Europeans and Marzipan

I will confess I am a lover of sweets.  I love the smell, the sight of a beautifully made dessert, and of course I adore the taste.  Up to this point in my externship I had admired and enjoyed a fair amount of sweet treats that probably should make my body go into a diabetic coma.  As the days get closer and closer to the Dutch holiday "Sinterklaas" the shop has been diligently working on marzipan confections.  The patissiers have spent multiple days coloring, shaping and assembling marzipan to look like the Disney characters from Brother Bear, herring, burgers, pizza, cold cuts, and English drops.  All the items look incredible, but oddly enough they all taste the same.  They taste like a block of marzipan.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with marzipan, its main components are a combination of almond paste with powdered sugar.  Some recipes call for the inclusion of egg white or corn syrup.  Either way, it's taste is a sweet almond flavor.  Although I do like marzipan, I don't enjoy eating it all by itself and simply can't understand this phenomenon.  

Marzipan Cactus Pear

The Chef and I have a  running joke between us on days when we work with marzipan.  He always says we're going to make an item [pizza, burgers, fruit...etc] and I respond "...let me guess; it tastes like almonds."  I'm sure you're not LOLing, but I find it humorous and perplexing that Europeans love to eat marzipan that looks like one thing, but resembles nothing of the original taste.  I simply don't get it.  While I was visiting Kurtis in Sicily, we decided to try marzipan that looked like a cactus fruit.  My brain said, it looks like a fruit so it should taste like it.  If you're wondering, no it tasted only of plain marzipan and for once in our lives we couldn't bear to finish it.  

As for my marzipan duties, I was tasked to work on pizza and burgers.  These are items that have basic shapes and I was definitely glad to have been assigned the job.  My coworkers spent several days working on the Moose from Disney's movie Brother Bear.   Both ladies are incredibly talented when it comes to sculpting and shaping marzipan.  I would pass by their stations and just be in awe at how they appeared to effortlessly bring this little character to life.  I'm amazed by the detail they put into it and the fact that every single piece is measured to ensure that all 30+ moose were exactly the same look and weight.  

Marzipan moose created by two of my coworkers.  

As for me, I spent a couple days building all the components for the Tummers' Burger.  Working with the marzipan reminded me of being a kid and playing with Play-Doh.  I found it surreal that this was now my job!  I suddenly felt like a kid again and could not believe that grown adults get paid to do this kind of work. 

I came to Europe to learn things I probably would not see in America.  This certainly is one of those "things."  I'm glad to have learned some tricks, but do not see this trend ever exploding in Amercia.  This is one of those treats that I think will forever remain distinctly a European favorite.  

Introducing the Almond Burger!  Looks real, doesn't it?  

Supreme Marzipan Pizza!  I worked on the peppers,
crust, & tomatoes 

Hawaiian Pizzas.  I worked on the tomatoes,
pineapples & crust!

Just in case you were wanting to know more...here are a few fun foodie facts about Marzipan:

• Did you know that marzipan was created by chemists and used for medicinal purposes up until the 18th century (www.niederegger.de)
• The Marzipan museum in Lubeck houses the largest marzipan sculptures in the world.  There are 12 life-size sculptures of famous historical figures found in the museum (www.niederegger.de).
• There are two types of almonds:  bitter and sweet.  Marzipan uses sweet almonds.
• European law requires that Marzipan has a certain ratio of almonds to sugar.  In the US there is no specific ratio, but typically contains more sugar to almond paste. (http://www.marzipanlove.com/history-of-marzipan)

Here are a few more images from different pastry shops I visited in  Europe that had marzipan pieces.  

Baskets of marzipan fruit in pasticerria in Taormina Sicily.  Sicilians call them "Frutta di Martorama"

Marzipan books!  I'm surprised there wasn't one titled:
Marzipan for Dummies

Marzipan shaped as
Smurfs, herring, clowns, & burgers at Heerlijk & Heerlijk in Zaanse Schans