Yeah its Nutella Day! Let's crack open and jar and slather that deliciousness of chocolate and hazelnuts on whatever we like. Of course if you are allergic to hazelnuts like my brother Vince, then stay away. Here is the story behind Nutella....
In Napoleon Bonaparte’s quest to concur Europe in 1806, he enacted a blockade that halted British trade. Due to this the flow of cocoa was interrupted and chocolatiers in Turin Italy found they couldn’t afford to make pure chocolate. Therefore they started adding hazelnuts to their chocolates in order to stretch out cocoa supplies.
Once again during World War II, cocoa became scarce and pastry maker Pietro Ferrero from Piedmont Italy saw an opportunity to create a sweet paste made of hazelnuts, sugar and a little bit of cocoa. He made loaves of this sweet paste and called “Giandujot” after a famous carnival character at the time. The Ferrero Company was founded soon after that on May 14, 1946. In 1951 the paste was made into spreadable form and it was called Supercrema. The recipe was improved and the first-ever new hazelnut and cocoa cream jar was created and Nutella was released on April 20, 1964. Later that year it was introduced to the UK and in 1965 the iconic jar was designed and launched in Germany. In 1978, the brand expanded into Australia and the first production plant outside of Europe was opened in Lithgow near Sidney.
In 1996 “Generation Nutella” was an event held in Paris to showcase art made by artists who grew up with Nutella and on May 29, 2005 Nutella participated in the largest continental breakfast in Gelserkirchen Germany. This breakfast made the Guinness Book of Records with 27,854 participating.
Sara Rosso started the first Nutella day on February 5th 2007. Lovers of Nutella were called to unite by Sara an Italo-American blogger. Since then World Nutella Day has been celebrated every year. Here is a video of Sara Rosso’s STORY.
Some fun facts about Nutella:
Made up 70% hazelnuts and 30% chocolate
To make is spreadable palm oil is added to the mixture
You can get sued under Italian law if you call Nutella “chocolate cream” because it doesn’t meet the requirements for cocoa solids
Ferrero uses 25% of the global hazelnut supply
There are about 50 hazelnuts in each jar of Nutella
If you refrigerate it the oils from the hazelnuts will harden, making it impossible to spread
There is a lot of sugar in Nutella, yes each tablespoon holds 100 calories of sugar. On the bright side there are 20 grams of protein in each jar
Nutella is sold every 2.5 seconds, enough to circle the globe 1.8 times
In 2015, a judge didn’t allow a French couple to name their daughter Nutella to save the girl from a lifetime of mockery and bullying
Ferrero’s brand also include Ferrero Rocher, Kinder, Tic Tac and 70 other brands world wide
As a child and even today I love Nutella plain and slathered on a slice of bread. But I’ve also incorporated it in a couple of recipes. S’more Rosette, Nutella Cream Cheese Twirl and if you love extreme chocolate then you need to try Chocolate Surprise Cookies.
We only live once so indulge a little today with some Nutella.