WEBVTT - How Does Marzipan Work?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey rain Stuff

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogel Bomb Here. The holidays are these season for

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<v Speaker 1>sugary treats, though we'll pretty much take any excuse, but

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<v Speaker 1>treats are nice. Today we're talking about one with particular

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<v Speaker 1>ties to some New Year's celebrations. Marsapan. Mars Pan is

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<v Speaker 1>a confection made from ground almond meal mixed with some

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<v Speaker 1>kind of sweetener and sometimes a binding agent like egg,

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<v Speaker 1>until it forms a slightly sticky, mouldable paste that melts

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<v Speaker 1>in your mouth, though with a little bit of chew

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<v Speaker 1>to it. It can be flavored with things like rose

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<v Speaker 1>water or pistachio, but it's often just almondy, sweet and

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<v Speaker 1>nutty and almost cherry like. It's like a playto but

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<v Speaker 1>instead of being merely not poisonous, it's very tasty. A

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<v Speaker 1>mars pan is commonly used for making everything from candy

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<v Speaker 1>pieces to cake decorations. Because it's putty like, consistency means

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<v Speaker 1>it can be formed in figurines that will hold their shape.

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<v Speaker 1>It also shows up as a filling in pastries and cakes,

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<v Speaker 1>but like Croissant's stolen and some versions of kincake, a

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<v Speaker 1>plus in chocolates and chocolate bars, but today we're mostly

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<v Speaker 1>talking about the molded figurine applications of Marzapan. Though it's

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<v Speaker 1>naturally a neutral ivory color, it's easily dyed or painted

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<v Speaker 1>any color of the spectrum, giving creators a fantastic edible canvas.

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<v Speaker 1>Experts say that its instagrammability is what made sales of

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<v Speaker 1>Marzapan's skyrocket during the twenty nineteen holiday season. People have

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<v Speaker 1>probably been making something like mars pan for as long

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<v Speaker 1>as we've had almonds and sweeteners. There are records of

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<v Speaker 1>honeyed almond pastes going back to ancient Egypt, Greece, and Persia.

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<v Speaker 1>Arab trade routes probably brought the recipe up through Europe,

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<v Speaker 1>where treats closer to what we know as marspan today,

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<v Speaker 1>and the word mars Pan itself developed around the fourteen hundreds,

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<v Speaker 1>though at least three different places claim to have been

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<v Speaker 1>home to the original what's now Toledo, Spain, Sicily, Italy,

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<v Speaker 1>and Lubeck, Germany. All three have strong traditions around mars Pan. Today,

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<v Speaker 1>Sicilian candy makers produce a veritable corducopia of mars pan,

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<v Speaker 1>shaped and colored to look like fruits and vegetables, from pears, peaches,

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<v Speaker 1>tangerines and strawberries to corn on the cob, mushrooms, tomatoes,

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<v Speaker 1>and artichokes. Especially around All Saints Day and All Souls Day.

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<v Speaker 1>In Polato, one might make or receive a marspan eel

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<v Speaker 1>around Christmas, a cute little eel buddy coiled into a

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<v Speaker 1>round ten hugging candied fruits. And throughout Germany, folks give

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<v Speaker 1>gifts of mars pan pigs around New Year's as a

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<v Speaker 1>wish for good luck in the coming year. This is

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<v Speaker 1>a whole thing. There's a German saying a schweinin gahat,

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<v Speaker 1>which literally means had a pig and culturally means that

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<v Speaker 1>you've been lucky. A way of wishing someone luck in

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<v Speaker 1>German is to say fields fine, which literally means much pig. Supposedly,

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<v Speaker 1>this all comes from medieval times when marspan was being

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<v Speaker 1>developed in what's now Germany and Austria, when if you

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<v Speaker 1>managed to breed a whole bunch of pigs in one year,

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<v Speaker 1>or sometimes if you had any number of pigs at all,

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<v Speaker 1>that was a really fortunate and awesome thing. A further,

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<v Speaker 1>in many societies that eat pork pigs are generally associated

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<v Speaker 1>with winter celebrations because historically, before refrigeration, pigs would often

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<v Speaker 1>be slaughtered at the beginning of winter and the meat

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<v Speaker 1>preserved to help people make it through the colder, leaner months.

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<v Speaker 1>Having the wealth and abundance to be able to do

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<v Speaker 1>this was considered fortunate, so eating pork around the New

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<v Speaker 1>Year is often considered lucky. Think of dishes like pork

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<v Speaker 1>and sauerkraut or hopin John, which is rice and peas

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<v Speaker 1>cooked with a pork product, or even pork dumplings for

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<v Speaker 1>the late winter lunar New Year, all of which are delicious,

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<v Speaker 1>though none are cuter than those marzipan pigs, which are

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<v Speaker 1>called Glukschwein, which literally means lucky pig. Today, one famous

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<v Speaker 1>confectionery out of Lubec called Nita Egga Cafe, ships out

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<v Speaker 1>about thirty kilos of marsapan every day, that's about sixty

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<v Speaker 1>five pounds. In the year two thousand, a local by

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<v Speaker 1>the name of Berkhard Loi made the Guinness Book of

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<v Speaker 1>World Records for the largest ever Marsapan pig. It weighed

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<v Speaker 1>a ton and five kilos over two two hundred pounds.

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<v Speaker 1>He reportedly kept it on display for six years before

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<v Speaker 1>someone accidentally bumped into it and broke it. If you'd

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<v Speaker 1>like to make your own lucky Pigs or other Marzapan treats,

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<v Speaker 1>there are lots of recipes online that involve either blanching

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<v Speaker 1>and grinding almonds or using store bought almond meal, although

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<v Speaker 1>many grocery stores also carry logs of pre made Marzapan

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<v Speaker 1>and the baking aisle near the bags of chocolate chips

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<v Speaker 1>and other baking ingredients and decorations. Whatever form your Marspan

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<v Speaker 1>or other treats come in, we hear at Brainstuff wish

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<v Speaker 1>you good luck in the coming year. Today's episode is

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<v Speaker 1>based on the article Marspan is the sweet Almond Treat

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<v Speaker 1>You Need this Holiday on HowStuffWorks dot com, written by

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<v Speaker 1>Stephanie Vermilion, and on a couple episodes of my other

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<v Speaker 1>podcast saver Co written by me and Annie Reese. The

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<v Speaker 1>episodes are called the Marspan Episode is Shaping Up and

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<v Speaker 1>New Year's Food Traditions If you want to go a

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<v Speaker 1>little deeper. Brain Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership

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<v Speaker 1>with how stuffworks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang.

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<v Speaker 1>Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app,

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<v Speaker 1>Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.