Turron de Alicante y Jijona

Origin: Valencia, Alicante and Jijona

Turrón, or nougat, is the mass obtained from the marriage of cooked honey, nuts, generally almonds and egg whites. It's origin it's most likely Moorish. Like many other Spanish foods the Moorish gastronomic heritage is precedent in the case of nougat, since we know that honey and almonds were products typically consumed by them.

However there are contending versions. The one that is most backed up by historians says that nougat was created by the Arabs, who were trying to come up with a source of nutrients that would keep in good condition for long periods, easy to transport by armies without risk of intoxication.

The other theory claims that nougat (turrón in Spanish) was created by a cook in Barcelona whose surname was Turró, who elaborated the candy with raw materials that were abundant in the region, looking for an indispensable source in times of shortage and famine.

However this hypothesis doesn't have many supporters. Fernando Galiana from Jijona, who has dedicated many years to these studies claims that the Spanish word "turrón" derives from torrat, a term that means a mix of honey and dried fruits and nuts cooked directly on the fire to give the mass consistency.

We have historical reference of turrón de Jijona -Jijona nougat- dating back to 1531. A Jijona chronicler claims that there was already knowledge of nougat before the 14th century. We also know from Phillip II's cook that every house in Jijona smelled of honey, since it was elaborated by most families.

There are less references available for turrón de Alicante - Alicante nougat- as the Agramunt archives were destroyed during the Napoleonic wars, so it becomes difficult to document nougat's history in this region before the 18th century, however by that time it was already a tradition, and historians believe that the origin might be as old as Jijona's.

Nougat has evolved with time and now many more ingredients are added, such as chocolate, coconut, candied fruit, coffee and liqueurs. However only the mix of honey and almonds is the essence of the original nougat.

Spain has a very rich turrón tradition. If you decide to travel to Alicante, we recommend a Spanish cooking course to learn how to make the best Spanish nougat!

Both, turrón de Jijona and turrón de Alicante have denominations of origin, the main difference between them is that while Jijona's is soft, the nougat from Alicante is hard. Below the recipe for both.

Turrón de Jijona | Jijona Soft Nougat

Ingredients (for 1 tablet of 500 grams or 2 of 250):

• 300 grams of ground almonds
• powdered cinnamon
• 100 grams of sugar
• 200 grams of honey
• 1 egg whites
• lemon zest

Preparation:

• Grinding almonds to make a paste is a hard task, we recommend you purchase them already ground. You can use a mixer, but toast the almonds in the oven before and do it little by little and with short time in the mixer, otherwise they will get oily
• Whisk the egg white
• In a frying pan put the honey and sugar. Put on the fire at medium heat and stir with a wooden spoon until the ingredients have formed into an homogeneous and thick mix
• Remove the pan from the fire and add the egg white and stir. There will be lumps at first. Stir until the lumps have disappeared and the mix will have turned into a lighter color. This will take approximately 10 minutes.
• Add the lemon zest and cinnamon. Stir and add the ground almonds. Stir well until the ingredients are well mixed
• Pour the mix in a container covered with parchment paper.
• The mass must be well pressed. One way to do this is to use two containers of the same size. One for the nougat and another to use as weigh to put on top of the turrón

Turrón de Alicante | Alicante Hard Nougat

Ingredients:

• 350 grams of honey
• 200 grams of sugar
• 2 egg whites
• 650 grams of toasted almonds
• 3 tbs of water
• 4 drops of aniseed
• 1 pack of wafers

Preparation:

• Whisk the egg whites until they form peaks
• In a saucepan make consistent a syrup with the water and sugar
• In another saucepan heat the honey, once its liquefied add to the syrup
• Mix well with a wooden spoon or spatula. Remove the syrup pan from the fire and add the honey. Mix well and put on the fire again until it turns into a caramel like substance
• Add the cut up almonds, the aniseed drops and the egg whites
• Mix with the spatula or wooden spoon until all ingredients are well mixed
• Line the molds with parchment paper and wafers. Pour the mix in them.
• Smooth the mix with a spatula
• Put a wooden board on top of the mold with a weigh, keep like this for a few days.