For those people who don’t know what marzipan is, allow us to take a few moments to discuss it. Marzipan is a confection made out of sugar, almond meal, honey, and sometimes almond oil or extract. It is used to make a whole class of treats such as Marzipan Cookies (Bethmännchen), Chocolate Marzipan Cake, Dutch Christmas Log (Banketstaaf), Marzipan Potatoes (Marzipankartoffeln), and Marzipan Truffles.

And that’s only a small sample of the recipes that are made with this confection. No wonder there’s a whole week dedicated to it in November. During Marzipan Week, everyone is encouraged to enjoy this delicious confection in whatever way they see fit.

The History of Marzipan Week

Although we’re unsure of when Marzipan Week was created, we do have a general idea of where marzipan was invented. According to some food historians, marzipan was invented in Lübeck, Germany, during a 15th-century famine.

Since there was a shortage of flour, bakers had to come up with a replacement—as ordered by the Lübeck Senators. The bakers decided to use stores of almonds with sugar and eggs and came up with marzipan. Of course, that’s not the only city that claims to have created this confection.

Other cities that have made similar claims include Florence, Königsberg, and Venice. Some food historians even say that marzipan didn’t originate in Europe but instead originated in Asia. Well, it seems that we don’t know as much about this confection’s origin as we thought we did.

Some Quick Facts About Marzipan

We wanted to give all of our readers some additional information on marzipan, so we decided to do a little bit of our own research. The following list of items is just some of the things that we discovered about this confection and that we think people are going to enjoy.

• Soft marzipan is often used for candies and pastries, and firm marzipan is often used for more decorative projects such as making miniature fruit or edible animals.
• The more almonds found in marzipan, the more expensive it is.
• Marzipan used to be a dish that could only be enjoyed by the rich.

Observing Marzipan Week

The sky is the limit on how this week can be observed. There are about a million different dishes made with marzipan that just about anyone can make. All it takes is a little bit of internet research to find these recipes.

Of course, there are plenty of bakeries that also produce marzipan, so people can feel free to buy those if they don’t feel comfortable making their own. No matter how a person decides to observe this week, they should help spread the word about it using the hashtag #MarzipanWeek on social media.