By Porter Lang
Check the ratio first. Everything else on a marzipan label follows from it.
Marzipan, according to the website of a Lübeck producer, Lubeca, is either marzipan paste or a mixture of marzipan paste and sugar. So there are two numbers to read: how much of the mixture is paste, and how much of the paste is almond. They are not the same number, and the confusion between them runs through nearly every page we read.
What the name covers
Lübeck marzipan is a protected geographical indication under European Union law, Lubeca’s page says. It must be made within Lübeck’s city limits or in the traditional parts of Stockelsdorf and Bad Schwartau, and its quality is regulated by RAL, the German quality-assurance institute. The city’s tourism site gives the same three places. So the name covers a place and a quality standard, and it does not cover a recipe, since each producer keeps its own, according to a travel magazine, Discover Germany.
The ratio
Lubeca gives the composition of Lübeck marzipan as 70 parts paste to 30 parts sugar, and of Lübeck fine marzipan, Edelmarzipan, as 90 parts paste to 10 parts sugar. It adds that any commercial marzipan labelled Edelmarzipan must have the composition of Lübeck marzipan. Discover Germany says the general legal floor is as low as 50 parts paste to 50 parts sugar, and puts Lübeck marzipan at “at least 70 parts paste to 30 parts sugar”. Wikipedia’s article on the Lübeck product words it as “no more than 30% sugar” and “up to 10%” for the fine kind.
Now the second number. Lubeca describes its basic paste, grade M0, as made from peeled sweet almonds, with added sugar below 35 per cent. Read that again. The paste itself contains sugar. So a marzipan that is 70 per cent paste is not 70 per cent almond. Wikipedia’s general marzipan article says producers such as Niederegger guarantee two-thirds almonds by weight, 66 per cent, and the city’s tourism site says only that the 70 per cent figure is a ratio of sugar to raw marzipan, without a minimum almond content. We do not reconcile the 66 and the 70. They measure different things.
Side by side
| Source | Name type | Sugar limit stated |
|---|---|---|
| Lubeca (producer) | protected geographical indication | 70 paste to 30 sugar; fine 90 to 10 |
| Wikipedia, Lübeck Marzipan | protected geographical indication, since 1996 | no more than 30 per cent; fine up to 10 |
| Discover Germany (magazine) | “protected designation of geographical origin”, from July 1996 | at least 70 to 30; fine 90 to 10 |
| City tourism site | protected name | 30 per cent sugar, 70 per cent raw marzipan |
The magazine and Wikipedia agree on 1996 and differ on the category, and the producer’s page uses the geographical-indication wording. Our reading: the producer and the encyclopaedia are using the term in its technical sense, and the magazine is using it loosely. That is our inference.
How it is made
Lubeca says it roasts in open copper kettles and prefers Mediterranean almonds for its top-quality products. It gives limits for the raw paste, among them a maximum moisture content of 17 per cent and a minimum almond-oil content of 27 per cent, and says bitter almonds may make up no more than 4 per cent of the almond content in M0 paste. We give these as the producer states them. We found no independent trade page to compare them with.
Where the story starts
Nobody knows. Lubeca says possible origins include a famine in Lübeck around 1407, when the Senate reportedly asked bakers to make bread from almonds, sugar and water, and that the name may come from “marci panis”, which it links to trade with Venice, while also naming Byzantium. Discover Germany tells the same famine story as food lore and notes that no one knows whether people in Lübeck even knew marzipan then. It adds that the word “Martzapaen” first appears in Lübeck’s guild rolls in 1530, and that only apothecaries could at first trade in sugar and spices. The magazine says historians trace marzipan back to the Orient in the ninth century.
Wikipedia’s general article offers another line, through Al-Andalus, where Toledo’s specialty was once called Postre Regio. It gives Toledo mazapán its own protected status, with at least 50 per cent almonds by weight and a first written reference in 1512. That is a different product with a different rule, and we mention it only so you do not assume the Lübeck figures apply to it.
Lubeca adds that marzipan became affordable after sugar beet was discovered in the eighteenth century.
The oldest house
Niederegger, a Lübeck producer, appears in every source. The city’s tourism site says master confectioner Johann Georg Niederegger took over a patisserie in 1806 and named it after himself. Discover Germany calls it the oldest marzipan manufacturer still in existence, and Wikipedia’s Lübeck article mentions the original 1806 recipe on show at the firm’s marzipan museum. The Wikipedia article says Niederegger uses 100 per cent almond paste and no sugar, a voluntary commitment beyond the directive. That is a producer’s practice as reported by an encyclopaedia, and we have not seen the firm’s own page.
Marzipan at Christmas
Wikipedia says marzipan is given at Christmas as loaves, Marzipanbrot, or small potatoes, Marzipankartoffeln. It turns up in Stollen, Bethmännchen and Dominosteine, and a traditional New Year gift is the Glücksschwein, the lucky pig.
Dates in order
- Ninth century: marzipan traced to the Orient, according to Discover Germany.
- Around 1407: the famine story, according to Lubeca and Discover Germany.
- 1512: first written reference to Toledo mazapán, according to Wikipedia.
- 1530: “Martzapaen” in Lübeck’s guild rolls, according to Discover Germany.
- Eighteenth century: sugar beet, and cheaper marzipan, according to Lubeca.
- 1806: Niederegger’s patisserie, according to the city tourism site.
- July 1996: the protected name registered, according to Discover Germany; 1996 according to Wikipedia.
Questions a buyer would ask
Does the label say Lübeck marzipan, or only that the maker is in Lübeck? Where was it made, within the three places named? What is the ratio of paste to sugar, and how much of the paste is almond? Is Edelmarzipan stated, and does the composition match the 90 to 10 figure? Is the sugar partly replaced by glucose syrup or sorbitol? Lubeca says that is allowed.
What kind of sources these are
A producer’s own knowledge page, a city tourism site, a travel magazine with a promotional edge and two Wikipedia articles. No regulation text was read. We did not read the register entry for the name, so the exact wording of the rule is the producers’ and encyclopaedia’s, and not ours.
What we left out
We left out export and staff numbers from the magazine, which are the firm’s own claims, and the names of the other Lübeck producers. We left out prices and visiting details.
Roam first. Shop later.