Market Stall · Liquorice Sweets
Pontefract Cakes
📷 Closely related photo — Photo: Dave Spellman from Lancashire, England / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0
These small black liquorice discs are stamped with a picture of Pontefract Castle — a nod to the monks who first grew liquorice root in the town's medieval gardens.
Liquorice root extract is boiled with sugar and set into small, coin-sized discs stamped with a castle emblem. They've been sold from Pontefract's market stalls and sweet shops for generations, alongside other local liquorice novelties.
Why it's made this way: Liquorice root thrived in the sandy soil left behind by the town's old coal workings, and Pontefract grew into England's liquorice-growing and sweet-making hub as a result.
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