Is marzipan candy a Euro only thing?

[grude]

My mom was from Germany and she used to like this candy that was basically a small basket of "fruits" made of marzipan, the only place I've ever seen it is Euro import stores.

Is there any candy made in the USA out of marzipan?

[Motorgirl]

I've seen it in fancy candy shops, and marzipan is available plain in many supermarkets, but marzipan candy doesn't seem to be very popular in the US.

I personally find marzipan dreadful and foul and am glad nobody ever gives me any.

[thelurkinghorror]

Pretty much. I only had it as a kid due to the influence of a German-American grandmother. You can find it in fancier stores, as well as a tiny convenience store in San Francisco for some reason. Nicer grocery stores like Raley's/Nob Hill might have it. I can't think of any US equivalents, but then anything with almond (paste) might apply.

It is wonderful.

[Left Hand of Dorkness]

My wife loves it, so I've ended up acquiring a tolerance for it. I won't eat it on my own, though.

But my 3-year-old went to a birthday party when she wasn't yet two, at which the cake was topped with marzipan pigs, and she thought they were the awesomest; so for her birthday I made a cake topped with ducks and duckweed.

Turns out the kid likes marzipan, too.

[Nava]

You may be able to find it in Hispanic stores too, specially around Christmas; if they can't figure out what you're asking for by the English name, in Spanish it's spelled mazapán.

If there's a supermarket in your area which carries nougat/turrón for Christmas, there should be mazapán with it.

[madrabbitwoman]

I can buy them at my local newsagent - Aussie though

[Maastricht]

The Dutch have a november-december tradition of marzipan candy, related to the holiday of Sinterklaas (Our version of Santa). The idea is to make all sorts of items from marzipan paste, and color them to resemble the real thing. From marzipan herring to marzipan calculators to marzipan coins, fruit, sausage, drivers licences. Or Angry Birds figurines. Such candy is then given to friends and famly with teasing poems about getting a drivers licence or not liking fruit or whatever. The recipient is supposed to look at it, pretend he doesn't know it is marzipan, bite in it and act surprised.

Yeah, it is a silly feast.

Ftr, I looooove marzipan and am kind of a snob about it. Like liquorice, there are lots of different qualities and varieties.

[salinqmind]

Marzipan bars can be found for about a dollar at any Aldi! Especially around Christmas time.

Plain, and I think maybe a couple with different flavors, but basically almond paste. I love these bars. They sell the little box of marzipan fruits, too, but the bars are better.

Marzipan might be found in the 'foreign food' aisle at any good sized American grocery, they seem to be a German delicacy.

[Maastricht]

Real marzipan is made of ground up almonds, sugar, and rose water. It's a Moorish delicacy.

Cheap marzipan is made of ground up white beans with almond flavouring.

[shiftless]

Originally Posted by Motorgirl

I've seen it in fancy candy shops, and marzipan is available plain in many supermarkets, but marzipan candy doesn't seem to be very popular in the US.

I personally find marzipan dreadful and foul and am glad nobody ever gives me any.

Yep. I see it in the grocery store but don't know anyone who has ever used it, 'cause it tastes like medicine gone bad.

[Floater]

Originally Posted by salinqmind

Plain, and I think maybe a couple with different flavors, but basically almond paste.

If English has the same distinction as Swedish the almond to sugar ratio is ca 25:75 in marzipan and 50:50 in almond paste.

Originally Posted by Maastricht

Cheap marzipan is made of ground up white beans with almond flavouring.

But then it isn't marzipan at all in my opinion.

Anyway I can't imagine how one cannot like marzipan.

[gwendee]

My mom used to get marzipan acorns as a gift from her dad. He bought them someplace he walked past in his commute. The local bakery in my home town sold marzipan fruits by the pound. All in New York, but also all over 30 years ago.

I don't dislike marzipan but there are other things I like more so I haven't sought out a local source. I mean for shaped candies. I see the bars in the grocery store near the almond paste and candied fruit.

[DMark]

At the LA Farmers Market on Fairfax, there is a great bakery that makes something called a Princess Cake - bright green dome shape, and the bright green is made with an entire thin sheet of marzipan to cover the entire dome. Wonderful stuff!

Having lived in Germany, marzipan is everywhere and in all sorts of cakes, cookies and candies. One contradiction I found is that Germans always complained American desserts are "too sweet", but they will wolf down marzipan that makes sugar seem sour in comparison to the sweetness of pure marzipan.

[Floater]

Originally Posted by DMark

At the LA Farmers Market on Fairfax, there is a great bakery that makes something called a Princess Cake - bright green dome shape, and the bright green is made with an entire thin sheet of marzipan to cover the entire dome. Wonderful stuff!

I had no idea that they are known outside Sweden. Anyway, a true princess cake should be decorated with a pink marzipan rose in my opinion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Cake

[panache45]

The best marzipan I ever had was in Toledo, Spain. Also the worst.

[Arnold Winkelried]

Fun Swiss tradition alert!

In December 1602 Frenchmen from Savoy tried to invade Geneva (now part of Switzerland, back then an independent republic). They were repelled from climbing the city walls. The alert was given by La Mère Royaume (Mother Royaume) who poured a cauldron (in French: marmite) of hot vegetable soup on the attackers.

In Geneva, on the feast of the Escalade (escalade = climbing, what the attackers were doing to attack the city: climbing the city walls) you buy a chocolate marmite filled with marzipan vegetables. Someone breaks it by slamming on it with his fist, the vegetables go flying, and the kids pick up the pieces of chocolate and vegetables to eat them.

Wikipedia article on l'Escalade

Photo of chocolate marmites The wikipedia article had a photo of a candy store window and I'm 99% sure I've bought a chocolate marmite from that very store once!

When I was in third grade in Geneva, I had just moved and was the new kid in class so the teacher let me break the marmite when we had our class party. Good times.

[suranyi]

Marzipan is one of those things that, if it's well made, it's delicious, but if not, it's disgusting. So you have to be careful when you buy it.

[claramorena]

My mother is Mexican and once in Mexico City D.F we went into a candy store to buy marzipan and she was telling how it was popular in Spain and Mexico and how yummy it was.

I hated it but my grandparents loved it.

[Cub Mistress]

Marzipan is something of a acquired taste. The adorable little shaped vegetables and all are what drew me in. One Christmas, I made a box of hand-molded marizipan roses for a friend.

Some children's book I read long ago said the British word for marzipan was marchpane. I have no idea why that has stuck with me all these years

[Sattua]

TJ Maxx usually has boxes of the fruit-shaped marzipans at Christmas. They aren't particularly tasty though... usually pretty stale by the time they make it there.

[Biffy the Elephant Shrew]

There's always See's dark chocolate-covered marzipan, which I think is yummy.

[antonio107]

Originally Posted by Motorgirl

I've seen it in fancy candy shops, and marzipan is available plain in many supermarkets, but marzipan candy doesn't seem to be very popular in the US.

I personally find marzipan dreadful and foul and am glad nobody ever gives me any.

^ This times 1000.

My Hungarian granny makes me buy them around Christmas. I've only seen them here (Canada) in specialty "European Deli" shops that sell Vegeta and other East European specialty stuff.

[antonio107]

Originally Posted by Cub Mistress

Some children's book I read long ago said the British word for marzipan was marchpane. I have no idea why that has stuck with me all these years

I learned that from Shakespeare (I believe Romeo and Juliet). I remember it because it's so damn...weird looking!!

[Saintly Loser]

I love marzipan. I always have. I always will.

Many years ago, when I was in high school, there was a store a few blocks from my school that sold marzipan. And pretty much only marzipan. In all kinds of shapes. Little animals, vegetables, fruits, all the way up to whole castles populated with lords and ladies, servants, knights, serfs, farm animals, domestic pets and who knows what else.

The brick and mortar store is long gone, but they're online now. Here's the link:
http://www.elkcandy.com/

[Zebra]

It's available in NYC in a lot of places. I don't think I've ever tried it.

[Pyper]

Originally Posted by panache45

The best marzipan I ever had was in Toledo, Spain. Also the worst.

Was the same piece of marzipan both the best and worst, or you tried a couple different kinds?

I also got some marzipan in Toledo (I think it's required by law, as Toledo is the purported birthplace of marzipan). It was very dry and not sweet enough for our American palates, but we found on the bus back to Madrid we could not. stop. eating it.

[Moe]

Surprised no one has specifically mentioned marzipan potatoes since in Germany (or at least here in Berlin) around Christmas time these are everywhere. They look exactly like little potatoes. I wasn't a big fan at first but I have a sweet tooth that can rival just about anyone you know, so when all the chocolate and ice cream and cookies and cakes are gone, and the cravings come, and all that I can find in the apartment is a big bag of marzipan... well, it's not bad.

[Johanna]

Marzipan fruits and vegetables are very popular in Sicily too. Small wonder, since sugar cane cultivation was introduced to Sicily by the Arabs, and Sicilians were among the first people in medieval Europe to have sugar. They shape marzipan into fruits seen locally in Sicily including figs and prickly pears.

So when I was growing up my Sicilian-American aunts would make a... sort of... Americanized excuse for marzipan. The only shape they ever made was strawberries. They made it of American-style flaked coconut and sugar, with maybe a drop of almond extract, rolled in red-colored sugar in a strawberry shape, and topped off with green plastic strawberry stems. It was no more than a pathetically sad imitation of the real stuff from the old country. I never encountered real marzipan until we visited Sicily.

[Swords to Plowshares]

Fruit-shaped things should taste like fruit, dammit.

[aruvqan]

You know that you can make your own marzipan and little fruits? Or you can buy premade decent quality marzipan [almond paste and knead in some rosewater with the coloring]

If you are not good enough to shape them by hand you can buy marzipan molds, cute little silicon things. I actually have a few, my favorite is a little scallop shell, about .75x1 inch. Sort of like this one without the other shell added.

[hogarth]

I don't know what it is. Almonds are delicious, and sugar is delicious, but marzipan....yuck.

[Misnomer]

Originally Posted by Biffy the Elephant Shrew

There's always See's dark chocolate-covered marzipan, which I think is yummy.

Ritter Sport makes an excellent dark chocolate marzipan, too.

[thelurkinghorror]

Originally Posted by Misnomer

Ritter Sport makes an excellent dark chocolate marzipan, too.

That's the brand I was thinking of. They've got a good half dozen flavors at least, not all marizpan.

[Misnomer]

Yeah, I like a lot of the Ritter Sport flavors; the marzipan is just my favorite.

[maggenpye]

Originally Posted by Left Hand of Dorkness

(snip)... for her birthday I made a cake topped with ducks and duckweed.

And a really neat cake it was too.


As per the Requirements of Being a Kiwi Chick, I have an Edmonds Cookbook which has a whole section on making little marzipan fruits. It suggests presenting them in teeny tiny mini cupcake papers in a gift box.

Luckily for my tastebuds, you can do something almost identical with fondant.

[Dendarii Dame]

The Swiss Colony, a mail order candy/cake/cheese/etc. company sells marzipan.

[Johanna]

Originally Posted by misnomer

yeah, i like a lot of the ritter sport flavors; the marzipan is just my favorite.

+1,001

Grand Mart on Leesburg Pike is the only place around here I've found that has it.

[Misnomer]

Originally Posted by Johanna

Grand Mart on Leesburg Pike is the only place around here I've found that has it.

Ooh, I know exactly where that is and will have to check it out! I usually get my "fix" from the deli next to my office building (in Tysons). Trader Joe's sells Ritter Sport, but not the marzipan one.

[Autolycus]

Marzipan reminds me of Home Star Runner, so that makes it doubly awesome!

[nachtmusick]

Originally Posted by thelurkinghorror

That's the brand I was thinking of. They've got a good half dozen flavors at least, not all marizpan.

A little grocery near my office stocks a whole shelf of Ritter Sport - I've seen 15-20 different flavors when fully-stocked. The marzipan is usually the first to sell-out, so there seem to be a lot of Ritter Sport marzipan fans. I consider them all to be competitors and enemies.

[Nightsong]

Originally Posted by Johanna

+1,001

Grand Mart on Leesburg Pike is the only place around here I've found that has it.

I see it at Cost Plus/World Market (Bailey's Crossroads) - not every time I go there, but fairly consistently. They also usually carry at least some marzipan stuff, with the largest selection being close to the winter time/Christmas holiday season. (Including the marzipan potatoes.)

___
<< BREAKFAST.COM halted, cereal port not found. >>

[Tom Tildrum]

In the US, it's known as Play-Doh and widely available in a variety of children's toys.

[panache45]

Originally Posted by Pyper

Was the same piece of marzipan both the best and worst, or you tried a couple different kinds?

I also got some marzipan in Toledo (I think it's required by law, as Toledo is the purported birthplace of marzipan). It was very dry and not sweet enough for our American palates, but we found on the bus back to Madrid we could not. stop. eating it.

Two different places. Yeah, the only things they actually make in Toledo are armor, cutlery and marzipan. If it weren't for tourism, they'd have to shut the place down.

[salinqmind]

Originally Posted by Misnomer

Ritter Sport makes an excellent dark chocolate marzipan, too.

Reading around I found out Trader Joe's is the #1 purveyor of Ritter Sport candy, and as Trader Joe's owns Aldi (or maybe vice versa), Ritter Sport marzipan is thus found at Aldi, and I'm going there tomorrow because now I want marzipan badly. One wearies so of chocolate/peanut, chocolate/peanut, chocolate/peanut....

[sinjin]

I like marzipan skulls

[Absolute]

Originally Posted by Tom Tildrum

In the US, it's known as Play-Doh and widely available in a variety of children's toys.

Uh, no it's not. Play-Doh is not edible, and it's certainly not marzipan.

[Autolycus]

Them's the jokes, son.

[thelurkinghorror]

Originally Posted by Absolute

Uh, no it's not. Play-Doh is not edible, and it's certainly not marzipan.

Not edible? Ask any 4 year old and they'll tell you why that's wrong!

[aruvqan]

Originally Posted by Absolute

Uh, no it's not. Play-Doh is not edible, and it's certainly not marzipan.

though you can use the pladoh extruder thingies to mold marzipan ... =)

[Nava]

Originally Posted by panache45

Two different places. Yeah, the only things they actually make in Toledo are armor, cutlery and marzipan. If it weren't for tourism, they'd have to shut the place down.

And that barrio full of ministries... (Toledo is one of Madrid's "dorm towns", but unlike most of them, it's actually got something other than rows and rows of "beehive buildings").