What Jordan almonds are made of
A Jordan almond is a whole almond panned in layers of hard sugar until the shell is smooth and slightly glossy. Nothing else is essential: almond, sugar, sometimes a little starch or gum to help the layers bond, and colour for the pastel versions. The white ones are simply uncoloured. In Türkiye the same confection is badem şekeri, almond sugar, and the panning drums that make it also make the chocolate dragées on the dragée page.
Where the name comes from
The name has nothing to do with the country. It comes from the old French word for garden, jardin, through the English jardin almond, an almond grown in a garden rather than gathered wild. Over time jardin became Jordan in speech and stayed there. The sugared version travelled through Italy, where it is confetti, and France, where it is dragée, before it settled into English weddings as the Jordan almond.
The wedding meaning
The tradition is Mediterranean and older than any single country. Five almonds in a bag stand for five wishes for the couple: health, wealth, happiness, fertility and long life. The almond itself carries the meaning: bitter under a sweet coat, like marriage. The odd number is deliberate; five cannot be divided evenly, so the two people cannot be split. The custom is still alive in Greek, Italian, Turkish and Middle Eastern weddings, and it reached the United States with the families that brought it.
What the colours mean
White is the classic wedding colour, purity and the bride’s dress. Pastel pink and blue announce a baby shower and, in the old reading, the baby’s sex. Silver and gold appear at anniversaries. Beyond that the colours mean whatever the host decides; a mixed bowl in a candy store is simply colour. On the product page the sugar-coated group lists single colours and mixes so that the buyer, not the producer, decides.
Different flavours?
Traditional Jordan almonds have one flavour, sweet almond, and the differences are in the almond variety, the thickness of the shell and the finish. Flavoured versions exist, with a thin layer of fruit or chocolate flavour under the sugar, but they are a different product and are named as such. If a buyer wants a flavoured almond with a hard shell, the coated dragée family is usually the better answer.
Buying them in bulk
For confectioners, favour makers and repackers the unit is the bulk carton, single colour or mixed; case weight and pallet plan are stated per line in the offer. They travel dry all year, which makes them an easy line to add to a mixed container next to chocolate and Turkish delight. Retail doypacks and boxes can carry a private label as one of our core services. The United States page lists what stays the same on every offer.
Asking for a price
A first message is short: references from the dragées page, quantities, port. The offer that comes back is not — it carries the specification, the pallet plan and the minimum, line by line.
Samples are free from our running production and the courier is paid before dispatch. The united states: what stays the same on every offer page lists what stays the same on every offer, and the private label for us brands page covers putting your own name on the pack.
Are Jordan almonds gluten-free?
The traditional recipe is almond and sugar; any starch or gum used in panning is stated on our technical data sheet, which comes with the quotation.
Why are they hard to bite?
The sugar shell is built in many thin layers and dried hard so the almonds keep for months and stay shiny. The rough-finish dragées on the page are softer to bite.
Can they be branded?
Bulk cartons carry our label; retail packs can carry yours on selected lines, with the artwork approved in writing before printing.
