Marzipan sponge cake recipe
The holiday season, with all its lavish feasting and festivities, often leaves behind a trail of culinary leftovers that end
As with nougat, the true origin of marzipan is doubtful. There are multiple versions that place its invention in different moments of history and the world, but if there is one thing they agree on, it is that its recipe has more than 500 years of tradition.
The first known written reference to marzipan is of Arab origin, specifically in the book of the Thousand and One Nights, where it is said that it was a delicacy made to provide energy and sexual vigor after the Ramadan fasts.
On the other hand, there are data that indicate that there was a dessert in ancient Greece, very similar to the marzipan recipe, which was made with almonds and honey. And that the Sicilians were the heirs of that recipe that they baptized with the name of “panus martius” – March bread-, or “marzipan” in Italian.
The Italian version tells that it was the nuns of a monastery in Sicily who made marzipan in the form of small figurines, and that in a short time they became so famous that they were forbidden to dedicate themselves to their production because it distracted them from their true religious duties.
No mention of marzipan is made in Spain until the 16th century.
It is said that it was the nuns of the Conventof San Clemente, in Toledo, who, faced with a famine in the population, which lacked wheat and was ravaged by the Arabs, decided to create a dish with the only ingredients they had on hand: sugar and almonds. The invention has undoubtedly had a great impact, because today it is still the finishing touch to many Christmas dinners.
Perhaps because of this recipe elaborated by the nuns, today one of the most recognized marzipan worldwide is the marzipan of Toledo, which also has a Denomination of Origin.
The regulation indicates that a good marzipan with Denomination of Origin must contain at least 50% almonds and that the almonds must be of sweet varieties, peeled and with a fat content of 50%. The main difference with the production of nougat, although both contain almonds, is that nougat is made with honey while marzipan is sometimes made with a potato-based paste.
Not only Spain has the privilege of enjoying excellent marzipan, unlike nougat, which is made in Spain.
made in Spain
(in this post we tell you about the origins of nougat). There are marzipans all over the world.
In Germany, Lübecker marzipans are famous and have their own Denomination of Origin, while in Colombia they make a marzipan with milk and powdered sugar instead of almonds; in the Philippines they are made with Pili nuts; in Mexico with peanuts, and in Venezuela with cashew nuts.
Wherever it comes from, marzipan is a real Christmas treat. At
Casa Mira
we can offer you marzipan figurines handmade in our workshop with Marcona almonds. We warn you that if you try them you won’t be able to stop.
Visit our website and we will send it to your home.
The holiday season, with all its lavish feasting and festivities, often leaves behind a trail of culinary leftovers that end
There are sweets that have history. And then there are the San Isidro doughnuts, which have history, legend, madrileñismo, powdered