To make marzipan yourself, you only need two ingredients: almonds and sugar. With this recipe you can easily make your own marzipan.
What is marzipan made of?
Traditionally, marzipan consists of ground almonds, sugar and rose water. The proportions of the ingredients are decisive for the quality. According to the legal requirements, a maximum of 17% liquid, 35% sugar and 48% almonds may be used for the marzipan paste. However, manufacturers usually add more sugar for commercial marzipan. Only with very high-quality products, such as certain fine marzipan brands, is no additional sugar mixed in.
Make marzipan yourself: The basic recipe
For the homemade marzipan you need these ingredients:
200 g almond kernels with skin (alternatively walnuts)
150g powdered sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons of liquid (classic here is homemade rose water or from the pharmacy or health food store)
Preparation:
Boil the almonds in about a liter of water for a minute or two.
Pour the almonds into a colander.
Let them cool down a bit.
Peel them by squeezing them out of the skin with your fingers.
Crush the almonds in a good blender. Depending on the moisture content of the almonds, you will get a mealy to mushy mass.
Place the ground almonds in a bowl.
Sift in the powdered sugar.
Add a tablespoon of rose water.
Now knead all the ingredients by hand into a smooth dough. You may need to add some more liquid. (This also depends on whether you dried your almonds after cooking).
When the marzipan is ready, store it airtight in the fridge – e.g. in a screw-top jar.
Then the homemade marzipan is ready for further processing!
Depending on your taste, you can use other liquids instead of rose water. Orange liqueur or amaretto, for example, are suitable, but also a few drops of bitter almond oil. This makes the mass a bit bitter and more intense in taste.
Which almonds are best for marzipan?
Almonds belong to the rose family and probably originally come from Southeast Asia. Today the kernels are also cultivated in Pakistan, Iran or in the Mediterranean region. However, more than 80 percent of the almonds grown worldwide come from the USA, more precisely from California.
However, there has been a drought for several years. Almond cultivation plays its part: to harvest one kilo of almonds in California, about 10,000 liters of water are used. The high water requirements of the almond orchards are also critical in European growing areas.
So when you buy almonds, make sure they’re not from California. The long transport route halfway around the world also worsens the ecological balance. At best, buy almonds from Europe and from controlled organic cultivation.
Instead of almonds, you can also use regionally grown, organic walnuts for the marzipan. The process is the same and the taste is very similar to almond marzipan.