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Turron (Nougat)

Turron is the Spanish word for nougat, made with honey and almonds. Spanish homes will usually have a plate full of different turrons and sweatmeats on a table in the sitting room throughout the Christmas period. You can buy all sorts of varities and flavours. This is the original variety, as bought to Spain by the Arabs during the Moors occupation of this country.. And it is much much nicer than the sticky white or pink nougat sold in shops outside Spain.

An old traditional recipe from Manual de mugeres en el qual se contienen muchas y diversas reçeutas muy buenas (Manual of Women in which is contained many and diverse very good recipes - a translation of an anonymous 16th century cookbook from Spanish into English) is: For each pound of honey a well-beaten egg white and mixed with the honey. And beat it well, letting it rest for a day. And at the other day, cook the honey well, stirring it always without stopping until it is well cooked. See if it is cooked in this way: add a drop of honey in an escudilla of cold water, and if afterwards from being cold it crumbles, it is cooked, and if not, (it's) not (cooked enough). And when it is cooked, add pine nuts, or almonds, or hazelnuts, toasted and ground up. And put it to the fire for a little while. And then remove it, and make clusters or slices, whichever you desire more, from it. (See here for the translation and link to original)

Turrón may be roughly classified as hard (the Alicante variety - compact block of whole almonds in a brittle mass of eggs, honey and sugar); or soft (the Jijona variety - similar but the almonds are reduced to a paste. The addition of oil makes the matrix more chewy and sticky).

"Turron de Alicante" (hard nougat)

From http://www.european-schoolprojects.net/festivals/Spain/winter/recipes.htm

1 kilo Rosemary Honey
500 gms sugar
2 egg whites
1,500 gms almonds, heated up in oven
1 lemon
Slowly heat the honey in a saucepan until all the water that it contains has evaporated.
Add the sugar and mix with a wooden spatula
Beat the egg white until stiff and then add to the mixture.
Stir briskly with the spatula for eight to ten minutes then stir slowly over a low flame until it begins to caramelise
Put the hot almonds into the honey mixture with the rind of the lemon
Mix well and let cook slowly for a few minutes taking care it does not stick
The mixture is then poured into wooden moulds lined with rice paper

After two and a half hours, the turron is cut. When it is completely cold, the slices are stored in an airtight container

"Turron de Jijona" (soft nougat)

From http://www.european-schoolprojects.net/festivals/Spain/winter/recipes.htm#Jijona

1 dessertspoon cinnamon
250 gms sugar
250 grams white honey
250 grams toasted almonds
250 grams toasted hazelnuts
5 egg whites

Chop the nuts finely and then crush them in the mortar until they become a smooth paste
Beat the eggs whites stiffly and then add them to the paste
Put the honey and sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boil
Add the paste to the honey mixture
Mix constantly with a wooden spatula for ten minutes
Remove from the heat, put into wooden moulds lined with rice paper
Leave to cool and then sprinkle with cinammon

"Turron de yema" Egg yolk nougat

From http://www.european-schoolprojects.net/festivals/Spain/winter/recipes.htm

300 grams ground almonds
300 grams icing sugar
6 egg yolks
grated rind of lemon
grated cinamon

Mix the ground almonds with the egg yolks
Make a syrup with the icing sugar and add the cinamon and lemon rind
leave to cook until it begins to turn brown.
Add the almond paste and cook slowly stirring all the time.
When it thickens nicely and does not stick press into a rectangular mould and leave to cool.
You can tip it out of mould after a couple of days.