El Almendro Turron Duro – Why create specific dates for happiness?

I have never quite had anything like it. The nougat really is great, crispy, crunchy, sweet with a touch of honey flavor. There is almost no tooth stick unlike what I was expecting and the fantastic almonds are muey plentiful and somehow sweet – I think – could be the nougat. They boast a 63% almond content. There is a weird paper on both sides of the bar – something like rice paper – but it didn’t really bother me.

Reviewed by Scotty

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February 15, 2010

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This past Saturday my family meets Jonny’s family for some fun for the little ones. That is Train Town in Sonoma and some sando’s afterwards. Train Town was great and my 2.5 year old daughter loves the roller coaster. Then to the Cheese Factory in Sonoma Square. So I know this is a candy blog but I can’t resist. The $10 sandwich that I got at the Cheese Factory was possibly the worst sando of my life. It took over 30  minutes and when it arrived it was basically poorly cooked, non flavorful tri-tip with slightly melted swiss cheese on two dry pieces of sliced sourdough. I’ll leave it at that.

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Anyway, on the way we stopped at Strawberry Village in Tiburon and I came across this shop called The Spanish Table. The lady who helped me was super nice and knew way too much to be just an employee so I have to assume that she was the owner or part of the management. She also inspired me to write  a review on Chupa Chups – which apparently come from Spain and not Mexico. Ouch, another blow for Mexican candy. I wish I had recorded what she had told me because it was a mouthful regarding El Almendro Turron Duro – way more than I could find online. Butel_almendro_slice what I did get is that it is a traditional Spanish candy that’s  a Christmas time favorite. She only had a few boxes remaining in mid February. She said that the white nougat in the Turron was only made in a town in Spain – after some research I found that was a town called Alicante.
Google didn’t help much with further info but I will tell you that this Turron is outstanding. I have never quite had anything like it. The nougat really is great, crispy, crunchy, sweet with a touch of honey flavor. There is almost no tooth stick unlike what I was expecting and the fantastic almonds are muey plentiful and somehow sweet – I think – could be the nougat. They boast a 63% almond content. There is a weird paper on both sides of the bar – something like rice paper – but it didn’t really bother me.
The box states that  they follow a five century old recipe and in my opinion they shouldn’t change it for another five centuries. My wife loved it and my daughter nearly bit my hand off when I tried to take some from her. Really just wanted to break it in half for her little mouth.
If you’ve never  tried this before – you need to. el_almendro_barIts just too good not to. These will become an immediate staple purchase – whenever I see them. Unfortunately, if you want to buy them you’re kinda shit out of luck. The three places I found online that carry them are out of stock. So you might have to wait till next Christmas or run down to The Spanish Table and grab the last remaining box or two. If someone does find an online supplier please let us know – I’ll buy a couple of boxes.
One last thing – if you get a chance, play around with Google Translate. It’s much fun. I was trying to read another review of these in Spanish so I used Google Translate. It spit out this shinning nugget.
“Why are these things just for Christmas?  Why call this section rare specimens Christmas? I live in Spain, and no specimen of Spain calling me, much less bad sperm from Spain. Why create specific dates for happiness when happiness and joy is all year round? Or at least it should be.”
I agree 100%. Why create specific dates for happiness? Why?

Zolli Candy

4 Comments

  1. Ridwana Sirkhot

    Someone brought me some of these two years ago after a trip to Spain. I savored every bit and haven’t managed to to get my hand on some since.I am still haunted by its amazing taste.

    Reply
  2. Scotty

    Jonny – not really big hunkyish. But its awesome – you will love it. Its too bad that Starwberry village is probably out of them by now. Maybe next Christmas.

    Nah – I saved some.

    Reply
  3. Jonny

    it looks like a high-end “Big Hunk” which can only be a god sign.

    Scotty, I TRUST you saved some for your fellow gurus?

    Reply
  4. Adela

    Scotty, I have to say, El Almendro is definitely one of my favorites and I have always eaten it year-round, but it is definitely easiest to find at Christmas, so I try to stock up for the rest of the year 🙂 I add my support to your 8/10 review!

    And, as a side note and as a Spanish teacher, I love that you put the real Google translation from the Spanish site you found. My students will swear up and down that they didn’t use a translator on their homework, but their Spanish looks a lot like that translated English. Just silly. How many times have I seen them write “Yo lata” for “I can” instead of the correct “Puedo”? My suggestion (and don’t tell my students) is to use the Spanish translation tool from SpanishDict.com if you’re going to use one at all. Just my opinion as a Spanish teacher. It has three translators (including Google) so that you can compare the translations and find the best option.

    Reply

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