My sister got a few little marzipan fruits as a gift and she loved them (I had a bite). I want to get her some for Christmas but have been unable to find it locally. Online, different places claim to be the “best” marzipan makers, some using almonds plus sugar, some adding rose water (sounds nasty), and some adding other ingredients.
Is there a rule of thumb for marzipan? How do I tell the good stuff from the bad? Is it better with chocolate? Much of the stuff online seems to be chocolate covered.
Any help would be lovely as I know nothing about this stuff other than the bite I had of it was pretty good.
Marzipan has a delicate flavor that I wouldn’t want covered up by chocolate. If I were in your place, I would buy your sister a box of marzipan fruits, since you already know she likes those.
Marzipan is such a simple candy that the quality comes almost entirely from ingredients and freshness. It’s just ground blanched almonds, egg whites and sugar. I would look for a company that specializes in marzipan, since they’re likely to have a high turnover (i.e. no year-old boxes of marzipan fruits collecting dust on the back shelf).
You can buy a bar of it at most supermarkets; Odense is the most common brand. I can get it here at my very tiny Safeway in a town of 9,000 – I’m sure you can find it in a supermarket near you.
Of course at that point it’s simply a tube full of marzipan. I’ve tried molding and coloring it but that truly is an art that I would leave to professionals. I do enjoy it covered with a high-quality dark chocolate and often give chocolate-covered marzipan pieces as gifts for Christmas. There’s something about the bitterness of the chocolate that contrasts well with the sweetness of the marzipan. I simply melt the chocolate in the microwave, dunk the marzipan bits one at a time till they’re covered, fish them out with a fork and drop on waxed paper to harden.
The German chocolate company Ritter Sport has a dark chocolate bar with marzipan filling. Look, you can buy it at the camping store REI.
But if I wanted to buy marzipan fruits, I’d buy them from Veniero’s in New York. Their marzipan fruits are as delicious as they’re beautiful, I used to go there all the time in High School. Superb quality and beautiful decoration.
I’ve bought marzipan fruits at World Market - don’t know if you have one nearby. I’m sure they’re not quite the quality of Veniero’s, but they were certainly acceptable.
The Ritter Sport bar is pretty damn nice. The best marzipan I’ve had was in Lübeck in Germany. It was very almondy and kind of light. Lovely stuff.
When I was young I tried making it myself from skinned almonds. I wanted to make really groovy pastries. Making my own was a waste of time. Just buy it from a German deli that has decent turnover.