsorts | An assortment of shapes and textures | Liquorice and coconut in a mixed assortment | Maynards Bassetts Allsorts |
| Soft black liquorice | Soft | Black liquorice with aniseed | Henry Goode’s Soft Black Liquorice |
| Liquorice gums | Firm-textured gum sweets | Liquorice | Lion Liquorice Gums |
| Filled liquorice sticks | Liquorice outside, sugar crystals inside | Original fruit, cherry or sour fruit flavours | Original Liquorice Flyers sticks |
| Blackcurrant & liquorice boiled sweets | Hard boiled outside, chewy toffee centre | Blackcurrant and liquorice | Stockley’s Blackcurrant & Liquorice |
Is liquorice the same as aniseed?
They come from different plants. Liquorice extract comes from Glycyrrhiza glabra; anise flavouring can come from Pimpinella anisum. Kew explains that anethole from anise is sometimes used alongside, or instead of, liquorice extract in confectionery. A similar flavour does not mean the ingredients are the same. Read Kew’s plant profile.
Read the product’s own ingredient list when the distinction matters. Henry Goode’s reviewed declaration, for example, lists both liquorice extract and aniseed oil. A black sweet, a fruit-flavoured filled stick and a bag of Allsorts can have quite different recipes.
For identifying the coloured sandwiches, coconut rolls and blue or pink buttons in an assortment, use our visual guide to Liquorice Allsorts types.
Liquorice Allsorts
Allsorts brings several different sweets together in one bag. It suits someone who enjoys a mix rather than the same shape and texture throughout. Our reviewed Maynards Bassetts listings contain sealed 110g retail bags, with smaller pack quantities and a separate ten-bag case.
Explore Maynards Bassetts Allsorts →Soft black liquorice
Henry Goode’s Superbly Soft Black Liquorice is a useful starting point when you want soft black liquorice rather than a colourful assortment or a filled stick. Its aniseed flavour is stated in the product description. The retail bags are 140g; choose the available six-bag or twelve-bag format on the product page.
Explore Henry Goode’s Soft Black Liquorice →Liquorice gums
Lion Liquorice Gums offers a firm-textured gum sweet, rather than chewing gum. Compare the 130g retail bags with the separate case and bulk weigh-out listings in the collection. A box of individual bags and a bulk box are different formats, so check the exact contents rather than choosing by the word ‘box’ alone.
Explore Lion Liquorice Gums →Filled liquorice sticks
Flyers combines a liquorice outside with a flavoured sugar-crystal centre. Original loose sticks have strawberry, orange and lemon flavour centres. Sour loose sticks have blue raspberry, cherry and apple flavour centres. Flavour mix may vary. The 75g packets are separate products from the loose sticks.
Explore Original Liquorice Flyers sticks →Blackcurrant & liquorice boiled sweets
Stockley’s Blackcurrant & Liquorice has a blackcurrant-flavoured hard boiled outside and a chewy liquorice toffee centre. The sweets are individually twist wrapped. Choose a 500g bag packed by HRS Food or the original 3kg supplier bag; neither is a multipack of small retail bags.
Explore Stockley’s Blackcurrant & Liquorice →Choosing Flyers: loose sticks or 75g packets?
The Original loose-stick listing offers a full box of forty sticks or four single sticks packed by HRS Food. Sour loose sticks are sold as a full box of forty. Individual stick weights are not stated, so forty sticks should not be compared with forty 75g packets.
The separate Original, Sour and Cherry 75g Flyers listings contain liquorice with flavoured centres. Strawberry Flyers are strawberry-flavoured candy with strawberry-flavour sugar crystals. Their checked ingredient list does not list liquorice extract, so choose another Flyers flavour if black liquorice is what you want. The 75g products offer six packets or a twelve-packet box.
Check the format and ingredients before choosing
Compare the total contents as well as the price. Six sealed retail bags, four loose sticks and one 500g bag are three different purchases. A supplier-carton photograph may illustrate the full box even when a smaller pack is selected. Read the pack description and the quantity you have chosen before adding it to your basket.
Dietary suitability varies between products. A vegan statement on one Flyers recipe does not apply to every liquorice sweet. Check the ingredients and allergen declaration on the exact product page, then the current physical pack. Keep the original packaging if you are sharing the sweets.
Available UK delivery services and charges appear at checkout. Contact us before ordering if an arrival date matters. Recipes, packaging, prices and availability can change.
Are liquorice sweets vegan or gluten free?
There is no single answer for the whole shelf. The reviewed HRS Maynards Bassetts Allsorts declaration lists gelatine and wheat flour. The Lion Liquorice Gums declaration lists beef gelatine. Those products should not be chosen for a vegan or vegetarian diet. Henry Goode’s reviewed soft black liquorice lists wheat flour, while Stockley’s Blackcurrant & Liquorice declares milk.
The name liquorice does not establish gluten-free suitability. Compare ingredients and allergen declarations for the exact product and keep the current packaging. A different brand or flavour can have a different recipe. Contact HRS before ordering if information needed for your dietary requirement is unclear.
Sources and how we checked
Researched by HRS Food using manufacturer information and our product declarations, reviewed 17 October 2026. This is a buying and identification guide, not a tasting test. Recipes and packaging can change; use the exact product page and current pack for food information.
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew: liquorice and anise flavouring
- Valeo Foods: Lion firm-textured gum sweets
- Valeo Foods: Henry Goode’s soft eating liquorice
- HRS: Maynards Bassetts Allsorts 110g ingredient declaration
- HRS: Henry Goode’s ingredients and pack formats
- HRS: Lion Liquorice Gums ingredients
- HRS: Stockley’s Blackcurrant & Liquorice food declaration