What is brittle?

Brittle is a type of confection consisting of flat broken pieces of hard sugar candy embedded with nuts which are usually less than 1 cm thick. Although the term "brittle" first appeared in print in 1892, the candy itself has been around for many years. Worldwide, there are many variations of this hard candy from Iran to India, Greece and Mexico. In Asian countries, the use of sesame seeds is more common while in the United States, peanuts are the most common brittle recipe type. 

Traditionally, a sugar and water is boiled to the hard crack stage (approximately 300°F (149 °C) and then nuts are added and stirred again. Once complete, the candy is poured onto a flat surface to cool. When the brittle has cooled sufficiently, it is broken into pieces to eat. Nowadays you can get brittle with diverse flavours ranging from ginger to cocoa nib or saffron.