Brittle (food)
Confection made with nuts
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Brittle is a type of confection consisting of flat broken pieces of hard sugar candy embedded with nuts such as pecans, almonds, or peanuts,[1] and which are usually less than 1 cm thick.
Golden peanut brittle cracked on a serving dish | |
| Type | Confectionery |
|---|---|
| Main ingredients | Sugar, nuts, water, butter |
Types
It has many variations around the world, such as:
- pasteli in Greece
- sohan in Iran[2]
- croquant[3] or nougatine in France
- croccante in Italy[4]
- krokan in Norway
- krokant in Croatia and Germany[5][6]
- alegría or palanqueta in Mexico[7]
- pé-de-moleque in Brazil
- panocha mani, panutsa mani, or samani in the Philippines (which can also be made with pili nut)[8]
- gozinaki in Georgia
- gachak in Indian Punjab, chikki in other parts of India
- kotkoti in Bangladesh[9]
- gajak in Pakistan[citation needed]
- huasheng tang (花生糖) in China
- thua tat (ถั่วตัด) in Thailand
- kẹo lạc, kẹo hạt điều in Vietnam.
- praline in Louisiana, traditionally made with pecans.
In parts of the Middle East, brittle is made with pistachios,[10] while many Asian countries use sesame seeds and peanuts.[11] Peanut brittle is the most popular brittle recipe in the United States.[12] The term "brittle" in the context of the food first appeared in print in 1892, though the candy itself has been around for much longer.[13]
Preparation of American peanut brittle
Traditionally, a mixture of sugar and water is heated to the hard crack stage, reaching approximately 146 to 154 °C (295 to 309 °F). Some recipes may call for ingredients such as glucose and salt in this step.[14] Next, nuts are mixed with the caramelized sugar. At this point spices, leavening agents, and often peanut butter or butter are added. The hot candy is then poured onto a flat surface to cool, typically a granite slab, a marble slab, or a baking sheet. The hot candy may be troweled to uniform thickness. When the brittle is cool enough to handle, it is broken into pieces.[15] It is also rare to break the brittle into equal pieces.
Nougatine
Nougatine is a similar confection to brittle, but made of sliced almonds instead of whole peanuts, which are embedded in clear caramel.[16]
