(3-4 inch long) Pour rice milk into a two-cup measuring cup. Add pumpkin until liquid level is up to 1.25 cups. Add water until level is at two cups. Stir, pour into pot, add licorice root, if using. Cover. Bring to rolling boil. While liquid is coming to a boil, mix tapioca, sweetner and 2-3 TB water and stir well until smooth. Once liquid is boiling, turn of flame/remove from heat. Fish out licorice root, if using. Stir with a wooden spoon for around a minute to let the mixture cool off a bit. Stir in vanilla. Alternatively, stir vanilla into tapioca mixture. Continue stirring and slowly pour tapioca mixture into hot liquid. The liquid will gel almost immediately. Stop stirring once the mixture is smooth. Cover an let it all cool off for twenty minutes or so. Pour into half cup bowls and cover with plastic, or pour into small jars and screw on lids (more ecological, not as pretty). Refridgerate and serve cold. You can eat this warm right away but I don't know if it reheats well. NOTES: If the mixture did not gel try adding some more tapioca immediately. I have found, though, that once the gel breaks up you can't fix it. Try different variations use different "filling" or more or less sweetner, more vanilla, other flavorings, vary the milk/water ratio etc. In some cases you may need to add more thickener in order to get it all to gel.