Finding a place that makes marzipan sweets is a must when you’re wondering what to do in Toledo, Spain. Food and travel writer Betsa Marsh visited the Santa Tome´ workshop to find out what marzipan is made of, what goes into the recipe, and why it’s so special. Now you’ll know where to headfirst when you’re looking for Toledo marzipan candy and other sweets.

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Discovering Marzipan de Toledo

For most Spaniards, marzipan means a sweet Christmas. But in the Castile-La Mancha city of Toledo, this venerable blend of almonds and sugar is a year-round staple.

For Ana de Mesa Garate, it’s a way of life.

Ana de Mesa Garate presents one of her bakery’s prize Toledo mini-loafs of marzipan.

The seventh-generation Santa Tome´ marzipan maker carries on her family‘s confectionery heritage begun in 1856 by her forebear Francisco Perez Hernandez. A natural comedian, she deadpans “we have a little experience with marzipan.”

That tradition translates to 40 tons of marzipan each year, beckoning from Santo Tome´ shops all over the city. Step inside and inhale that honeyed perfume.

The Santa Tome´ workshop (obrador) is in a former 17th-century house at No. 3 Calle Santo Tome´ in Toledo’s Old Town. Betsa Marsh photo

Garate makes half her marzipan from January through October. Then, the ovens fire up frenetically to bake another 20 tons for the Christmas season, when shoppers think back to childhood and snap up marzipan sweets for gifts and party tables.

We peek into the bakery where the treats from the family’s secret marzipan recipe rest on wooden trays, waiting for the oven. After the holiday rush, Garate welcomes travelers through email reservations to the workshop at No. 3 Calle Santo Tome´ in Toledo’s Old Town.

In any other city, you’d call this the historic part of town, but all of Toledo is historic—the entire city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Garate’s workshop carries on the theme, based in a former 17thcentury house.

She walks us up to the threshold of her industrial kitchen and tells us a bit about this simple yet complicated confection.

Marzipan’s Origins in Toledo

For centuries, Toledo was a multi-cultural, multi-faith city of Christians, Muslims and Jews. “All three religions ate marzipan,” Garate said. “It’s halal and kosher.”

Today, the confection continues to cross borders. Germans, who are generally credited with inventing marzipan sweets, typically use a Bain Marie to cook the almond-and-sugar mixture. Italians, Garate said, air-dry theirs in the sun. Santo Tome´ bakes its brand.

“You’ll find all around the world something they call marzipan.”

In Toledo, marzipan’s been on the menu for centuries. “We checked the receipts (recipes) of the historic marzipan guilds,” Garate said, “and they used 50% almonds and 50% sugar. We use 57% almonds, 3% honey and 40% sugar.”

Ana de Mesa Garate, with her company’s prize-winning Don Quixote, judged by Guinness World Records to be the world’s tallest marzipan sculpture at 11 feet, 9 inches.

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The Making of Toledo Marzipan Candy

Garate brings distinct requirements to each of her ingredients and to her Toledo marzipan recipe:

Almonds – Her almonds are 100% sweet Spanish Marcona or Ramillete varieties. “The Germans and Italians will mix sweet and bitter almonds.” The Santo Tome´ recipe uses whole almonds, peeling and cleaning them with local or mineral water, depending upon the water’s chemistry at testing time. Like their California counterparts, Spanish almond growers have seen some problems with drought and climate change. Garate’s preferred Marcona and Ramillete trees “are early bloomers and very fragile. A cold snap can wipe them out.”

Honey – The honey flows from hives around Castile-La Mancha, Spain’s third-largest of 17 autonomous regions. The agricultural district exports wine, olive oil, cheese and cereal across Spain and around the world.

Sugar – Garate sources fine white sugar from regional suppliers. She never adds preservatives.

Santo Tome´ artists transform the dough into animals, fruits and flowers, and sweet little bricks stamped with “Toledo.” Some dough is blended with egg yolk, destined to be baked into mini-loaves and studded with pine nuts or almonds. Other dough is beaten with egg whites into a meringue that yields a “very fragile sweet.”

Marzipan gets mixed with egg yolk, baked and studded with almonds (left) or pine nuts (right).

After baking, aiming for a pale, chewy bottom and a crisp top, the marzipan cools and dries for 25 hours.

“Then we can work with it,” said Garate, an archaeologist who traded her trowel and ground-penetrating radar for vats of almond dough.

Once the candy leaves the shop, the clock starts ticking. “You can keep it for 20 days.”

How about freezing marzipan sweets? “Home freezers can be a problem. Water is the enemy. If the marzipan absorbs any water, it will decay very quickly.”

Garate’s wise solution? “Eat it now!”

To tour the workshop, Obrador Santa Tome´, write info@mazapan.com.

— Story and photos by Betsa Marsh

Bakers hard at work in the Santa Tome´ workshop. The company produces 40 tons of marzipan a year.

Until you can go to Spain for the delicious Santo Tome goodies, here’s some shopping you can do try your hand at making marzipan: Spanish Marcona Almonds; Honey, and Marzipan Molds. 

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