Marzipan is a pliable confectionery paste made from ground almonds and sugar, sometimes bound with egg white or glucose syrup. Its name and exact origin are disputed; competing theories trace it to the Arabic mawthaban, a unit of weight that came to mean a small box or container, or to the Italian phrase marci panis, 'bread of St. Mark.' It spread across Europe by the late Middle Ages and remains central to holiday sweets such as German stollen and Spanish turrón. Marzipan is often colored and molded into decorative shapes for cakes and pastries, which distinguishes its main use from almond paste, a coarser, less sweet product used mainly as a baking filling.