Liquorice contains about 20% water-soluble extracts and much of this is composed of glycyrrhizin which is typically 3% to 5% of the root, but upto 12% is found in some varieties. Glycyrrhizin is a mixture of the potassium and calcium salts of glycyrrhizinic acid. The bright yellow colour of the liquorice root is provided by the flavonoids (1% to 1.5%) including liquiritin, isoliquiritin and their corresponding aglycones. Considerable amounts of sugars namely glucose and sucrose are also present.