Nougat Manufacturing Methods and Formulas by Walter Richmond

ougat is a combination of whipped candy and hard large percentage of sugar to form the grain in the batch. Ncandy. In fact, using too much sugar will cause the nougat to The old-time nougat made in Italy and France con- become crumbly. tained honey, sugar, egg whites, pistachio nuts, raw sweet Unless a very short-breaking nougat is desired, 45 to almonds and vanilla flavor. Its manufacture was a lengthy 55 percent sugar is all that is needed to produce a short process whereby much of the moisture in the batch was nougat that has some chewing quality as well as short- slowly evaporated while the egg whites were being mixed ness. A short nougat with a chewy texture, containing with the batch. A higher-cooked batch was then added approximately 45 percent sugar, can be made if the cor- to the egg mixture. This slow evaporation of the mois- rect cooking and mixing methods are followed. See For- ture and the coagulation of the egg whites by heating mulas 168 and 175. produced a nougat with a waxy texture that gave it a wonderful eating quality. The best-quality Italian torrone Basic Rules of Manufacture is still made by this process. The high-cooked portion of short nougat usually con- There are two types of nougat: chewy nougat and short tains a larger percentage of sugar than does the whipped nougat. Either type can be made by using egg albumen, portion of the batch. egg frappé or a combination of both. Do not use a large percentage of sugar in the whipped The shortness or the chewiness of the batch is con- portion of the batch containing honey. The acidity of the trolled by the percentage of noncrystalline sugars, such honey will cause an inversion of some of the sugar. A fine as corn syrup, invert sugar or honey, that the batch con- grain will form if most of the honey and corn syrup are tains, and the mixing method employed in manufacture. in the low-cooked, whipped portion of the batch. Use Short nougat does not necessarily have to contain a enough corn syrup in the high-cooked batch to insure against premature graining while it is being mixed with For many years, the confectionery industry has the whipped portion of the batch. utilized the formulas in Walter Richmond’s book, To obtain the desired texture in batches where previ- Choice Confections. This book was originally ously prepared or commercial frappé is used, it may written in 1954 and has been reprinted four times. become necessary to use more honey or corn syrup in the Presently the book is in the process of being cooked portion of the batch than would be necessary if updated. As part of this updating process chapters the batch was made with a low-cooked, whipped portion and a high-cooked syrup portion. will periodically appear in The Manufacturing The high-cooked batch, to which the egg whites are to Confectioner. We solicit any comments, suggestions be added, should be cooled sufficiently that the heat of or formulas that readers have pertaining to the the batch will not cook the egg whites and thus destroy chapter in this issue. their whipping quality. ®

The Manufacturing Confectioner • February 2006 35