Nutella
Nutella is the brand name of a hazelnut-based sweet spread registered by the Italian company Ferrero at the end of 1963. The recipe was developed from an earlier Ferrero's spread released in 1949. Nutella is now marketed in over 75 countries across the globe.
History
Gianduja is a type of chocolate containing approximately fifty percent almond and hazelnut paste. It was developed in Piedmont, Italy after taxes on cocoa beans hindered the diffusion of conventional chocolate. Pietro Ferrero owned a patisserie in Alba, in the Langhe district of Piedmont, an area known for the production of hazelnuts. He sold an initial batch of 300 kilograms (660 lb) of "Pasta Gianduja" in 1946. This was originally a solid block, but in 1949 Pietro developed his first spread, which he started to sell in 1951 as "Supercrema".
In 1963, Pietro's son Michele Ferrero decided to revamp Supercrema, with the intention of marketing it across Europe. Its composition was modified, as well as the label image and brand name: the name "Nutella" (based on the word "nut") and its logo were registered towards the end of the same year and remain unchanged to this day. The first jar of Nutella left the Ferrero factory in Alba on April 20 1964. The product was an instant success and remains widely popular. The estimated Italian production of Nutella averages 179,000 tons per year.[citation needed]
Pronunciation
The Italian pronunciation is [nuˈtɛlːa], and an approximation of this is made in most other languages, including American and Canadian English: /nuːˈtɛlə/. In the UK and Australia, Nutella is normally Template:Pron-en, reflecting its original derivation from the English word "nut" /nʌt/.
Composition
Nutella is a modified form of gianduja. The exact recipe is a secret closely guarded by Ferrero. According to the product label, the main ingredients of Nutella are sugar and modified vegetable oils, followed by hazelnut, cocoa and skimmed milk, which together comprise at most 28% of the ingredients. The recipe for Nutella varies in different countries: for example, the Italian formulation uses less sugar than the product sold in France. Nutella is marketed as "hazelnut cream" in many countries. Under Italian law, it cannot be labeled as a chocolate cream, as it does not meet minimum cocoa concentration criteria.
About half of the calories in Nutella come from fat (11 g in a 37 g serving, or 99 kcal out of 200 kcal) and about 40% of the calories come from sugar (20 g, 80 kcal).[1]
Listed ingredients
Nutrition Facts
Per 13 oz Jar (371 g) (USA & Canada Product)
- Calories 1950
- Fat 110 g
- Saturated 35 g
- Trans 0 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Sodium 150 mg
- Carbohydrate 220 g
- Fiber 10 g
- Sugars 210 g
- Protein 30 g
Allergy information
Nutella is generally not recommended for people with an allergy to nuts.
For many years (according to the Internet Archive Wayback Machine, from at least October 2000 to at least August 2007) the Nutella USA FAQ stated that the peanut oil used in Nutella production goes through a hot-solvent extraction process, which removes its protein content and theoretically renders it non-allergenic. This FAQ statement has since been removed. The fact that Nutella contains traces of peanuts has caused it to be banned (in common with other foods that may contain nuts) from school lunches in some schools in Australia, UK, and Canada where pupils bring their own lunch to school. These schools call themselves "Nut-free zones".[2] As of late 2007, Nutella sold in the USA and Canada no longer uses peanut oil.
Nutella is also not recommended for people with milk allergy or lactose intolerance because of its skimmed milk and whey content.
Containers
Although Nutella is marketed in a variety of packages, its typical containers have always been made of glass (though plastic containers are more common in the USA, Canada, and Mexico). Initially, the most popular glass containers were quite small, the size of a standard water glass, with the result that they could be used as normal table glasses once the product inside had been consumed. Different forms of these glasses are produced, turning them into collectible items.
Today, Nutella is more frequently marketed in jars of a characteristic, trademarked oval shape (pictured above). These are generally 200 g, 350 g, 400 g or 750 g jars, although in some countries (such as Italy and France), 3 kg and 5 kg jars are available (most commonly for special occasions, such as Christmas). Single-serving 30g plastic packages are also available and are usually sold in packages of three. In the United States, Nutella is typically sold in 13 oz jars (371 grams). Besides these, there are also various 'limited edition' jars. One example is the jar released to the German market in 2002 to celebrate the introduction of the Euro. The jar contained 1.95583 kg, which is the exact exchange rate between the Deutsche Mark and the Euro.
In Australia, Nutella is sold in the standard oval-shaped plastic jars with translucent plastic screw top lids. Single-serving catering packs aimed at the school lunch market are also available in retail stores.
Success
In Italy
In its home country of Italy, Nutella has become a cultural and social phenomenon. Many books have been written about it, and it is the core of a celebrated scene in the movie Bianca, by the Italian filmmaker Nanni Moretti, in which a character relieves his post-coital anxieties by eating chocolate coated bread, spread from a gigantic Nutella jar.
In France
In France, Nutella is the most popular spread. It represents 89% of the market share. Ferrero's factory in Villers-Écalles is the world largest producer of Nutella with about 70,000 tons per year.
Internationally
Nutella is also very popular in the rest of Europe, India, Malaysia, Puerto Rico, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico, the Philippines , Egypt and South Africa, mostly with children and teenagers. This is less true in the United States and Canada, where the product was only available as an expensive import until the 2000s. In the United States, basketball star Kobe Bryant was a former spokesman for Nutella, having grown up in Italy. Nutella is briefly mentioned in Chloé Doutre-Roussel's "The Chocolate Connoisseur", which includes an anecdote of her mother flying into Mexico with several jars and smearing it on her face to convince a Customs Officer that it was a facial mask, and not a banned food product. In 1999 Nutella was one of the official sponsors of the 1999/2000 UEFA Champions league season. They were advertised at every game on a bill board.
Competitors
While Nutella has generally become synonymous with hazelnut and chocolate spread worldwide, similar products with other brand names enjoy wide success in some countries. This includes "Merenda" in Greece ("merenda" is Italian for a mid-afternoon snack), Nocilla in Spain, Nucita in South America.
- Pâte à tartiner noisette cacao by Jardin Bio is an organic Nutella-like spread from France (available as an import at Ambrosia Natural Foods in Ontario, Canada)
- Kremino in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia
- Linolada in Croatia
- Nocilla in Spain (Nocilla is an originally Spanish product. Nutella only entered the Spanish market recently).
- Tulicreme in Portugal
- Nusskati, Nudossi, Nutoka, Nulacta, Nusspli, Winsenia and Choco Duo in Germany
- Mars has a brown-and-white swirled hazelnut-chocolate spread, Milky Way, named for its Milky Way bar.
- Chokella (Nestlé) and Çokokrem (Ülker) in Turkey.
- Choconutta, Hazella spread and a wide variety of Store Brand hazelnut spreads are available in Canada.
- Plasmon's Ergo Spalma and Star's Ciao Crem have been the most important alternative products to Nutella in Italy though nowadays they are no longer on sale. Ergo Spalma had quite a lot more chocolate than Nutella in it. There was another competitor, less famous, called Nutty Bicolore (Bicolore means "two colours") which was a jar of a Nutella-like cream combined with a beige vanilla cream. During the late '80s, the Nutella brand copied this particular recipe creating Nutella Bicolore, which however did not encounter great success.
- Nugatti in Norway
- Nutino - made in Italy. Sold in Australia.
- Viki krema in Slovenia
- Eurocrem in Serbia
- Nucita in Venezuela
- Nucy in the Dominican Republic
- Condon in Ireland
- Chocoleca in Senegal
- Delinut in Belgium
- Finetti in Romania
- Duo Penotti in The Netherlands
References
- ^ "Nutrition Facts and Analysis for Chocolate-flavored hazelnut spread". NutritionaData. Retrieved 2008-11-09.
- ^ "Schools become 'nut-free zones'". BBC News. 2004-05-05. Retrieved 2008-11-09.
- Notes
- Official Nutella website (in Italian; there is a section on product history).
- Rosenblum, Mort. Chocolate: A Bittersweet Sage of Dark and Light (2006), "Where's the Nutella", pp. 241–247. ISBN 0865477302
External links
