The Licorice Allsorts Story
Licorice is a plant that has a rather long history of being used from China to Ancient Egypt and then to Europe as a medicine and as a sweetener. In England, it was first reported as being grown in Pontefract at a monastery. From there, it gradually spread throughout the world. Among the numerous licorice, confections are Licorice Allsorts . The sweets were first marketed by the Bassett Company, a famous confectionery in England. The story goes that sometime in 1899, one of the sales staff of the Basset Company – a man named Charlie Thompson was attending to a customer. As he was about to present samples of their goods, the tray containing the samples knocked over and all the sweets were scattered over the floor. As Mr Thompson was trying to pick them up, the customer’s attention was drawn to the assortment of sweets and inquired if it was possible to order such a mix of sweets. That incident is said to have sparked the creation of the allsorts, which was soon mass p...