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How is peanut brittle made?
Brittle is made around the world, with peanuts, almonds, pistachios or sesame, from Mexico to Vietnam. Here is how classic peanut brittle is made, and some of its many cousins.
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Brittle is a sweet made of flat, broken pieces of hard sugar candy with nuts such as pecans, almonds or peanuts set into it. It is usually less than 1 cm thick. In the United States, peanut brittle is the most popular brittle recipe.
How American peanut brittle is made
- Boil to hard crack. Sugar and water are heated to the hard crack stage, about 146 to 154°C. Some recipes add glucose and salt at this point: see how are sweets made?
- Add the peanuts. The nuts are mixed into the hot, caramelised sugar.
- Enrich. Spices, a raising agent, and often peanut butter or butter are added.
- Pour and spread. The hot candy is poured onto a flat surface to cool, typically a granite or marble slab or a baking sheet, and may be spread to an even thickness.
- Break. When it is cool enough to handle, it is broken into pieces. It is rare for brittle to break into equal pieces.
A sweet the world shares
The word brittle first appeared in print for the sweet in 1892, but the candy itself is much older, and it has variations around the world:
- Chikki in India, and gachak in Indian Punjab
- Pasteli in Greece
- Croquant or nougatine in France, where nougatine uses sliced almonds in clear caramel
- Croccante in Italy and krokant in Germany
- Pé de moleque in Brazil and palanqueta in Mexico
- Gozinaki in Georgia
- Praline in Louisiana, traditionally made with pecans
In parts of the Middle East brittle is made with pistachios, while many Asian countries use sesame seeds and peanuts.
Brittle, toffee and honeycomb
Brittle is cooked to the same hard crack stage as hard toffee, but it is built around nuts: see how is toffee made? Honeycomb toffee is aerated with baking soda instead: see how is honeycomb toffee made?
Allergens
Brittle is made with nuts, and peanuts and tree nuts are both among the 14 allergens that must be declared: see which sweets contain nuts?
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Questions and answers
How is peanut brittle made?
Sugar and water, sometimes with glucose and salt, are boiled to the hard crack stage, about 146 to 154°C. Peanuts are mixed into the hot caramelised sugar, often with butter, spices or a raising agent. The candy is poured onto a slab to cool, spread thin, and broken into pieces once cool enough to handle.
Why is brittle broken into uneven pieces?
Because it is poured out as a thin sheet and then broken once it has cooled, rather than cut. It is rare for brittle to break into equal pieces.
Is brittle safe for a nut allergy?
No. Brittle is made with nuts such as peanuts, almonds or pecans, and peanuts and tree nuts are both among the 14 allergens.
Sources
- Brittle (food), Wikipedia
- Candy making, Wikipedia
- Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, Annex II, legislation.gov.uk
Keep reading
- Questions people askWhich sweets contain nuts?Nougat, marzipan, brittle, chocolate peanuts and some Turkish delight contain nuts. Peanuts and tree nuts are separate allergens, and labels must show them.
- Diet, allergens and labelsNuts and pick and mixNut sweets such as nougat, marzipan and chocolate peanuts can sit beside other loose sweets. What that means for nut allergies, and what to ask before you buy.
- How it is madeHow is toffee made?Toffee is sugar or treacle boiled with butter to the hard crack stage, 149 to 154°C, then poured out to set. Cooked less, it stays chewier.
- How it is madeHow is honeycomb toffee made?Honeycomb toffee is hot sugar syrup with baking soda stirred in. The soda gives off carbon dioxide, which blows the syrup into a foam that sets hard.
- How it is madeHow are sweets made?Most sweets start as sugar syrup boiled to a set temperature, from about 112°C for fudge to 160°C for hard sweets. The stages, the methods and some history.
- How it is madeHow is seaside rock made?Seaside rock is boiled sugar, pulled until it turns white, wrapped in a coloured casing and rolled out by hand into long thin sticks.