Brittle (food)

Brittle

Golden peanut brittle cracked on a serving dish
Type Confectionery
Main ingredients Sugar, nuts, water, butter
Cookbook: Brittle  Media: Brittle

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] It has many variations around the world, such as pasteli in Greece,[2] croquant in France,[3] gozinaki in Georgia, chikki in India and kotkoti in Bangladesh.[4] In parts of the Middle East, brittle is made with pistachios,[5] while many Asian countries use sesame seeds and peanuts.[6] Peanut brittle is the most popular brittle recipe in the US.[7] The term brittle first appears in print in 1892, though the candy itself has been around for much longer.[8]

Traditionally, a mixture of sugar and water is heated to the hard crack stage corresponding to a temperature of approximately 300 °F (149 °C), although some recipes also call for ingredients such as corn syrup and salt in the first step.[9] 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 poured out onto a flat surface for cooling, traditionally a granite or marble slab. The hot candy may be troweled to uniform thickness. When the brittle cools, it is broken into pieces.[10]

See also

References

  1. Kate Hopkins (2012). Sweet Tooth: The Bittersweet History of Candy. Macmillan. p. 34. Retrieved April 11, 2013.
  2. Dinah Corley (2011). Gourmet Gifts: 100 Delicious Recipes for Every Occasion to Make Yourself & Wrap with Style. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 251.
  3. Lisa Abend (2011). The Sorcerer's Apprentices: A Season in the Kitchen at Ferran Adrià's elBulli. Simon and Schuster. p. 82.
  4. "Peanut or Cheena Badam is popular outdoor leisure snack food in Bangladesh". January 11, 2011.
  5. Joel Denker (2007). The World on a Plate: A Tour Through the History of America's Ethnic Cuisine. University of Nebraska Press. p. 33. Retrieved April 11, 2013.
  6. Leela Punyaratabandhu (April 12, 2011). "Goddesses and peanut brittle: This year, celebrate Songkran in supernatural style". CNN. Retrieved April 11, 2013.
  7. Chu, Anita. Field Guide to Candy: How to Identify and Make Virtually Every Candy Imaginable. Philadelphia: Quirk, 2009.
  8. Oliver, Lynne. “Brittle." Food Timeline. N.p., 1999. Web. http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodcandy.html#brittle
  9. "Peanut Brittle Recipe - Joyofbaking.com *Video Recipe*".
  10. Paula Deen (2011). Paula Deen's Southern Cooking Bible: The New Classic Guide to Delicious Dishes with More Than 300 Recipes. Simon & Schuster. p. 418. Retrieved April 11, 2013.

External links


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