Salted liquorice.

I had a Norwegian friend who waxed lyrical about this stuff. So when I saw it for the first time in a shop, I grabbed a packet to nibble on while waiting for my train.

Plain black liquorice is delicious and salt makes everything taste better, and the Norwegian seemed like a nice, relatively normal person who enjoyed other things I liked. This was a low risk choice of mid morning snack, I thought to myself.

I was wrong. So very wrong.

This stuff tastes like it was peeled off the bottom of a shoe after walking through the city all day. It’s not salt either, it’s freaking ammonium chloride.

To paraphrase the Wikipedia:

The mineral is commonly formed on burning coal dumps from condensation of coal-derived gases. It is also found around some types of volcanic vents. It is a product of the reaction of hydrochloric acid and ammonia.

And Scandi’s put this on liquorice and like it. Even the kids. Madness. It took my all not to heave into a bin after trying it and like six cups of black tea to get the taste out of my mouth.

I gave the Norwegian the rest of the packet and he laughed at me while I watched him eat it because I looked so horrified.