On 8/18/2024 at 10:01 AM, Jim D. said:
I had exactly the same experience the first time I made almond praline paste--very little almond taste. I use blanched almonds, and I toast them. I was quite disappointed until I accepted that almonds need a little help. I had the same reaction to macadamias and cashews, but those nuts don't offer the same solution I found for almond. I discovered a bitter almond oil, and I add that to my finished paste. Your taste will determine how much, but the taste does intensify a little with time. Amazon link.
What was your process with caramelizing the sugar? I assume you did it separately from the nuts. I had some difficulty with the caramel getting gummy because of humidity. Eventually (and it took quite some time) the melanger ground up the caramel and the gumminess disappeared. Since you said you made almond paste, I assume you figured out the problem with the center rod. What was the issue?
I caramelized the sugar to 185C separately. I did not have a gumminess problem with it. I have not figured out the center rod issue yet I am going to call the company tomorrow, as it is now it just works fine but there is that gap between the lid and the bowl and I did get some splatters however I only had 1kg of stuff there ( somewhere I read the minimum was %40) so that might have added to the splatter issue. Not really sure what the issue is with the lid but the machine works just fine. Thank you so much for the link, I am going to order that. This brand takes me back to my childhood, my mom always ordered that from Germany for lemon peel oil.
