Turrón

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Turrón (Spanish), torró (Catalan), or torrone (Italian) is a nougat confection, typically made of honey, sugar, and egg white, with toasted almonds or other nuts, and usually shaped into either a rectangular tablet or a round cake. Nowadays it is mostly consumed as a traditional dessert for Christmas in Spain. There are also some varieties in Italy and Latin America.

Contents 1 Recipe 2 History 3 Types 4 External links 5 References

[edit] Recipe

The 16th-century Manual de Mujeres (a handbook of recipes for cosmetics and some foodstuffs) has what is probably the oldest extant Spanish turron recipe (also available in English). It calls for honey and some egg whites, cooked until it becomes breakable once cooled. Once the honey is caramelized the recipe suggests adding pine nuts, almonds or hazelnuts, peeled and roasted. The mix is then cooked a bit further, and finally removed from the heat and cut into slices.

[edit] History

Nougats in different forms have existed in the Mediterranean region since Roman times. Turrón is definitely known since at least the 15th century in the city of Jijona (formerly Sexona, or Xixona in Valencian), north of Alicante. Turrón is now commonly consumed in most of Spain, some countries of Latin America, and in Roussillon (France). The similar Torrone is typical of Bagnara, Taurianova and Cremona in Italy. There are similar confections made in the Philippines, a notable example being Turones de Pili, made using the native Pili nut.

Variations are found throughout the Mediterranean basin.

[edit] Types

Turrón may be roughly classified as:

• Hard (the Alicante variety): A compact block of whole almonds in a brittle mass of eggs, honey and sugar.
• Soft (the Jijona variety): Similar but the almonds are reduced to a paste. The addition of oil makes the matrix more chewy and sticky.

The quality of the product is determined by the quantity of almond in the mix. Genuine Jijona turrón must contain 64% almonds, the Alicante version 60% almonds. Apart from the traditional Alicante and Jijona varieties, one also finds torró d'Agramunt near Lleida, torró de Casinos and torró de gat, a variety from Cullera made with popcorn and honey, both from near Valencia.

Three decades ago there were only known these two variants, but since the diversification of products there are currently dozens of varieties: chocolate with puffed rice or whole almonds; all kinds of chocolate pralines, with or without liquor, candied fruits or whole nuts; fruit pralines; and even sugarless variations (sweetened with fructose or artificial sweeteners).

The Marzipan (mazapán) is also a very well known Christmas candy. In some parts of Spain also yema (egg yolk and sugar) is very popular.

Turrones de Casuy, produced in the Pampangga region of the Philippines may be a derivative. It is a bar of marzipan made with cashew nuts, and wrapped in white wafer. It is, however, not associated with any particular holiday season.

Various types of Turrón/Torrone that have Protected Geographical Status under EU law include:

• Jijona (PGI) (Spain) ^[1]
• Turrón de Alicante (PGI) (Spain) ^[2]
• Turrón de Agramunt (Torró d'Agramunt) (PGI) (Spain) ^[3]

Others, such as Torrone di Cremona (Italy) have protected status by (but not limited to) the country that produces it.

[edit] External links

• (Spanish) Regulatory Council for Jijona and Alicante varieties

[edit] References