Liquorice, read as a recipe
Liquorice “juice”: one root, followed from a historical passage to a hypothesis a lab could test.
The misreading
The extraction read the recipe’s juice literally: part juice, solvent unknown, heat unknown, process other. So the pipeline modelled it as fresh juice and compared that with the modern methanol extract.
As first extractedHistorical preparation:Vehicle unknown· heat not stated · filtering not statedThis preparation (range)modern methanol extractUnknownGal(a1-4)a-Ido · glycoside-like (heuristic)β-maltose · glycoside-like (heuristic)sucrose · glycoside-like (heuristic)scyllo-inositol · terpenoid-like (heuristic)aldehydo-D-glucose · terpenoid-like (heuristic)5 of 461 compounds: those whose ranges separate most between the two preparations. Model estimates, not measurements.The evidence
The correction rests on the corpus itself: it cites 3 passages on what the juice was, among them “The same preparation that is known to us as Spanish liquorice or Spanish juice.” (The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 4 (of 6): Books XVIII–XXIII).
The recipe, as written“The juice of it is also very good for the voice, for which purpose it is thickened and then placed beneath the tongue: it is good, too, for the chest and liver”
Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia (Bostock & Riley translation) · the recipe pagePliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia (Bostock & Riley translation)Source confidence: lower84% of resolved names disputedA 19th-century English translation (Bostock & Riley) of a 1st-century Latin text. Disputed share over 608 resolved names. Shown as lower confidence when at least half are disputed.ProvisionalNot independently validated. Read it as a lead, not a finding.- “The same preparation that is known to us as Spanish liquorice or Spanish juice.”The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 4 (of 6): Books XVIII–XXIII
- “Succus Glycyrrhizæ simplex. Or Juice of Liquorice simple.”The Complete Herbal (incl. The English Physician Enlarged, Family Dispensatory, Last Legacies)
- “College.] Infuse Liquorice Roots cleansed and gently bruised, three days in Spring Water, so much that it may over-top the roots the breadth of three fingers, then boil it a little, and press it hard out, and boil the liquor with a gentle fire to its due thickness.”The Complete Herbal (incl. The English Physician Enlarged, Family Dispensatory, Last Legacies)
The correction
22 field corrections across 5 recipes were logged, each with its evidence, and applied: part root, solvent water, heat boiled, process decoction, filtered yes. The recipes themselves stay as extracted.
Corrected: decoction in water (saffron) vs modern methanol extract (outline)Historical preparation:Water· boiled · strainedBoiling: Heuristic · Heat sensitivityHeat is treated as lowering compounds flagged as heat-labile or volatile, with an assumed range; it is not fitted to data.A rule of thumb applied by the model, not a measurement.This preparation (range)modern methanol extractUnknownGal(a1-4)a-Ido · glycoside-like (heuristic)β-maltose · glycoside-like (heuristic)sucrose · glycoside-like (heuristic)capric acid · terpenoid-like (heuristic)2-Methyl-3-decen-5-one · terpenoid-like (heuristic)5 of 461 compounds: those whose ranges separate most between the two preparations. Model estimates, not measurements.The new result
Modelled as decoction in water against the modern methanol extract, the predicted profile gap moves from 0.12–0.33 (median 0.20) to 0.29–0.55 (median 0.42); the lead stays rank 1 of 3. It is a hypothesis for the lab, not a finding, and not a recommendation.
Withheld from the Lab Planner (toxicity reported)Glycyrrhiza glabra · Liver DiseasesBefore: fresh juice vs modern methanol extract · rank 1 of 3After: decoction in water vs modern methanol extract · rank 1 of 3ProvisionalNot independently validated. Read it as a lead, not a finding.- hypothesis worth re-testing, not a claim that the preparation works or is safe
- profile gap from predicted compound likelihoods (model), equal weights: LOTUS has no abundance data
- historical indication mapped to MeSH by a heuristic lexicon; the historical term is not a modern diagnosis
- modern preparation modelled with the M4 maceration preset: heat unstated in 1 of 1 study preparations
- attested only by Pliny (lower confidence)
- 13 retrieved studies could not be coded as faithful or not (unknown fields)
- faithful preparation uses a logged extraction correction (config/m1_corrections.csv)
The record
Before and after the correction (table)
| Faithful preparation | Modern | Rank | Gap (5th–95th, median) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before | fresh juice | modern methanol extract | 1 of 3 | 0.12–0.33 (median 0.20) |
| After | decoction in water | modern methanol extract | 1 of 3 | 0.29–0.55 (median 0.42) |
The 22 logged corrections (table)
Toxicity is reported for this plant. Shown as a historical record for laboratory analysis only — not a preparation to make or take.
Glycyrrhiza glabra: this page analyses a historical recipe and an extraction correction. It does not suggest preparing or taking liquorice.