Turrón, and on and on

It’s only November, but the invasion has started. Many household essentials in your local Spanish supermarket may well have been squashed into a tiny corner and less popular goods will have been swept aside, in order to free a large floor and shelf space. That space has now been filled. An army of one product, divided into 1,001 different platoons, has been stationed. Turrón is back.

For anyone unfamiliar with Spanish culture, turrón is a traditional Christmas confectionery, primarily made from honey, sugar, egg whites and almonds. It can be soft, like nougat, or crunchy, like peanut brittle. Whilst the are plenty of alternative Christmas delicacies, turrón is the Real Madrid or Barça of the confectionary market, crushing opposition under the weight of its tradition, and crushing delivery men and shop assistants under the weight of its distribution and placement.

If you take a stroll into any supermarket, after being struck by the enormous quantity of turrón available, the next surprise will be the variety of flavours. There was probably one original form, and even today the basic almond, marzipan or chocolate tend to be the captains, but due to the demands of the modern consumer, choices are now overwhelming. Having spotted Irish Coffee and Tutti Frutti, it appears that, unless opting for undesirable flavours such as squirrel or badger, a new marketing direction may be required. Having captured the hearts and minds of the people, I would suggest turrón for pets might fill a few more shelves, with bone flavour for dogs, fish flavour for cats, and a finely-ground turrón powder to sprinkle in your goldfish tank.

Turrón: The front line                                          Photo flickr (CC): Pamela Stocks

Despite the varieties of turrón, marketing does not seem to have been applied to the question of size. There appear to be two basic ones available - circular (slightly smaller than a dinner plate) or rectangular, which seems to have to conform to being 9cm by 20cm. During my in-depth research, I could find almost no alternative, which presents two clear conclusions. Firstly, there may be a piece of ancient Spanish legislation dictating the dimensions for a bar of turrón, and secondly, I should really get a decent social life.

Can the Spanish population really consume this amount of confectionery? Is it like the English demand for a Christmas turkey, whereby everybody overestimates the size of the bird they require, meaning that turkey sandwiches, pies and salads are still being consumed in the middle of March? The European Union had ‘wine lakes’ and ‘butter mountains’ due to market surpluses; is there a ‘turrón plateau’ in Spain? Or a turrón breakers’ yard - an illicit operation to melt down any unsold bars to extract sugar and chocolate, only to smuggle them back into the shops in four months time as Easter eggs? If not, the consumption must also support other industries well into the New Year – not least dental practices and dieticians.

In fact, a recent event suggests that over-supply is not the case at all, and there may even be a black market - 13 tons of turrón was stolen from a factory in Jijona, near Alicante. It seems that a Spanish Christmas without turrón would be like an English festive season without Christmas pudding - still pleasant, but with nothing really satisfying to sink your teeth into. Of course, there is perhaps the question of addiction, although I’ve yet to encounter, in English terms, a Turrón Eaters Anonymous group, despite the acronym proving highly attractive for any UK citizen. On that thought, you’ll have to excuse me. I’m only halfway through my bar of rum and raisin, after which my three-chocolate praline is waiting.

Comments

[Publicado por: Isabella]

A friend from Granada brought me some Turron last week and it is really tasty, I can highly recommend it to everybody :-).

[Publicado por: Michael]

I have never heard of Turon so far but will be in Spain for Christmas, I will definitely try out then :-).