![\"Nougat](\"https:\/\/ezb966kqson.exactdn.com\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/sweetlore-photos-20261028\/09de295cc428e809bd34b644a0c51d36e863f7dceea31c170f830ac2488bde35.jpg?strip=all&quality=90&webp=92&avif=55&w=1920\")
<\/p>\nNougat is a confection in which nuts are bound with boiled honey or sugar. Some nougat has nuts mixed into a white mass, while other nougat is hard, with amber sugar that breaks together with the nuts. Softness and whiteness are separate qualities, and white nougat can be hard or soft. From Mont\u00e9limar in southern France and various parts of the Mediterranean to Iran\u2019s gaz and Taiwan\u2019s \u725b\u8ecb\u7cd6 (ni\u00fag\u00e1t\u00e1ng), there are nougats and related confections that differ in how they are aerated, the kinds of sweetener used and how nuts are used.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Nougat sold in Bruges, Belgium. Varieties mixed with nuts, fruit and other ingredients are displayed in the shop. Photo by CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, 2014-07-19 (as stated on the original page; the Exif data gives the following day, the 20th), Bruges, Belgium. Original image<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>. Reduced-size version from the distributing site. The original image\u2019s Exif data contains a Lightroom record, but the specific adjustments are unknown. No additional processing this time.<\/p>\n Honey, sugar, glucose and other ingredients are boiled while egg whites are whipped. The two are combined, and then the nuts are added. In Chabert et Guillot\u2019s demonstration recipe (recette: the ingredient proportions and method), sugar, honey and glucose boiled together are allowed to cool somewhat, poured in a thin stream into the foam, and then almonds are added. The production specification for Mont\u00e9limar also includes a procedure in which the first sugar syrup is combined with the egg whites, syrup boiled to a higher temperature is then added, and the mixture is heated slowly to stabilize it.<\/p>\n Adding almonds roasted through to the center at the end preserves their crunch and aroma. The thin edible wafers on the top and bottom make it easier to spread the soft nougat into a slab and cut it. Hardness changes with the remaining moisture and the cooking time, so color alone does not determine how chewy it is.<\/p>\n Some Proven\u00e7al black nougat is made by combining honey or sugar with almonds without whipping egg whites. Its dark amber sugar shatters together with the nuts. In the \u201cthirteen desserts\u201d of Christmas, white and black nougat are set out as separate items.<\/p>\n The name goes back to the Latin nux<\/em> by way of Proven\u00e7al and other words for nut. Meanwhile, a 10th-century cookbook from Baghdad contains a similar confection called n\u0101\u1e6dif. The Harran-style n\u0101\u1e6dif reconstructed by Daniel Newman adds many kinds of nuts, seeds and spices to honey and egg white. A different recipe from medieval al-Andalus boils honey, lets it cool slightly, mixes in egg white, reheats it until it turns white and thick, and adds almonds or walnuts.<\/p>\n Within the general term nougat, Italy\u2019s torrone and Spain\u2019s turr\u00f3n have their own names and local methods. Some torrone has honey, sugar, egg white, almonds and other ingredients sandwiched between thin edible paper. In Spain, turr\u00f3n de Alicante keeps the nuts in pieces, while for turr\u00f3n de Jijona the nuts are ground finely and the mixture is reheated and worked. Softness varies not only with how the mixture is aerated but also with whether the nuts are used in pieces or as a paste.<\/p>\n Related medieval confections also used techniques for combining honey, egg white and nuts. However, not everything is known about how the methods of each region were transmitted. Local stories that crusader knights brought nougat back from the East also survive as traditions that explain these exchanges.<\/p>\n In the early modern Spanish household manual Manual de mugeres, turr\u00f3n is made by mixing well-whipped egg white into honey, leaving it for 1 day and, the next day, boiling it while stirring constantly. When 1 drop of the syrup is dropped into cold water and, once cooled, has become hard enough to break, it is done. Peeled and roasted almonds, hazelnuts or pine nuts are added, and the mixture is heated a little more and finished as a block or in shapes for cutting. The guide for determining hardness was not a thermometer reading but the way the cooled syrup broke.<\/p>\n In Alicante, turr\u00f3n is also tied to Christmas gifts and to payment for work. A 1582 record introduced by the city\u2019s tourist information shows a custom of paying part of wages in coin and another part in turr\u00f3n. Today, the custom of giving precious honey and nuts lives on in the turr\u00f3n given during the holidays.<\/p>\n Cremona has a legend that in 1441, at the wedding of Francesco Sforza and Bianca Maria Visconti, a confection shaped like the town\u2019s bell tower, the Torrazzo, was served. The town\u2019s tourist information relates this story, and a nougat festival is held in late autumn. The legend linking the name torrone to the tower and the etymological theory that the name derives from a Latin word meaning to roast nuts are separate explanations.<\/p>\n In Tonara, Sardinia, torrone made with honey, nuts and egg white is also enjoyed at a festival on Easter Monday. In nearby mountain villages, some versions use chestnut or strawberry-tree honey. Although torrone broadly has a place as an Italian Christmas confection, there are also regional customs of using honey gathered in the mountains and enjoying torrone at Easter markets.<\/p>\n Exhibition texts at Mucem in Marseille state that Nostradamus\u2019s 1555 book on preserves includes a white almond \u201cpignolat,\u201d and that a 1595 pharmacy text contains nogat<\/em>, an Occitan word related to nuts. Before nougat became a regional specialty, confections combining honey and nuts were recorded in books under other names. Their appearance in a pharmacy text suggests that medicines and sweet confections had closely related uses.<\/p>\n INAO explains that almond cultivation spread in the 16th century and that almonds replaced the walnuts used until then. Town records from 1701 mention gifts of honey and almond nougat, and by the late 18th century specialized artisans had become established. The nut changed from walnuts to almonds, the nougat was used as a gift from the town, and it eventually became a specialty made by dedicated artisans.<\/p>\n From the late 19th century onward, gifts by the local politician \u00c9mile Loubet and sales along National Route 7 heading south raised its profile. The dry local air is also well suited to making nougat, which contains a lot of honey and easily becomes sticky in humid conditions.<\/p>\n \u201cNougat de Mont\u00e9limar\u201d was registered as an EU Protected Geographical Indication in November 2024, covering the town and 13 surrounding municipalities. Honey must make up at least 25% of the dry weight of the sweetening ingredients at the time of preparation. Almonds must make up at least 30% of the finished product, or else at least 28% almonds plus at least 2% pistachios. For honey and for nuts, the weights used as the basis for calculating the percentages differ. It uses a white mass containing egg white and roasted nuts, and both soft and hard nougat are included.<\/p>\n European nougat uses honey or sugar made from cultivated crops, but Iran\u2019s gaz has a tradition of gathering and using a natural sweetener, gaz-angobin. According to the researcher Bahram Grami, this is not simply sap but honeydew excreted by insects on shrubs. A leather catch-tray is placed under the branches, the honeydew is knocked down with light taps, and leaves and other debris are removed with a sieve. Honeydew from insects on plants is gathered and used as a sweetener for confectionery.<\/p>\n In the method described by Mohammad Reza Ghanoonparvar, the honeydew is boiled in water and strained, combined with whipped egg white, strained again, and heated with added sugar until it becomes a paste, and then pistachios or almonds are mixed in. It is shaped into small flat rounds or bite-sized pieces and buried in flour to prevent moisture absorption and sticking. Not all gaz made today uses the same sweetener, but this method of gathering honeydew and boiling it differs from nougat made with honey or sugar, starting with how the raw materials are prepared.<\/p>\n Nogha made in and around Tabriz and elsewhere in Iran. The white mass contains nuts, and some pieces are shown with thin wafers. Photo: \u0627\u0644\u0628\u0631\u0632 \u0641\u0644\u0627\u062d \u0641\u06cc\u0644\u062a\u0631, 2011-03-24 (as stated on the original page), location unknown. Original image<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>. Reduced-size version from the distributing site. Any processing at the time of original publication is unknown; no additional processing this time.<\/p>\n Some Taiwanese \u725b\u8ecb\u7cd6 (ni\u00fag\u00e1t\u00e1ng) uses maltose, butter, milk powder, eggs, almonds and other ingredients, which add a milky aroma. Some products labeled \u201cFrench-style\u201d are also made with dairy products.<\/p>\n In American chocolate bars, a soft, light, aerated filling is called nougat, and some products layer it with caramel and coat it in chocolate. The manufacturer says that 3 Musketeers, launched in 1932, got its name because 3 bars were originally packed in 1 bag. The use of nougat changed from slab confections mixed with many nuts to confections in which a lightly aerated mass is coated in chocolate.<\/p>\n In German, Nougat also refers to an ingredient made by finely working roasted nuts or almonds, sugar and cocoa. At Niederegger in L\u00fcbeck, hazelnuts imported whole are roasted in Germany, made into a paste, rolled very finely and then conched until smooth. In contrast to keeping the nuts in pieces within an egg-white foam, the nuts are worked so finely that no pieces can be felt.<\/p>\n This brown nougat is also connected with gianduja from Turin. The theory that gianduja arose from the cocoa shortage caused by Napoleon\u2019s economic blockade is widely told, but the food-culture historian Antonella Campanini says it is not clear exactly when it came into being. Antonio Bazzarini\u2019s 1813 proposal for a substitute used sweet almonds, lupins, grains and sugar syrup, a formulation different from the later gianduja made with hazelnuts. The nut-and-cocoa techniques developed in 19th-century Turin have now spread to chocolate fillings and spreadable creams.<\/p>\n Manual de mugeres<\/strong>: An anonymous early modern Spanish household manual that compiles instructions for cosmetics, medicine, cooking and more. It also includes a method for making turr\u00f3n.<\/p> Francesco Sforza \/ Bianca Maria Visconti<\/strong>: A couple who appear in the legend of the 1441 wedding in Cremona and the tower-shaped torrone.<\/p> Tonara<\/strong>: A mountain town on the island of Sardinia. It is known for torrone made with honey and nuts and for its festival on Easter Monday.<\/p> Niederegger<\/strong>: A confectionery company in L\u00fcbeck, Germany. In addition to marzipan, it makes smooth nut-based nougat.<\/p> Conching<\/strong>: A process in which chocolate and similar products are worked while temperature and time are controlled, to refine the flavor and how it melts in the mouth.<\/p> Gianduja<\/strong>: A confectionery ingredient made by finely combining roasted hazelnuts and chocolate. It is named after a character from the Turin carnival.<\/p> Antonella Campanini \/ Antonio Bazzarini<\/strong>: The former is an Italian food-culture historian; the latter wrote a proposal for a chocolate substitute in 1813.<\/p> Nostradamus<\/strong>: A 16th-century French physician, apothecary and writer. He also wrote a book on preserves.<\/p> Mucem<\/strong>: The Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations in Marseille, France.<\/p> Gaz \/ gaz-angobin<\/strong>: The former is an Iranian confection of foam and nuts; the latter is the honeydew that serves as its traditional sweetening ingredient.<\/p> Honeydew<\/strong>: A sugar-rich substance of insect origin found on plants.<\/p> Bahram Grami \/ Mohammad Reza Ghanoonparvar<\/strong>: Researchers who wrote specialist entries on Iranian plants and food culture. The former researches the sweetener used in gaz; the latter is an author who studies Iranian food culture.<\/p> Glucose<\/strong>: In confectionery, refers to sugar syrups and similar products consisting mainly of glucose (dextrose).<\/p> Wafer<\/strong>: A thin baked edible sheet. It is attached to the top and bottom of nougat to help it hold its shape and make it easier to cut. A thin sheet made without yeast leavening, called pain azyme in French, is used.<\/p> Protected Geographical Indication<\/strong>: An EU scheme that protects the link between a region and a product under defined conditions. Abbreviated PGI; IGP in French.<\/p> Dry weight<\/strong>: The weight of the portion that remains after moisture is removed.<\/p> Daniel Newman<\/strong>: A researcher who edits and translates medieval Arabic cookbooks and reconstructs their recipes.<\/p> INAO<\/strong>: France\u2019s National Institute of Origin and Quality. It published the production history of Mont\u00e9limar nougat and information on its protected designation.<\/p> \u00c9mile Loubet<\/strong>: A politician active in Mont\u00e9limar who became President of France at the end of the 19th century. He is also known for introducing nougat to others through gifts.<\/p> Facile \u00e0 faire – Confection de Nougat de Mont\u00e9limar<\/a> \u2014 A demonstration recipe in which sugar syrup is boiled down, cooled, poured in a thin stream into egg white, and then nuts are added.<\/p>\n<\/li> EU: Nougat de Mont\u00e9limar single document C\/2024\/4138<\/a> \u2014 Hard and soft types and residual moisture; sugar syrup, egg white, additional syrup and roasted nuts; thin base; 14 municipalities; the dry-weight denominator for honey; almonds at 30, or 28 + 2; the dry climate and Route 7.<\/p>\n<\/li> Nougat de Mont\u00e9limar” registered as a PGI | INAO<\/a> \u2014 Announcement of the registration on November 26, 2024; the 1701 town records; gifts and Loubet in the 19th century.<\/p>\n<\/li> INAO, \u201cLa d\u00e9nomination Nougat de Mont\u00e9limar enregistr\u00e9e en IGP\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Almond cultivation in the 16th century replacing walnuts; specialization in the late 18th century.<\/p>\n<\/li> Nougat noir de Provence cuit au chaudron – Arnaud Soubeyran<\/a> \u2014 The actual formulation of a black nougat that does not use egg as an ingredient; honey\/sugar and almonds; amber color and crisp bite.<\/p>\n<\/li> The world\u2019s oldest nougat recipe \u2013 Eat Like A Sultan<\/a> \u2014 The historical source for 10th-century n\u0101\u1e6dif and the researcher\u2019s Harran-style reconstruction; honey\/egg white\/nuts\/seeds\/spices.<\/p>\n<\/li> Tuniso-Andalusian honey and almond nougat \u2013 Eat Like A Sultan<\/a> \u2014 A reconstruction from the medieval Exile\u2019s Cookbook in which honey is cooled, egg white is added, the mixture is reheated and nuts are added.<\/p>\n<\/li> Elaboraciones – Artesan\u00edas Laura Colomina Masi\u00e1 – Turrones y Dulces Artesanos<\/a> \u2014 Whole almonds and wafers in Alicante turr\u00f3n; grinding and reheating in a boixet for Jijona turr\u00f3n.<\/p>\n<\/li> Torr\u00f3ne – Significato ed etimologia – Vocabolario – Treccani<\/a> \u2014 The definition of torrone and its link to Christmas.<\/p>\n<\/li> Nougat \u25b6 Rechtschreibung, Bedeutung, Definition, Herkunft | Duden<\/a> \u2014 German Nougat as an ingredient of finely worked nuts\/sugar\/cocoa; etymology from the nux family of words.<\/p>\n<\/li> \u4f34\u624b\u79ae\u5c08\u5340-\u696d\u8005\u7522\u54c1\u8cc7\u8a0a\u660e\u7d30|\u81fa\u5317\u5e02\u98df\u6750\u767b\u9304\u5e73\u53f0<\/a> \u2014 Maltose, milk powder, butter, eggs and almonds in a specific Taiwanese product.<\/p>\n<\/li> Les 13 desserts de No\u00ebl | Office de Tourisme de Marseille<\/a> \u2014 White nougat and black nougat among the 13 desserts of Provence.<\/p>\n<\/li> Mars: 3MusketeersSingles<\/a> \u2014 American light, aerated nougat and chocolate; current ingredients include sugar\/corn syrup\/fats and oils\/egg white, etc.<\/p>\n<\/li> Mars: MilkyWaySingle<\/a> \u2014 A US product in which nougat and caramel are coated in milk chocolate.<\/p>\n<\/li> Mucem, Cartels sur socles (exhibition texts on food culture)<\/a> \u2014 Nostradamus\u2019s pignolat of 1555, nogat in a 1595 pharmacy text, and the classification of confections\/medicines.<\/p>\n<\/li> Bahram Grami, \u201cGAZ (1) i. GAZ-ANGOB\u012aN,\u201d Encyclopaedia Iranica<\/a> \u2014 Honeydew and its insects\/host plants; 18th\u201319th-century travel accounts and research since the 1980s; gathering by tapping branches over leather catch-trays and sieving.<\/p>\n<\/li> Mohammad Reza Ghanoonparvar, \u201cGAZ (1) ii. CANDY,\u201d Encyclopaedia Iranica<\/a> \u2014 Dissolving\/straining\/egg-white foam\/heating with sugar\/nuts\/shaping; flour to prevent moisture absorption and sticking; variations between recipes.<\/p>\n<\/li> Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, Manual de mugeres: edited transcription of the turr\u00f3n recipe<\/a> \u2014 Resting egg white and honey for 1 day, the cold-water test, the choice of roasted nuts and shaping. This is not based on the manuscript images or a reading of the entire book.<\/p>\n<\/li> Alicante City & Beach, \u201cTurr\u00f3n de Alicante\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The paragraph introducing the 1582 wages and Christmas gifts was read directly in the text captured by search. Images of the town\u2019s original record have not been seen.<\/p>\n<\/li> Turismo Cremona, \u201cCremona\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The local tradition of the 1441 wedding and the late-autumn festival. For the tower shape, the Italian-language description by the tourist board for the same area was also consulted. This does not establish a single invention as historical fact.<\/p>\n<\/li> SardegnaTurismo, \u201cLe strade del torrone\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Honey, nuts and egg white in Tonara and Easter Monday; chestnut and strawberry-tree honey in mountain villages.<\/p>\n<\/li> Mars, \u201c3 Musketeers: Our Story\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The company\u2019s own history regarding 1932 and the original packaging of 3 bars.<\/p>\n<\/li>How White and Black Nougat Are Made<\/h2>\n
N\u0101\u1e6dif, Torrone and Turr\u00f3n<\/h2>\n
Turr\u00f3n Making and Gift-Giving Customs in Early Modern Spain<\/h2>\n
The Wedding Legend of Cremona and Easter in Sardinia<\/h2>\n
White Confections and the Name Nougat in 16th-Century France<\/h2>\n
Mont\u00e9limar Becomes a Center of Production<\/h2>\n
![\"White](\"https:\/\/ezb966kqson.exactdn.com\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/sweetlore-photos-20261028\/eb7822fa62feb0ac5463db1d8d72445424ccb90c99592be4e79a6adb49a121cd.jpg?strip=all&quality=90&webp=92&avif=55&w=1920\")
\nIran\u2019s Gaz, Made with Honeydew Gathered from Branches<\/h2>\n
![\"Nogha](\"https:\/\/ezb966kqson.exactdn.com\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/sweetlore-photos-20261028\/ca802b5dc7357baf537c1e80074568c0cdc31d7c2f76aad3dda78b8a5babfe55.jpg?strip=all&quality=90&webp=92&avif=55&w=1920\")
<\/p>\nTaiwan\u2019s Milk-Enriched Ni\u00fag\u00e1t\u00e1ng and American Chocolate Bars<\/h2>\n
Finely Worked Nuts Without Egg-White Foam<\/h2>\n
Glossary<\/h2>\n
References<\/h2>\n
![Original image<\/a> \/](\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Bruges_Belgium_Belgian-Nougat-01.jpg\"){kind=link}
![Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/](\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Fabrique_de_nougat_de_Mont%C3%A9limar.jpg\"){kind=link}
![Original image<\/a> \/](\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Iranian_Nogha.jpg\"){kind=link}