Lübecker Marzipan

The marzipan of Lübeck: fine almond paste worked smooth with rose water and moulded into fruits and loaves

Origin: Lübeck, Germany

From the journey of Almond.

Marzipan, the smooth paste of ground almond and sugar, is one of the great confections of the world, and the German city of Lübeck has made it so completely its own that Lübecker Marzipan now carries a protected European designation. The Hanseatic port took up the sweet from the medieval Mediterranean, where it had grown out of the Arab almond-and-sugar pastes, and refined it to a high standard: a fine, pale, restrained marzipan with a high proportion of good almond and only as much sugar as it needs. A fond local legend, almost certainly untrue, holds that the city's bakers invented it during a famine when nothing remained in the storehouses but almonds and sugar. The defining note of true marzipan is the breath of bitter almond, the haunting aroma that a few drops of bitter-almond essence (or a single ground bitter almond) lend to the sweet kernel; without it, marzipan tastes merely of sugared almond. Lübeck's confectioners mould their marzipan into astonishingly lifelike fruits, painted and glazed, into loaves and figures, and above all into the marzipan of Christmas: the heart of the Dresden Stollen, the marzipan potato dusted in cocoa, and the lucky marzipan pig of the New Year. The same paste, rolled thin, is the marchpane that crowned the banquets of medieval and Renaissance Europe. Made well, marzipan is far better than any bought block: soft, pliable, deeply almond-scented, and a pleasure to mould by hand into whatever the occasion asks.

Ingredients

  • 250 g blanched almonds, very finely ground
  • 200 g icing sugar, sifted
  • 1 egg white, lightly beaten (or 2 to 3 tbsp water, for an egg-free paste)
  • 1 tbsp rose water
  • 0.25 tsp bitter-almond essence (or 1 ground bitter almond)

Method

  1. Combine the very finely ground almonds and sifted icing sugar in a bowl.
  2. Stir the rose water and bitter-almond essence into the lightly beaten egg white, then add to the almond mixture a little at a time, working it in with your hands.
  3. Knead briefly on a surface dusted with icing sugar until completely smooth and cohesive. Do not overwork, or the almonds release their oil and the paste turns greasy.
  4. Wrap tightly and rest for 30 minutes before using, so the almond absorbs the moisture evenly.
  5. Mould as you wish: roll and cut into shapes, model into fruits and figures, or shape into a loaf. Colour with a little food colouring kneaded in, and paint moulded fruits with diluted colour once dry.

Notes

Marzipan keeps for several weeks tightly wrapped in the refrigerator; bring to room temperature before moulding. The egg-free water version keeps longer and is safer for moulded decorations that sit out. Use this marzipan to fill Stollen, to cover cakes, or simply to mould the fruits and figures of the German Christmas.

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