The nougat, turron, and torrone category is always interesting. What distinguishes each of them are three things: Texture (is it hard or soft?); what type of honey or sweetener? (What is the percentage of honey to sugar?); What are the types of nuts? Each of these relationships contributes an aspect to flavor and quite a matrix of possibilities. For instance, the Nougat of Montèlimar is always made with lavender honey and almonds; the Alemany turron from Catalunya is made with orange flower honey and marconas; and the Italian torrone often is made with hazelnuts or pistachios. Walters Nougat is particularly interesting because they offer a SOFT (fluffy in fact) nougat made with "blue gum" honey (this means Eucalyptus) and either pecans or macadamias.

Walters Nougat is produced at their Wedgwood estate in KwaZulu Natal Midlands, South Africa. And like many excellent artisan products started with the matriarch of the family, Gilly (who seems to be a fab cook by the way) who started making nougat to serve to their guests at the music venue they host. AS with life, one thing led to another and now 80% of the family is involved in the Walters Nougat business. The site has morphed from the family's double car garage sized facility to a 1000m2 state of the art facility. There is still a lot of handwork (THEY still insist on using fresh egg whites rather than powder). Most of the ingredients are local. In fact, South Africa is the 3rd largest Macadamia nut producing country in the world. Walters Nougat, who employs about 26 people, is literally family run, including 2 parents, 3 sons, a daughter-in-law, tons of grandkids and a production crew of local people who have been working for Walters for years. They're exacting in their standards for production and pretty darn particular with whom they will do business. In a world that is always pushing bigger, they want to be in the specialty niche. Sounds like our kinda' folks!