Marzapane, Pasta Reale

This-paste of sugar, almond flour and egg white is widely used in Sicily to make cassata siciliana and to bake a variety of biscuits. It is also used as filling for tarts and dates. Marzipan has a sweetish taste, only sometimes betraying a hint of the bitter almonds or armelline added to enhance the almond flavour. In certain parts of the South, marzapane is called pasta reale (‘royal paste’), indicating the regard with which it was held. A Sicilian variation called frutta di marturana is based on marzipan shaped into all types of fruit which are then given the original colours.