LL-L "Delectables" 2004.12.09 (04) [E]

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From: Ruth & Mark Dreyer <mrdreyer at lantic.net>
Subject: LL-L "Delectables" 2004.12.08 (10) [E]

Dear Ben & All,

Subject: LL-L "Delectables"

> Criostóir, I love marzipan too. I did not know that it came in blocks of
> that size. A Mexican friend introduced me to it. They had little squares
of
> it at 711 for a quarter a piece! I want to find one of those one-pound
> blocks!

Our Johannesburg might be Africa's financial hub, & a great International
City, but it falls somewhat short in matters of 'Kultcha'. Once in my
meanderings I came accross a supermarket with kilogram blocks of marzipan &
halva, in the cold counter with the cheese! I snaffled one of each from the
mildly baffled cashier, at a ridiculous price, & went  my way rejoicing.

> Did you know that Lübeck is
> very famous for marzipan?  (Some people claim marzipan was first created
> there, but apparently that's a red herring springing from delusions of
> grandeur.

Whatever, Ron, my grandmother told me it's Lübeck's fault we call it
marzipan! The English used to be 'marchpane' but the grandeur of Lübeck's
local product overwhelmed any other by name or kind.

Yrs,
Mark

----------

From: Críostóir Ó Ciardha <paada_please at yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Delectables" 2004.12.08 (10) [E]


Ben Bloomgren wrote:
"Criostóir, I love marzipan too. I did not know that it came in blocks of
that size. A Mexican friend introduced me to it. They had little squares of
it at 711 for a quarter a piece! I want to find one of those one-pound
blocks!"

You were ripped off, my friend. A couple of years ago, after poor sales of
marzipan at Christmas, approximately 400g to 750g slabs of the stuff were
going for 40p (!) in the cooking section of our local Tesco (400g is usually
a few quid). I wanted the largest block, but my wife inexplicably talked me
out of it, so I ended up with the 400g version that lasted me at least, oh,
an hour.

Ron wrote:
"And here we clearly return to the Lowlands. Did you know that Lübeck is
very famous for marzipan? (Some people claim marzipan was first created
there, but apparently that's a red herring springing from delusions of
grandeur.)"

I wasn't aware we had strayed away from the Lowlands... surely Surinamese
cuisine counts as Lowlandic in at least one sense?

"Marzipan has a long tradition there, in that once Slavonic settlement
turned hub of the Hanseatic League and a city graced by the likes of Thomas
Mann (_Buddenbrooks_, _Death in Venice_, _The Magic Mountain_, etc.). The
marzipan products are really very good (and not too sweet)."

I wasn't aware that marzipan had a Slavic origin. And Ron, the whole point
of marzipan is that it _is_ sickeningly sweet! It should be such as to make
your eyes bulge, your blood ache, and your stomach lining blister. Ideally,
you should have to take a long lie down after the whole thing.

"Marzipan is sold in all shapes and sizes (even very large sizes), the most
famous ones
being pigs and loafs (of "bread"), the loafs primarily chocolate-covered --
also marzipan fruit and potatoes, usually dusted with chocolate or
food-dyes."

I am not sure the utter perfection that is marzipan should be tainted with
chocolate (although I have been known to sneak the odd Marzipan bar, covered
with dark chocolate, from Thornton's). In Britain and Ireland (and
Australia) it is usually consumed with a parallel layer of icing, doubling
the sugar challenge. It is occasionally found shaped into fruit, baubles,
etc., for novelty value, especially at Christmas time.

Thanks for the info!

Go raibh maith agaibh,

Criostóir.

----------

From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Delectables

Críostóir:

> I wasn't aware we had strayed away from the Lowlands...
> surely Surinamese cuisine counts as Lowlandic in at least
> one sense?

Yes, it is, and, sorry, I had meant something like "the old Lowlands"
(Urheimat ;-) ).

> I wasn't aware that marzipan had a Slavic origin.

I didn't mean to imply that.  I just meant to say that Lübeck (< Lubece)
started off as a Slavonic settlement.  My theory is that almonds (which
don't grow in those climes) were introduced at the earliest during the
Hanseatic trade days, perhaps from or via Italy.  Almost used to be a real
luxury, and this is why they tended to be eaten only at the most special
time of the year.  (My theory is that hazelnuts and walnuts were ordinary
folks' almonds.)

_Speculaas_ -- _Spekulatius_ in Northern Germany -- that Ingmar mentioned,
were probably introduced from the Netherlands.  These are flat spiced
cookies, usually in fancy shapes, often with almond slivers.  The reason why
I think they were introduced from the Netherlands is that they contain
spices brought in from Indonesia.  But then again, German _Pfefferkuchen_
(LS _peper-kouken_), i.e., gingerbread, contains such spices too.

> And Ron, the whole point of marzipan is that it _is_ sickeningly sweet! It
> should be such as to make your eyes bulge, your blood ache, and your
> stomach lining blister. Ideally, you should have to take a long lie down
> after the whole thing.

Well, Críostóir, you sweet-toothed purist, I'm not sure everyone shares your
taste there.  Germans and Austrians tend to find British and America sweets
and cakes way too sweet.  When I first tried them I thought the sweetness
would knock my head off.  I actually prefer to taste something else
underneath all that sugar, and I think this goes for most others too.

> Whatever, Ron, my grandmother told me it's Lübeck's fault we call it
> marzipan! The English used to be 'marchpane' but the grandeur of Lübeck's
> local product overwhelmed any other by name or kind.

Lübeckers may have taken the treat to new heights, but apparently the jury
is still out as to the actual origin.  My hunch is that it evolved over
time, was probably based on a _halva_- or _lokum_-like thing that reached
Northern Europe via trade with the Mediterranean area.  It is also my theory
that the breadloaf shapes are due to misinterpretation of the _-pan_ part of
the name.

This is what the OED has to say:

<quote>

< German _Marzipan_ (1510 as _marczapan_, 1521 as _martzepan_, a1541 as
_marcipan_) or its etymon Italian _marzapane_ marzipan (in a text by B.
Pegolotti, composed a1343 but known only from a manuscript of 1471), perh. <
Persian _martabân_, _marţabân or Arabic _marţabân_ (see MARTABAN n.). The
city of Martaban was famous for the glazed jars it exported, containing
preserves and sweetmeats; the transition of sense would therefore be from
the container to the thing contained: cf. Italian _marzapane_ a container of
a certain capacity (13th-14th cent. in Venetian documents), post-classical
Latin _maczapanum_ jewel-box (1347 in an Occitan source), _massapanum_
reliquary (1399), Spanish _mazapán_ casket (1373), Middle French _massepain_
casket for confectionery (1449). Forms of the name of the sweetmeat in other
European languages are prob. directly or indirectly from Italian: cf. Middle
Dutch _marcepen_ (1486; Dutch _marsepein_), post-classical Latin _mazapanis_
(c1492), Portuguese _maçapão_ (1521), Spanish _mazapán_ (1525), Swedish
_marzipan_ (1538), Middle French, French _massepain_ (1546; 1544 as
_marcepain_, 1545 as _massepan_).
     The Italian or German word was earlier borrowed into English as
MARCHPANE n., and this was the usual form in English from the 16th to the
19th centuries. In the 19th cent. app. reborrowed < Italian (see esp. quots.
1846 and 1866).
     Italian _marzapane_ has been derived (originally by Kluyver 1904, in
_Zeitschr. f. Deutsche Wortforschung_ 6 59-68) < Italian regional (Venice)
_matapan_, the name of a coin struck between 1193 and the 15th cent., and
associated with post-classical Latin _marzapanus_ a kind of money or tax
(1202, in one isolated attestation from a Syrian source). The supposed
transition of sense would be from monetary unit to unit of measurement to
container to thing contained, but the derivation is (especially on
phonological grounds) very uncertain. Equally tenuous is the connection
between the name of the coin and Yemeni Arabic _mawţabân_ one who remains
seated (< Yemeni Arabic _waţaba_ be seated), supposedly the name of a
European coin depicting Christ enthroned.
     Another theory (see e.g. J. Corominas _Diccionario Crítico Etimológico
de la Lengua Castellana_ (1954)), also tenuous, derives Italian _marzapane_
< Arabic _maķšabân_, a hapax legomenon in an apparently now lost section of
the unique MS. of the poetry of Ibn Quzmân (12th cent.), interpreted as ‘a
sweetmeat, a wooden box’ (< _ķšab_ wood; the transition of sense in Arabic,
as with the derivation from _Martaban_, would therefore be from the
container to the thing contained).
     The view preferred here was propounded by G. R. Cardona (_Lingua
Nostra_ (1969) 30 34ff.) and G. B. Pellegrini (_Lingua Nostra_ (1976) 37
92). For Italian _-z-_ from Arabic _-ţ-_ Pellegrini adduces the analogous
example of Spanish _mazmorra_ ‘prison’ < Arabic _maţmûra_.
     Post-classical Latin and Romance forms without -r- may be influenced by
classical Latin _massa_, Spanish _masa_, Portuguese _massa_ mass, dough (see
MASA n.). The second element of the word may be influenced by Italian
_pane_, Spanish _pan_, French _pain_, classical Latin _pânis_ bread (see
PAIN n.2).

</quote>

Well, chew on *that*!

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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