Who has never sunk a teaspoon or a finger in a jar of Nutella? Who can resist the temptation of a slice of bread with a layer of delicious brown cream on it? Nobody, I dare say. We don’t know what makes it so special, which secret potion hides among cocoa, hazelnuts, sugar and palm oil. The fact is that for Monica Bellucci “it is the maximum enjoyment” and Julia Roberts would eat it 24 hours a day. After all, can you imagine a world without Nutella? Ah, I almost forgot! It is an all Italian invention.
Some curious data
Despite its 55 years, it never gets old. Moreover, February 5th is the World Nutella Day. It is possible to purchase a jar can in 75 states. And, on average, one is sold every 3 seconds.
It is said that if all the jars of Nutella sold in one year were brought together in the same place, it would cover an area of 1000 football fields. While if you lined them up a chain would come out with which to make almost 2 turns of the earth’s circumference and 8 times the Great Wall of China. Every year an Empire State Building of Nutella is produced: the tons produced, in fact, weigh as much as the skyscraper in New York.
The Ferreros invent Nutella!
Well, for this divine invention we have to thank Pietro and Michele Ferrero. In May 1946, Monsù Pietro founded Ferrero and started producing Nutella’s ancestor. The price of chocolate was skyrocketing, around 3000 lire per kilo, then Ferrero used hazelnuts, abundant in the Langhe, which he added to the gianduia, widely used in Piedmont. From this union, combined with some notes of chocolate and coconut butter, Giandujot was born. It was a semi-hard dough that was sold in rolls wrapped in silver paper, at only 600 lire per kilo.
Michele took over the company and worked to modify the recipe of Gianduia Pasta in order to make it more tasty and spreadable. Thus, in 1964 the first jar of Nutella came out of the Alba plant. The name derives from the English nut ‘hazelnut’ and the suffix ‘-ella‘. Do you know how it achieved immediate success? Thanks to free tastings. In the main Italian markets they began to offer passersby a spoon of Nutella. Hundreds and hundreds of people went to the stands bringing bread from home to taste the enchanting innovation.
Nutella Vitamin
But did you know that its creators thought about a variant rich in vitamins? In the 1960s the chemist Francesco Rivella was commissioned to create a vitaminized Nutella cream. He should have included vitamins suitable for growth in the original recipe, in order to make it more nutritious for children and encourage moms to buy it. This experiment never left the labs.
Environmentally friendly
Nutella is close to developing countries, such as Africa and South America, as well as environmentally friendly. In fact, it followed Greenpeace Italy by joining the campaign “Nutella saves the forest”. Committing to the expansion of oil palm cultivation, compromising with the moratorium on deforestation and ensuring traceability and certification of the palm oil used. And where do the hazelnuts come from? Mainly from the countries bordering the Mediterranean: Turkey and some Italian regions, such as Piedmont, Lazio and Campania.
In addition, Ferrero has always used reusable glass jars. To stimulate consumers not to throw away the container, it gave jars particular shapes by embellishing them with images and designs. Until the 90s, the theme of images was linked to nature. Then came the time for cartoon and comic characters. The jars of Nutella have always remembered anniversaries such as the Football World Cup and the Olympic Games. But also the Expo and the unification of Italy. From 2013, however, personalized jars with personal names were born, followed by messages and then sentences in the various Italian dialects. 2017 was the year of “there is nobody like you“, that is, unique pieces. In our country alone, 7000 unique and original vases have been produced. And then, the designed jar that has only one twin in the world.
But don’t name your daughter Nutella
Eat as much as you want but never name your daughter Nutella. A French family, for daring to name the baby girl after the most famous Italian spreadable cream, ended up in court. It was a government official during the registration act that exercised the veto. The judge agreed with him. Why? Because this name could have to put the baby up with being bullied. The judge therefore forced the family to change the name to Ella.
Immages: Nutella Facebook page- Pixabay
