Did you know that back in the old days licorice (‘drop’ in Dutch) was not a candy but a medicine to cure a sore throat and cold?
Drop was always hard until in 1967 a mistake was made at the Katja drop factory in ‘s-Heerenberg in Gelderland. By accident all the manufactured drop came out soft.
Instead of disposing of the flaw product, employee Ko took it home for his family. After his kids loved this soft and chewy treat, it was successfully launched on the market as a candy under the name Kokindjes (‘Ko’s kids’).
The 50-year old brown licorice cubes with a chewy texture still bear the characteristic K as a homage to Ko.
fun fact:
All candy and licorice products by Katja are now free of animal gelatin.
