Edible Parts: Leaves  Root  Shoots
Edible Uses:

The roots and very young shoots are reported to be edible. Roots have been eaten raw, roasted, boiled or chewed, while young shoots were gathered before the leaves expanded and eaten fresh or cooked. These uses do not make wild licorice suitable for unrestricted consumption. The root should be used only in very small, infrequent quantities. It is unsuitable as a meal-sized root vegetable, despite its sweetness and substantial underground growth. Young shoots have a stronger traditional claim as a spring food, but their use was limited to the tender stage and was not widespread enough to justify treating them as an ordinary vegetable [2-3]. Edible Uses & Rating: Wild licorice has its greatest culinary value as a flavoring. A small shaving of root can sweeten or flavor tea, herbal infusions and cooked preparations. The root may also be roasted and chewed briefly, though swallowing significant quantities is inadvisable. Very young shoots can be cooked as a seasonal green, with their identity and traditional use well established. An appropriate edibility rating is 2/5. The flavor is distinctive, and the traditional use is genuine, but the dose-dependent risks of glycyrrhizin outweigh the plant’s value as food. It should not be promoted as a staple, routine tea ingredient, or unrestricted natural sweetener [2-3]. Taste, Processing & Kitchen Notes: Freshly dug roots are yellowish-white internally and covered with brown skin. Their flavor is sweet, earthy and licorice-like, usually accompanied by a bitter or medicinal overtone. The sweetness is persistent rather than sugar-like and may become cloying after continued chewing. American wild licorice generally has a rougher, less refined flavor than cultivated European licorice. Fresh roots are firmer than carrots but softer than dry wood. Outer portions may become chewable after boiling, while inner tissues can remain fibrous or gum-like. Simmering produces a yellowish infusion, sometimes with a light foam due to saponins. Dry roots become woody and are better shaved, chopped or pounded than eaten directly. Roasting can deepen the sweetness and produce a flavor occasionally compared with sweet potato, but it does not remove glycyrrhizin. Boiling also extracts the active compound into the liquid, rather than making the preparation safer. A weak infusion made from a very small piece of root is preferable to eating the cooked root itself [2-3]. Seasonality (Phenology): Very young shoots emerge in spring and are useful only before they become leafy, fibrous and strongly flavored. Traditional gathering focused on shoots less than 30 cm tall, often before the leaves had fully expanded. Flowering normally occurs from May to July. Prickly seedpods develop during summer and may persist after the leafy growth has declined. Roots remain present throughout the year, but spring and autumn are generally the easiest seasons for digging because soils may be moister and aboveground identification features may still be visible [2-3]. Safety & Cautions (Food Use):, Wild licorice should be approached as a pharmacologically active plant. Glycyrrhizin can cause sodium and fluid retention, potassium loss, increased blood pressure, swelling, muscle weakness and abnormal heart rhythms. Severe or prolonged exposure can produce serious cardiovascular and neurological complications. People with high blood pressure, heart disease, kidney disease, liver disease, low potassium, fluid retention or heart-rhythm disorders should avoid genuine licorice root. It should also be avoided during pregnancy and used cautiously by anyone taking diuretics, corticosteroids, digoxin, blood-pressure medicines, anticoagulants or other medicines affected by electrolyte changes. There is no dependable field method for determining the glycyrrhizin concentration of an individual root. For that reason, precise “safe” serving sizes cannot be established from root dimensions alone. Regular consumption is not recommended, even when each serving appears small. Deglycyrrhizinated commercial licorice is chemically different and should not be used as evidence that wild roots are safe. Harvest & Processing Workflow: Harvest should begin with positive identification of flowering or fruiting plants. The long rhizomes may extend well beyond the visible stems, so digging can disturb a large area. Remove only a small section from vigorous colonies and refill the hole to reduce erosion and root exposure. Scrub the root thoroughly and remove damaged, moldy, or discolored tissue. A knife can be used to scrape the brown skin and shave off a very small amount. For flavoring, briefly simmer a small shaving, strain the liquid, and avoid repeated servings. Do not concentrate the infusion, repeatedly top up a licorice-root brew or consume the softened root after making tea. Young shoots should be gathered only while very tender and before substantial leaf development. They should be washed and cooked as a precaution, then sampled in a small quantity. Older shoots, leaves, prickly fruits, and mature stems are not recommended as food. Cultivar/Selection Notes: Wild licorice has not been developed into a significant food crop, and named culinary cultivars are not generally available. Nursery-grown plants may be offered for native restoration, pollinator gardens, or medicinal plant collections. Commercial licorice production usually relies on Eurasian species, especially Glycyrrhiza glabra and Glycyrrhiza uralensis. These species have also been selected and processed for specific industrial purposes. Their use does not make American wild licorice safer or more appropriate for frequent consumption [2-3]. Look-Alikes & Confusion Risks: Wild licorice may be confused with milkvetches and locoweeds in the genus Astragalus before fruiting, making it most distinctive to identify. This is a serious concern because some locoweeds contain toxic compounds or accumulate harmful elements. Mottled locoweed, Astragalus lentiginosus, can be particularly similar in vegetative form. The dense clusters of short, hooked, prickly seedpods are among the strongest identification features of wild licorice. Its odd-pinnate leaves usually contain 7–19 leaflets, and the pale pea-like flowers are borne in compact upright racemes. Roots should never be dug for food from unconfirmed, non-flowering plants merely because the foliage resembles licorice [2-3]. Traditional/Indigenous Use Summary. Several Indigenous peoples used wild licorice as both food and medicine. The Cheyenne gathered tender spring shoots and reportedly ate them raw or cooked before the leaves developed. Roots were sometimes roasted in embers, pounded, and stripped of their tough central fibers, leaving softer material compared with sweet potato. Root preparations were also used medicinally for throat, respiratory, digestive, and other complaints. The greater prominence of medicinal use compared with food use is significant. It suggests that the plant was understood as powerful and useful but not necessarily appropriate for unrestricted consumption [2-3]. Root - raw or cooked[2, 46, 61, 203]. Long, sweet and fleshy[105], when slow roasted they are said to taste like sweet potatoes[183, 207]. They can be used as a flavouring in other foods and can also be chewed raw as a masticatory[177, 183, 212], making an excellent tooth cleaner and also very good for teething children. The root contains 6% glycyrrhizin, a substance that is 50 times sweeter than sugar[183]. The tender young shoots can be eaten raw in the spring[183, 257].

Plants For A Future can not take any responsibility for any adverse effects from the use of plants. Always seek advice from a professional before using a plant medicinally.
Birthing aid  Foot care  Odontalgic  Poultice  Tonic

American liquorice was widely employed medicinally by a number of native North American Indian tribes who used it in the treatment of a range of diseases[257]. All parts of the body are medicinal, but the roots are the most active part. This species has properties similar to other liquorices which are widely used medicinally, though this species is rather neglected in modern literature. An infusion of the root is used to speed the delivery of the placenta after childbirth, it is also used to treat coughs, diarrhoea, chest pains, fevers in children, stomach aches etc[207, 257]. It is also used as a wash or poultice on swellings[257]. The chewed root is retained in the mouth as a treatment for toothache and sore throats[207, 257]. The mashed leaves are used as a poultice on sores[207, 257]. The leaves have been placed in the shoes to absorb moisture[257].

Nitrogen fixer. A dynamic accumulator gathering minerals or nutrients from the soil and storing them in a more bioavailable form - used as fertilizer or to improve mulch. The flower clusters are attractive at close range, while the prickly fruits provide unusual late-season texture. Colonies can form broad patches and are better suited to naturalistic plantings than small formal borders. It can be valuable on streambanks and in large native meadows, but its spreading underground growth makes placement important. Once established in favorable soil, it may be difficult to remove completely. It is well suited to prairie restorations, streambank plantings, wildlife gardens and larger food-forest margins where its movement can be tolerated. It can fix atmospheric nitrogen through its association with root bacteria, although the degree of benefit to neighboring plants depends on site conditions and plant management. Ecology & Wildlife: Wild licorice contributes nitrogen-fixing legume diversity to prairies, riparian areas and moist grasslands. Its flowers support bees, while foliage provides cover and forage for insects and some grazing animals. Dense roots help bind alluvial soil and may assist recovery after disturbance. Its prickly fruits attach to animals, helping disperse the seeds. The plant’s ability to spread by both seeds and rhizomes allows it to persist through flooding, grazing and other forms of disturbance. Ecologically, it is a resilient native perennial whose habitat and wildlife value exceed its usefulness as a routine human food.

Special Uses

Dynamic accumulator  Food Forest  Nitrogen Fixer