Turrón, Latin American Christmas Snack Tradition

Every year, the world turrón consortium battles Baby Jesus for Christmas supremacy. The nutty nougat bars always lose to the son of God, but major Christmas inroads have been made by the sometimes chewy, sometimes crunchy sweet of 15th century Spanish origin.Turrón is celebrated at Christmastime around the world through...

By Jacob Katel

December 23, 2009

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Every year, the world turrón consortium battles Baby Jesus for Christmas supremacy. The nutty nougat bars always lose to the son of God, but major Christmas inroads have been made by the sometimes chewy, sometimes crunchy sweet of 15th century Spanish origin.

Turrón is celebrated at Christmastime around the world through internationally available Spanish exports of the product. Turrón, is also known as torrone in Italy, and exists in a Pili nut version in the Phillippines.

Turrón is usually made with honey, sugar, egg whites, and nuts, though there are many variations on toppings or fillings, which include chocolate and dried fruits.

The two rough classifications for Spanish turrón are alicante and jijona. Alicante is hard and crunchy. It is made with whole almonds suspended in a block of honey, sugar and egg whites. Jijona, on the other hand, is soft, and made with almond paste, and added oil.

Turrón is found all over Miami, in many tasty varieties, especially at Christmas time.

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