Marziporn

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Toledo is famous for its marzipan, and there are a number of places dotted around town (mainly convents, but not exclusively), where they produce marzipan confectionery. Some sell directly to the public, which works out cheaper than buying from the shops.

My friend Cristina took me to one of these “marzipan factories” a couple of weeks ago to pick up a few gift boxes. I took some pictures while we hung about waiting.

This is the expensive stuff with the highest almond content

Delicias de Mazapan: This is the expensive stuff with the highest almond content

Marzipan 2Marzipan 3Marzipan 4

[I’ve posted on Toledo’s marzipan bounty once before, which included some pics of “nuns” slaving away making the stuff. Click here if you want to see it.]

 

74 thoughts on “Marziporn”

      2. ladyofthecakes Post author

        I didn’t have time for a siesta today… I had a very strenuous intercambio, where I learned to say “sandstone”, “pumice”, “igneous rock” and “anthropogenic conglomerate” in Spanish. None of these are as nice as marzipan.

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  4. suej

    I’m with you and Jude…am rather partial to Marzipan…the best bit of the Christmas cake when I was a child was the marzipan. And then it gets me thinking about Frangipane tart, another almondy thing….fig Frangipane tart, made with figs from my garden…yum…

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  8. adamf2011

    Now if only I could download an actual piece of marzipan from this post and sample it…on second thought, maybe it’s for the best that that kind of technology doesn’t exist…yet. 🙂

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  9. Kim in Fiji

    green-eyed with marzipan envy. But why would you even need to say “anthropogenic conglomerate” in Spanish – or even igneous rock for that matter? Do you go picking up words like crowbar, jigger, hemming tape, daddy-long-legs, etc. just for the heck of it? If yes, I’m green-eyed with envy again that you can do it!

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      1. Marianne

        Here’s my lines, Miss:

        I do NOT like marzipan.
        I WILL NEVER EVER eat another piece of marzipan IN MY WHOLE LIFE. YUK!

        I do NOT like marzipan.
        I WILL NEVER EVER eat another piece of marzipan IN MY WHOLE LIFE. YUK!

        I do NOT like marzipan.
        I WILL NEVER EVER eat another piece of marzipan IN MY WHOLE LIFE. YUK!

        Hey – I just discovered that it’s a whole lot easier doing lines on a computer than it used to be writing them out by hand! 😉

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  13. Bernard O'Shea

    I had a chuckle at your headline. When I was young I didn’t like marzipan – I would always give the Christmas cake icing to my sister, who loved it. Now I quite like it. Funny how tastes change.

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  14. linnetmoss

    Here in the US we suffer from Marzipan Deprivation Syndrome. Nobody. Ever. Puts. Marzipan. In a Cake. All we get is colored, fruit-shaped candies of not very high quality, and usually only at Christmas. It is a sad state of affairs.

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    1. ladyofthecakes Post author

      I’m surprised. Why is the Californian Almond Board not onto this?!? Massive missed opportunity in a country where EVERYTHING, including plain old bread, is so sweet that it tastes like cake to the rest of us.

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      1. linnetmoss

        Very true. The almond people have gone for savory instead of sweet (Blue Diamond) and haven’t really succeeded in getting Americans hooked on almond confections. Most people could cite the “Almond Joy” candy bar, but it only has a couple of almonds on top of a coconut confection. Imagine if it were marzipan–yum!

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  15. pollyheath

    I’m going to have to chime in as another anti-marzipaner. I’d much rather eat around it. Or watch marziporn.

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  16. theblackberryboys

    I found the title very effective 🙂 I have to get to Toledo right away! Fresh Marzipan is my favorite kind 🙂 These beauties look so yummy! My 6 year old also loves marzipan. He (Blackberry #1) will only eat a cake if it has or it is covered in marzipan 🙂 I don’t blame him. it is good stuff 🙂

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  17. Jackie Cangro

    This is one factory I’d like to work in.

    The Italian bakery near my office has a lot of marzipan treats, but they’re always in the shape and color of fruits: figs, bananas, cherries, etc. I’m sure it takes skill to get the treats to look this way, but it’s false advertising if you ask me.

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      2. ladyofthecakes Post author

        I do have posts about global ketchup and mustard consumption, so should find an answer… but if they wanted to know whether they have inside toilets in Russia, they better go ask you 😉

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