# How is marzipan made?

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## Summary

Marzipan is ground almonds and sugar made into a paste, by grinding with sugar or mixing with syrup. Lübeck makers guarantee two thirds almonds.

## Description

Marzipan is a confection made mainly from sugar and almond meal, which is ground almonds, sometimes with almond oil or almond extract added. It can also be made from other nuts, or from apricot or peach kernels instead of almonds.
How it is made
There are two classic methods:
German marzipan is made by grinding whole almonds with sugar and partly drying the paste.French marzipan, called massepain, is made by combining ground almonds with sugar syrup.
Some marzipan is flavoured with rosewater. Spanish marzipan is made without bitter almonds, and in the United States bitter almonds are not used at all, because their import is banned: they contain a substance related to cyanide. Sugar free marzipan can be made by replacing the sugar with polyols such as maltitol: see sugar free sweets and polyols
How much almond?
Almond content matters. Two European marzipans have protected status:
Lübeck marzipan, from the old Hanseatic port in Germany, where makers such as Niederegger still guarantee two thirds almonds by weight, said to give marzipan of the highest quality.Toledo marzipan, from Spain, where almonds must make up at least 50 per cent of the total weight.
At the other end, some products sold as marzipan are made from cheaper materials such as soy paste and almond essence, and scientists can use genetic tests to tell real almonds from substitutes at levels below one per cent.
What it is made into
Marzipan is often made into sweets, such as chocolate covered marzipan and small marzipan imitations of fruit and vegetables, and in some countries into little animals for Christmas or New Year. In the United Kingdom it is also used on cakes. Christmas cake is covered with marzipan under white icing; the Easter simnel cake has a layer of marzipan inside and another on top, lightly toasted; and Battenberg cake, which originates in England, is wrapped in marzipan.
An old sweet
Marzipan's history is disputed. It is documented earlier in Italian than in any other language, Toledo's first written reference dates from 1512, and it may have come from the parts of Spain that were Al Andalus. In England it was known as marchpane, a word that appears in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: see what is the oldest sweet in Britain?
Allergens
Marzipan is made from almonds, a tree nut and one of the 14 allergens that must be declared: see which sweets contain nuts?

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