Fındık Ezmesi

the hazelnut marzipan of the Turkish Black Sea: roasted Giresun hazelnuts ground and kneaded with sugar syrup into a dense, fragrant paste, rolled into logs and sliced or shaped into rounds

Origin: Turkey

From the journey of Hazelnut.

Turkish has a whole family of dishes called ezme, from the verb meaning to crush or to pound, and they run from the fiery tomato-and-pepper relish of the kebab house to the sweet nut pastes of the confectioner. Fındık ezmesi belongs to the sweet branch: it is the hazelnut counterpart of badem ezmesi, the Turkish almond marzipan, and it is made in exactly the same way, by grinding roasted nuts and working them with sugar into a dense, smooth, mouldable paste. Where marzipan belongs to Europe's almond countries, fındık ezmesi belongs to the Black Sea coast, the ancient Pontus, whose terraced groves at Ordu, Giresun, and Trabzon produce the majority of all the hazelnuts grown on earth. It is the region's own answer to the question of what to do with its harvest when it is not sending it to the chocolate factories of Europe, and it tastes powerfully and unambiguously of the nut, without the chocolate that dominates the hazelnut elsewhere. Sold in slabs and logs at every confectioner and roadside stall along the coast, it is the classic edible souvenir of a journey to the Black Sea, pressed on departing guests and carried home to family, and it is served in thin slices with tea.

Ingredients

Paste

  • 400 g hazelnuts, toasted and skinned
  • 40 g full-fat milk powder, optional, for a softer, milkier paste
  • 1 pinch fine salt

Syrup

  • 250 g granulated sugar
  • 120 ml water
  • 1 tsp lemon juice

To Finish

  • 24 whole whole toasted hazelnuts, to decorate

Method

  1. Grind the toasted, skinned hazelnuts in a food processor in short pulses until they are a fine, even meal, stopping well before they begin to release their oil and turn to a butter.
  2. Stir the milk powder, if using, and the salt through the ground nuts. Meanwhile put the sugar, water, and lemon juice in a small heavy pan and heat, stirring only until the sugar dissolves, then boil without stirring to the soft-ball stage, about 115°C.
  3. Pour the hot syrup over the ground hazelnuts and mix quickly and thoroughly with a sturdy spoon until it comes together into a thick, sticky mass. Leave until cool enough to handle.
  4. Turn the mixture onto a work surface and knead it firmly for 5 to 10 minutes, until it is smooth, glossy, and pliable like a stiff marzipan. If it is too dry and crumbly, work in a teaspoon of water; if too soft, knead in a little more ground nut.
  5. Roll the paste into a log about 5 cm thick and wrap it tightly, or pinch off walnut-sized pieces, roll them into balls, flatten slightly, and press a whole hazelnut into the top of each. Rest for at least an hour to firm.
  6. Slice the log into thin rounds, or serve the shaped pieces as they are, with Turkish tea. Store airtight in a cool place.

Notes

The proportion of sugar to nut decides the character: this ratio gives a firm, sliceable, strongly nutty paste, whilst the commercial versions sold along the coast are often sweeter and softer, and many add milk powder or glucose for a paler, creamier result. Toast the nuts properly and skin them well, as the papery skins are bitter and would speck the paste. Some Black Sea confectioners scent the paste with a little vanilla, and a version rolled in cocoa or dipped in dark chocolate is common in modern shops, though the plain hazelnut paste is the traditional one.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

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Ingredient originTrade or transit route
Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
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