Marzipan

Made primarily of sugar or honey and almond meal (ground almonds), marzipan has been used in all varieties of sweets and treats. Its dough-like consistency makes it an ideal material to make novelty shapes and figures.

Richard II of England once invited 2,000 of the country's rich barons to dine with him. 200 cooks prepared a menu, for which pudding was a three-foot high marzipan castle. 

The first printed cookbook in 1475. In De Honesta Voluptate (On Right Pleasure and Good Health) recorded recipes for all kinds of food. Amongst the many recipes in De Honesta Voluptate were some for making marzipan and other candy. Confectionery regarded at the time to mainly be an pothecary's product, but they were also regarded as a luxury food, packaged in decorative boxes and offered as a gift to royals. 

Galileo was fond of good food, for treats his nun daughter Sister Marie makes him marzipan shaped like little fish.

National Marzipan Day is celebrated every year in the United States on January 12th.