Alex Trelinski
COSTA Blanca politicians will ask the United Nations to designate November 7 as ‘World Nougat Day’.
The Alicante Provincial Council has approved the move to support the popular Christmas-time sweet known as ‘turron’ that has its Spanish manufacturing base in the region.
Provincial deputy, Javier Gutierrez, said: “ Turron is a worthy candidate to have its own ‘World Day’ to promote its importance and uniqueness as one of the most famous Christmas products in the world which is also part of the Mediterranean Diet.”
The Spanish version of turron appears to date back to the 15th century in the Jijona area.
There are two main versions produced on the Costa Blanca.
Turron is a nougat confection made up of sugar, honey and egg white, with toasted almonds and other nuts.
It’s then shaped into a rectangular tablet or a round cake.
Depending on taste there is a ‘hard’ Alicante version consisting of 60% almonds or a ‘soft’ Jijona variety .
That’s where the almonds are made into a paste which results in a chewier and stickier turron which is not as unforgiving on teeth as the Alicante variant.
The Alicante and Jijona turrons have ‘protected status’ under European Union laws, along with a third version called Torro d’Agramunt manufactured in the Lleida area of Catalunya.
Besides Spain, it is a popular festive treat in Spanish speaking countries in Central and South America, as well as in Italy.
Alicante Provincial Council said that asking for UN backing is all about ‘making the strengths of turron more visible in an international context and to seasonally adjust its production and consumption, highlighting the social, cultural, tourist and economic positives associated with nougat from Jijona and Alicante’.
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