What Is Nougat?

The term “nougat” refers to a variety of culinary confections. In Europe, it’s traditionally a crunchy, chewy, fluffy delicacy made of whipped egg whites, which is sweetened with sugar and/or honey and often combined with almonds, pistachios, or other nutty treats.

But to Americans, nougat is less often enjoyed as a treat on its own and more commonly as a familiar component of Snickers, Milky Ways, and other mass-produced candy bars. If you’ve ever managed to try this type on its own, isolated from the rest of your snack, you may not be surprised to find that nougat isn’t really there to provide flavor. Instead, nougat plays other roles.

Nuggets About Nougat

While chewy and airy to some degree, American nougat typically includes elements that focus less on improving flavor and more on adding texture, as well as lowering costs. The latter helps explain why nougat initially gained a foothold in the U.S. during the Great Depression.

Since many Americans had little, if any, disposable income at the time, candy manufacturers needed a way to sell sweets on the cheap. Candy makers loaded up products with hearty ingredients such as nougat and peanuts, as they were cheaper than elements such as real chocolate or caramel. They were also more filling, which meant a lot when food was particularly hard to come by.

These products, including Snickers, Milky Ways, and 3 Musketeers, quickly became fan favorites, even after society at large eventually gained the financial means to afford more high-quality ingredients. Thus, manufacturers felt less inclined to change the recipe, and continued including nougat going forward. (It didn’t hurt that the cheaper ingredients also made for higher profit.)

As for what nougat is and how it’s made, it’s worth noting that it isn’t a single ingredient, but rather a mixture of several elements. What the elements are, however, may vary slightly depending on who’s producing it. Generally, nougat contains corn syrup, hydrolyzed protein, and soy lecithin, as well as added preservatives that give it an artificially sweet flavor and extended shelf life — yum!

In the case of Snickers, Mars, Inc. — which makes the candy — doesn’t explicitly state what its nougat contains. However, sweet-toothed sleuths think it’s likely made of corn syrup, sugar, salt, and egg whites whipped together, which is then mixed with peanut butter for added flavor.

Whatever specific ingredients are selected in the nougat-making process, it’s imperative to achieve an airy texture or else you’ll be left chewing on a candy bar like it were a piece of rubber. To produce that airiness, manufacturers rely on basic concepts from aeration physics and chemistry, as well as one ingredient in particular: egg whites.

By rapidly whipping egg whites, you’re altering the proteins in such a way that they trap in air bubbles, resulting in a fluffy foam with an airy texture. Those air bubbles are what gives nougat its white color as well, as they reflect light in such a way that it makes all of the nougat appear white — that is, before additional colorful elements may be added.

Once the egg whites have been thoroughly whipped, it’s time to add a boiling hot sweet element (corn syrup, sugar, honey, etc.) This stabilizes the egg’s proteins in a suspended solution, firmly trapping in air bubbles and preventing the air from escaping. Once it all cools, the result resists crystallization and remains soft at room temperature. 

Typically, the nougat is then shaped and molded with other elements such as milk chocolate. While it has a mild sweetness all on its own, its semipermanent soft texture, which also adds volume and texture, is the main role nougat plays in the overall experience of chomping into a delicious candy bar. 

That’s why an all-nougat candy bar (they could call it 1 Musketeer) isn’t likely to hit the candy aisle anytime soon.