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How roasted almonds become marzipan (2018)

57 points| Tomte | 3 years ago |cnn.com | reply

55 comments

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[+] mrlonglong|3 years ago|reply
Niederegger in Lübeck makes the world's best marzipan.

https://www.niederegger.de/en

These are like heaven's tears.

[+] chias|3 years ago|reply
A story of disappointment in three acts:

---

ACT I: Oh cool, they deliver to the USA and their prices are reasonable, let's try it!

ACT II: Sign up for an account in order to check out.

ACT III: Subtotal 16 €; shipping 145 €; total 161 €

[+] car|3 years ago|reply
Absolutely true. My grandma used to make nougat filled 'bread' and also marzipan 'potatoes' from the raw Niederegger base. The 'potatoes' are little marzipan balls dusted with cacao powder. They can also be found on Amazon.com as "Marzipan Kartoffeln".

The difference between good marzipan and the cheap stuff is the almond to sugar ratio. The cheapo marzipan is awfully sweet, no comparison to Niederegger.

We've made marzipan at home using almond flour, powdered sugar, bitter almond extract and rose water. Never managed to get anywhere close to Niederegger. Nobody knows what their secret ingredient is, like Coca Cola I suppose.

Edit: Cost Plus World Market carries Niederegger before christmas, really the most affordable we've found in the US. Can also recommend their "Schwarzbrot", which is covered with dark chocolate ("Kuvertüre").

[+] _tom_|3 years ago|reply
It's hard to take anyone's marzipan seriously, if all the marzipan they sell must be flavored with something. 90 percent of their "marzipan" products are covered in chocolate. If your marzipan is good, other flavors aren't necessary.

Chocolate covered marzipan, yuck!

[+] CurtHagenlocher|3 years ago|reply
I definitely haven't found anything better which is also relatively available in the US. But I think that Königsberg-style marzipan is way better than Lübeck-style (and would do so even if my mother weren't from East Prussia. :)
[+] capevace|3 years ago|reply
I would’ve never believed to see Lübeck mentioned here on HN. I find it super cute how our small, traditional Marzipan company has made it into candy shops of the world.

I was in a small town in the middle of Australia once, and they sold little marzipan bricks in the candy section. Warms my northern heart :)

[+] moontear|3 years ago|reply
True. Best marzipan around. Of course there are other copy cat marzipans from Lübeck which are not the real thing.
[+] boruto|3 years ago|reply
Seems alcohol is a common ingredient in all their offerings.
[+] kurt_thomas|3 years ago|reply
Niederegger's is really good, but having done, uh, extensive sampling of the marzipan space, these guys' marzipan is even better: https://www.mest.de/ Bonus tip: They sell the slightly damaged "Bruchware" from October 24 onwards (apparently when they start or finish production for Christmas): https://www.mest.de/produkte/aktionsprodukte/
[+] boruto|3 years ago|reply
amazing, I was looking for alternatives for Niederegger
[+] hn_throwaway_99|3 years ago|reply
Great video and very interesting! Unfortunately, as someone with a major sweet tooth that loves all kind of candy/chocolate (and even really likes almonds), I never liked marzipan, and I've tried lots of different brands/quality. Just generally a really unpleasant flavor to me and usually sickly sweet.
[+] m463|3 years ago|reply
As a kid I just couldn't appreciate adult tastes for dessert.

I just couldn't understand why adults would eat something like marzipan, a butter cookie, or fruit cake.

I mean why choose those over chocolate or a reeses cup or a creme filled donut?

(I also didn't understand why old people would play golf when they could ride bikes)

[+] seanhunter|3 years ago|reply
You're not wrong. Marzipan is one of the most disgusting things known to man.

And before people say it's to do with complex/adult tastes, there are lots of those that I really love: black coffee (especially espresso), gin, marmite (a powerful salty/umami flavour) etc. Marzipan is just nasty.

[+] e12e|3 years ago|reply
Hm, we've always made marzipan at home for Christmas. It's easy - start with almonds, scald in water and remove skin, let dry. Grind to almond "flour". Mix in an egg white (optional), add powdered sugar - mix by hand - like dough.

Optionally add coloring. Make into shapes. Optionally coat in dark chocolate.

Never realized the paste would be heated for normal marzipan - only that it can be baked to make a cake - but that ends up tasting somewhat different (still good).

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kransekage

[+] shadowofneptune|3 years ago|reply
Come to think of it, I've never had almond marizpan. The popular stuff in the US is all from peanuts. For those who have tasted both, what is the difference?
[+] crazygringo|3 years ago|reply
I'm in the US (Northeast) and have no idea what you're talking about, marzipan isn't especially popular in the first place but where you do find it it's almond by definition. But usually you just make it yourself from almonds if you need it for baking since only specialty stores usually carry it. (E.g. it's not at Whole Foods.)

I've never even heard of making it with a different nut. What part of the US do you live in that you're eating a peanut version? What's it called? (Brand name or candy?)

[+] chrisseaton|3 years ago|reply
> I've never had almond marizpan

But that's what marzipan is - almonds. Peanuts make mazapan - it's a Mexican food.

> For those who have tasted both, what is the difference?

The former tastes like almonds, the latter like peanuts!

[+] kwhitefoot|3 years ago|reply
It never occurred to me that one could call it marzipan if it were not made of almonds. I think people in Europe would probably object. I would certainly feel inclined to return it to the shop along with a complaint if I discovered that it was not made of almonds.
[+] svnpenn|3 years ago|reply
actual title is "How roasted almonds become marzipan"

seems like a pointless title change.

[+] smt88|3 years ago|reply
HN does this automatically, and it's always pointless and often actively harmful to conveying the meaning of the article
[+] dvh|3 years ago|reply
I've tried few recipes and they never tasted like store bought marzipan, the only ingredient I couldn't find that differed was invertase.
[+] 01100011|3 years ago|reply
Huh... I guess my taste buds aren't so refined. I made marzipan from blanched almonds once and I thought it was perfect. IIRC I only added sugar and a tad of almond flavoring to give it a boost of flavor.
[+] ericbarrett|3 years ago|reply
Invertase is an enzyme for making invert sugar, which in turn is pretty simple to make at home (sugar, water, heat).
[+] amelius|3 years ago|reply
What is the fake marzipan made of?
[+] dr_dshiv|3 years ago|reply
Almond paste… Marzipan… Nougat…

Please… help me make sense of it all

[+] clucas|3 years ago|reply
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdWmulnsVQw

I found this channel last week at a friend's recommendation, here's his video on nougat. Really interesting to see someone show the reasons behind industrial food production without the automatic condemnation that usually comes with it.