Recipe
🥤 DRINK
Sous (Licorice Drink)
A dark, bittersweet cold infusion of licorice root, poured by roaming Damascus vendors from ornate brass dispensers, cooling and unmistakable.
Syrian · medium · serves 6
prep 20 min · cook 0 min
~16 cal · 0g protein · 4g carbs · 0g fat · 0g fiber · 4g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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AI-generated illustration
Sous is the liquorice-root drink of Damascus, and few things capture the theatre of a Levantine street better than the men who sell it. Dressed in embroidered vests and aprons, they carry gleaming brass tanks of the chilled drink on their backs, dispensing it with a tilt and announcing themselves by clinking two brass cups together like little cymbals.
The drink itself is cold-steeped from dried liquorice root, soaked in water so its dark, intense, earthy flavour and natural foam develop without any added sugar; the result is bittersweet, aromatic, and frothy when poured. It is an acquired but devoted taste.
It is especially a drink of Ramadan and the hot months, sold in the old city and the souqs and believed to cool and soothe the body after a long day of fasting. Earthy, foaming, and deeply traditional, sous is a taste and a spectacle of the Damascus street.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
1 cup dried licorice root, ground
10 cups cold water
1/4 tsp a pinch of baking soda (for foam)
2 tbsp sugar, to taste (optional)
Instructions
1
Tie the ground licorice root in a muslin cloth and knead it in a little of the water to release the extract.
2
Suspend the cloth in the cold water with a pinch of baking soda and steep in the fridge for several hours.
3
Squeeze and lift the cloth repeatedly to build the characteristic foam and darken the liquid.
4
Sweeten very lightly if you like, and serve ice-cold; it is meant to be bracingly bittersweet.
✎ Chef’s note
Some households simmer the root with the water instead of drawing it cold, which gives a rounder, less sharp drink. Erk sous is drunk across Egypt and the Levant and comes into its own in Ramadan, when it is poured at iftar from great brass urns carried on the vendor's back, and prized less for the flavour than for how it cools you after a long fast.
Damascus street-vendor tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Damascus. The mezze table is a sequence rather than a spread. Cold dishes go down first, hummus, labneh, pickles and vine leaves, then hot small plates, then grilled meat, and bread does the work of cutlery the whole way through. The point of it is that it takes a long time.
🗺️
Syria. Aleppo and Damascus are not interchangeable. Muhammara, red pepper and walnut pounded with pomegranate molasses, is Aleppine; so is the kibbeh made with sour cherries, and so is the seven-spice baharat that goes into it. Aleppo pepper is a named cultivar, halaby, sun-dried and rubbed with oil rather than simply dried, which is why it is fruity rather than sharp.
🌍
Asia. A grain line runs across the continent. Rice dominates the wet south and east, wheat the drier north and west, and the tools follow it: the wok and the steamer where rice is milled, the tandoor and the griddle where wheat is ground. Tea travels the other way, drunk green, black, salted, buttered or with milk depending how far it got from China.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Syria
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BalilaWarm chickpeas dressed with cumin, lemon, garlic, and olive oil, a simple Damascene breakfast.
Chicken ShawarmaMarinated spiced chicken roasted and shaved into flatbread with garlic sauce and pickles, the Levant's great street lunch.
Browse all Syria recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Keep chilled and covered, and enjoy within 2 to 3 days.
Make it a Syria meal
KibbehDinner
Halawet el JibnDessert
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Drinks
Frequently asked questions
What is Sous (Licorice Drink)?
A dark, bittersweet cold infusion of licorice root, poured by roaming Damascus vendors from ornate brass dispensers, cooling and unmistakable.
Where does Sous (Licorice Drink) come from?
Sous (Licorice Drink) is a Syrian dish from Damascus, Syria.
Can Sous (Licorice Drink) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Sous (Licorice Drink) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Sous (Licorice Drink) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Sous (Licorice Drink) take to make?
About 20 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 0 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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