Pralines and Cream

What is it?

Praline means two different things depending on where the word's said. In Belgium and France it's a paste of ground nuts and caramelised sugar, or else a filled chocolate. In the American South it's a sweet made by cooking sugar and cream down with pecans until it sets into a patty. This is the American one, and the pack picture settles it: pecans, with caramel alongside them. That matters for flavour, since pecan is softer and sweeter than hazelnut and carries none of its bitterness. New Orleans is the source. French settlers brought the technique and swapped the almonds they'd have used at home for the nut growing locally, which is how a French confection ended up defined by an American tree.