Peladillas de Alcoy
The toasted Marcona almond coated in a hard sugar shell that for generations was the obligatory sweet at weddings, christenings, communions and Christmas tables. Alcoy was once home to Spain's first dedicated peladilla factory.
💡 Local tip: The trade has been losing workshops; if you find hand-made peladilla in a confectionery in Alcoi, it's a piece of a craft that barely survives today.
The peladilla — an almond, ideally of the Marcona variety, coated in a thin, hard shell of sugar — has roots reaching back to ancient Rome, when it was offered at births and weddings, back then coated in honey and flour before sugar became widely available.
Alcoy became one of Spain's major peladilla production centres; it was home to the Emilio Reig factory, a pioneer of the trade in the country. Alongside Xixona turrón, the peladilla was the sweet that had to be on every Christmas table and at every wedding, christening and communion.
It's a craft that has lost workshops over the decades: today very few master confectioners remain in Alcoy still making peladilla by hand, through the slow process of building up the sugar coating layer by layer.
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