Sweet black love

This story is filled with passion and dark love. It is the story of a young man who loved black licorice candies so much that he wanted the whole world to fall in love with their taste, smell, and all the magic hidden in them.

Johan Bülow was 23, living on a small Danish island in the Baltic Sea called Bornholm, when he began experimenting with licorice. Strongly encouraged by his mother and supported by his friend Sarah, he started working on his vision. It was very hard work that required long hours in Johan’s mother’s kitchen; particularly time-consuming was the clean up after the experiments with the black mud-like candy. At a certain point Johan and Sarah were close to giving up on the dream because none of the recipes found online, discovered in books, or suggested by others, worked! Their dream was to open a little shop in Bornholm before the tourist season started, but their licorice was far from the gourmet experience they envisioned.

It took a long time and a lot of help for various very special people who believed in the dream of the delightful licorice, for that dream to become reality. With passion in the heart, a spark in the eyes, and a lot of help from friends, Johan’s dream came true – the taste of gourmet licorice became embodied in the name – “Lakrids by Johan Bülow�?.

A sweet licorice smell washes over us as we open the door to the small factory in Taastrup, Copenhagen…

Browse the pages of Llamas’ Valley | Black and white issue and feel the magic of licorice! Download your copy on iPad. Available in the App Store.