Availability of premium gianduia spreads in the United States has increased dramatically over the past several years, making it much easier to find products of acceptable quality.

Because gianduia spreads are jarred, they have a longer shelf life than gianduiotti, making them more attractive for importers and retailers.  Also, to the extent Americans have any concept of gianduia at all, it’s in the feeble guise of Nutella. Many customers recognize the appeal of something Nutella-like, but better.

Like gianduiotti, premium gianduia spreads are not widely available in the United States, mostly appearing in quality import shops, Italian markets, and through online fine chocolate retailers.  All of the spreads below have been available in the United States in the past three years, though some only sporadically.

In several cases, the makers have changed recipes and packaging in that time.  Gianduia spreads are a relatively young product (compared to gianduia itself), so it’s not unusual for makers to revamp in order to better compete.  Review ingredient lists in light of the guidelines previously discussed to improve your odds of a good purchase.

In these ratings, each spread (except one) received a score from one to three stars, three being the best.  Though there’s a significant quality gap between the worst and best of these spreads, all (except one) are superior to Nutella in flavor and aroma.  The sample size for each spread (except one) exceeded 16 ounces, often several times over.  Let’s start with that exceptional one—the one spread that made Nutella look good.

Zero Stars.

Scharffen Berger, Gianduja (Pure Hazelnut Ganache) (1).  Scharffen Berger dabbled unsuccessfully in gianduia before Hershey’s Artisan Confections purchased the company in 2005, but this spread—part of a small line of jarred ganaches—came after the acquisition.  The ingredient list raises a number of red flags.  It leads with sugar.  The spread has very low hazelnut content (the fourth item on the ingredient list), and not Tonda Gentile delle Langhe.  In addition to the sugar, it’s sweetened with corn syrup.  In keeping with labeling the product as ganache, Scharffen Berger used half-and-half, instead of milk powder.

Scharffen Berger’s spread scores a zero.  It’s dense, grainy, and sickly sweet.  The sour, ammoniac smell bears no relation to gianduia.  Think rancid chocolate Play-Doh.  Absolutely inedible.

Scharffen Berger’s spread constitutes one of the greatest crimes committed in the name of “gianduia.”  Regrettably, there’s no statute of limitations on the offense.  The jars left the factory with no expiration date.  The product was discontinued some time before Hershey closed Scharffen Berger’s quaint Berkeley factory in the spring of 2009 and moved all production to Robinson, Illinois.  Because the jars have no “sell by” date, they still turn up on shelves occasionally.  Though the jar sampled for this article was purchased in 2008, it’s fair to assume that the spread has not improved with age.  Should you come across this product, do not buy it.

One Star (★).

★ Askinosie Chocolate, “Hey, Hey, Hazelnut!” Chocolate Hazelnut Spread (2).  Shawn Askinosie is one of the good guys in the chocolate world, an American craft bean-to-bar maker of seriousness and integrity.  His chocolate hazelnut spread has a lot going for it on paper.  It’s a “bean-to-jar” product using quality single-origin (Philippines) cocoa powder of Askinosie’s own pressing.  The ingredient list leads with hazelnuts, with sugar coming in third place.  There are no extraneous fats, artificial flavors, milk solids, or even vanilla.  It’s the shortest, purest ingredient list of any commercially produced gianduia spread I’ve seen.

As a dark chocolate spread, it succeeds nicely.  More of a dense paste than a cream, it is firm, but spreadable with a little effort.  The chocolate flavor comes on boldly and intensely, with the prominent acidity and noticeable astringency of Askinosie’s Davao bar (from the same cacao).

Askinosie "Hey, Hey, Hazelnut"

But, as gianduia, the hazelnuts bring this one up short.  Askinosie uses DuChilly hazelnuts from Washington.  DuChilly, more commonly known as Kentish Cob or Lunga di Spagna, is an English hazelnut cultivar that is somewhat sweeter than Barcelona (the most common hazelnut cultivar in the Pacific Northwest), but lower in oil, negatively impacting aroma and pellicle removability after roasting (3).

Though the hazelnut content is not disclosed on the ingredient list, Shawn Askinosie confirms in correspondence that the spread contains a minimum of 20%.  The relatively low hazelnut content and the limitations of the cultivar result in a flat, woody backdrop to the intense cacao flavor.  Though not unpleasant on its own terms, it doesn’t hit the mark for good gianduia.

★ Venchi, Crema da Spalmare (Senza Zuccheri Aggiunti) (4).  Followers of this series will be familiar with Venchi, a storied name in Piedmontese confectionery.  This is one of very few sugar-free premium gianduia spreads (if that’s not an oxymoron), relying on maltitol as the sole sweetener.  While better than Nutella due to more chocolate-forwardness, slightly higher hazelnut content (16%), and the use of Tonda Gentile delle Langhe, the maltitol undercuts those advantages.  Absent a medical need to avoid sugar, there’s no reason to purchase this spread, given the many better options on the market.

★ Caffarel, Crema Gianduja al Latte (5).  The oldest extant name in Piedmontese chocolate, Caffarel has passed through several changes in ownership, culminating in acquisition by the Swiss company Lindt & Sprüngli in 1997.  Despite Swiss ownership, Caffarel continues to operate in Piedmont—specifically, in Luserna San Giovanni, Pierre Paul Caffarel’s birthplace in the Waldensian Val Pellice, to which the company relocated from Turin in 1968.

This spread poorly serves Caffarel’s reputation.  Everything about the ingredient list indicates an effort to beat Nutella by a nose, rather than trouncing her.  It leads with sugar, relies on extraneous fats (peanut oil) and artificial flavors (vanillin), and the hazelnut content (non-TGL) only reaches 14%, compared with Nutella’s standard 13%.  The spread is overly sweet, with strong sugar pull in the texture, but better hazelnut aroma than Ferrero’s.  Though better than Nutella, the improvement falls short of justifying the price premium.

Happily, Caffarel discontinued this product within the last year, replacing it with something far better—an encouraging sign of positive competitive pressure for premium gianduia spreads.  Because of the relatively long shelf life of gianduia spreads, this lesser version can still be found in some gourmet and Italian markets today.

Venchi, Crema di Cacao

★ Venchi, Crema di Cacao (6).  This Venchi spread also falls into the category of “discontinued, but still in circulation.”  Venchi improves on Nutella with Tonda Gentile delle Langhe hazelnuts, higher cacao content, and natural vanilla.  It’s held back, by heavy sugar, extraneous vegetable oil, and hazelnut content that matches Nutella’s 13%.  Despite superficial ingredient similarities, this is no Nutella clone.  The dense paste spreads like cold butter.  The color is dark matte brown, with no oily gloss.  Pronounced chocolate flavor offsets the high sugar content.  Though a step up from Nutella, the low hazelnut content keeps this Venchi spread from achieving the traditional balance of gianduia and better gianduia spreads.

★ Venchi, Crema al Cacao e Nocciole (7).  Venchi replaced the discontinued Crema di Cacao with this spread.  It does improve on its predecessor, though only slightly.  Instead of the former 13%, Venchi bumps the hazelnut content up to 17%.  Despite Venchi’s use of TGL, the hazelnut content remains rather anemic—no match for the high sugar content and chocolate-forwardness.  Venchi made one substantial and puzzling change in the formula, replacing the unspecified extraneous vegetable oil in the old spread with olive oil in this one.  The olive oil content equals the hazelnut content, noticeably muddying the aroma and veering away from traditional gianduia flavor.  While not a disastrous failure, this experiment should be recognized (both by Venchi and competitors) as the mistake that it is.

Two Stars (★★).

★★ Giraudi, Giacometta (8).  Giraudi is a small industrial confectioner located just east of the Langhe in Castellazzo Bormida (Piedmont).  This milk chocolate gianduia spread takes its name from that of the character Gianduia’s wife, Giacômëtta.  The ingredient list lacks in several ways, leading with sugar, relying on peanut oil, using vanillin instead of vanilla, and adding a small quantity of almonds (without the historical wiggle room afforded Caffarel).

Despite the compromises, the Tonda Gentile delle Langhe hazelnut content (32%) redeems the product.  Opening the jar immediately releases the familiar, sweet aroma of Piedmont hazelnuts.  The combination of hazelnut and peanut oil makes it one of the less viscous spreads on the market, with near-fluid consistency at room temperature.  (Not a problem if you’re eating it with a spoon, though it can get messy on hot toast.)  Despite high sugar content, Giraudi maintains very traditional milk chocolate gianduia flavor proportions.  Though the least of the two-star spreads, it blows Nutella’s doors clean off.

★★ Slitti, Nocciolata (9).  This small second-generation Tuscan company pioneered the current wave of premium gianduia spreads with Slittosa (a milk-chocolate spread) and Nocciolata.  Nocciolata earns a few demerits with high sugar content, extraneous vegetable fat, and vanillin.  The strong Tonda Gentile delle Langhe hazelnut content (35%) goes a long ways towards covering those faults.  The balance of hazelnut and milk chocolate is appropriate and, though sweet, the spread is not cloying.  Slitti’s Nocciolata runs fluid, more like a sauce than a spread.  Also, unlike most other gianduia spreads, this one includes finely chopped roasted hazelnuts for textural contrast.  Though Slitti’s more recent spreads surpass this, Nocciolata remains a fine premium gianduia spread.

★★ Domori, Crema Gianduja (10).  Gianluca Franzoni’s company, located in None (Piedmont), developed an international reputation for quality on the basis of single-origin bean-to-bar dark chocolate.  After Gruppo Illy acquired a majority stake in Domori in 2006, the company began expanding the line from dark chocolate bars to include more “value added” products such as flavored bars, “energy” bars, cross-promotion bundles with other Illy wares, and, recently, gianduiotti and this Crema Gianduja.

Domori’s ingredient list is impressive, with high hazelnut content at 50% (using Tonda Gentile delle Langhe), no milk, no artificial flavors, and no extraneous fats.  However, as with Domori’s somewhat disappointing gianduiotti (discussed in Part 29), the high combined hazelnut and sugar content are out of proportion with the cacao.  This skews the flavor profile away from chocolate—which one would expect to be Domori’s strength—resulting in something closer to sweetened hazelnut butter than gianduia.  Even so, the spread deserves recommendation (except for customers wanting a more chocolate-forward gianduia spread).

★★ Venchi, Crema Cuor di Cacao (11).  Within the past year, this spread replaced another Venchi product by the same name, though the older version doesn’t seem to be floating around anymore (12).  In both iterations, Venchi made this an intense, dark chocolate gianduia spread.  As with the milk chocolate revamp, Venchi added olive oil this time around, though it’s less noticeable here.  Only Askinosie’s “Hey, Hey, Hazelnut” rivals Cuor di Cacao for chocolate-forwardness, though Venchi’s cacao lacks character and interest, offering little more than a flat, bitter, heavily roasted flavor.  Darker than even the darkest gianduiotti, this is a spread for those who want chocolate front and center.

While Venchi upgraded their milk chocolate gianduia spread with a slight bump in hazelnut content, they gutted Cuor di Cacao in the reboot.  The prior version boasted 40% Tonda Gentile delle Langhe hazelnut content.  It’s now 23%.  This mutes the hazelnut flavor, naturally.  It also knocks hazelnuts from primacy of place in the ingredient list, pushing sugar to the fore.  The cacao’s intensity wards off perceived over-sweetness, but the high sugar content destroys the texture, creating severe tackiness and sugar pull.  Even diminished by Venchi’s misguided reformulation, Cuor di Cacao continues to be a good gianduia spread.

★★ Baratti & Milano, Crema alle Nocciole (13).  Also, Novi, CremaNovi. (14).  Though Baratti & Milano’s roots lie in 19th century Turin, Gruppo Elah-Dufour (headquartered in Novi Ligure, Piedmont) bought the company a little over a decade ago.  Elah-Dufour also owns the Piedmontese brand Novi.  Apart from branding and container graphics, Baratti & Milano’s Crema alle Nocciole and Novi’s CremaNovi are indiscernible and have an identical ingredient list.

As industrial products, Baratti & Milano’s Crema alle Nocciole and Novi’s CremaNovi show some compromise in the use of artificial flavoring (not disclosed, though almost certainly vanillin) and non-Tonda Gentile delle Langhe hazelnuts.  With 45% hazelnut content, the spread has a pleasant, sweetly nutty aroma.  Texture is smooth and almost fluid, but not runny.  Hazelnut pulls ahead of chocolate in the flavor balance, but not to the point of dominance.

As with the gianduiotti produced by Baratti & Milano and Novi, these spreads do fair credit to the gianduia tradition, despite some economizing compromises.  The cost-cutting may be attractive to some consumers, however.  These spreads cost less than any that follow, as we move up the quality ladder.  But they’re also cheaper than any of the lower-ranking spreads described above, sometimes by more than half.  Good quality and a great price make these strong picks for the value-conscious.

★★  Leone, Gianduioso (Crema al Cioccolato alle Nocciole Gianduia) (15).  Though originating in Alba (Piedmont) in the mid-nineteenth century, Leone has operated in Turin for nearly a century.  Better known for hard caramels and a rainbow of pastilles (pastiglie), the now-sizable factory also produces a number of chocolate and gianduia products, including Gianduioso.

As a dark chocolate gianduia spread, Gianduioso holds up well, having 45% hazelnut content (all Tonda Gentile delle Langhe) and no extraneous fats or artificial ingredients.  It contains enough cocoa and cacao mass to avoid excessive sweetness.  Despite the high hazelnut content, the texture isn’t as slick as that of some of the more refined spreads.

The most distinctive feature of Leone’s product lies in the packaging.  Unlike other premium gianduia spreads sold in jars or tubs, Gianduioso comes in a toothpaste-like tube (16).  This offers a degree of convenience, but does come at a cost.  Gianduioso, like any premium gianduia spread, experiences separation of hazelnut oil from solid ingredients over time.  While a jarred spread can easily be stirred to reincorporate the oil, Gianduioso’s tube makes this next to impossible.  The first thing out of the tube often ends up being a significant amount of separated, intensely aromatic hazelnut oil, negatively impacting the flavor, aroma, and texture of the remainder.  With 45% Piedmont hazelnuts as the starting point, though, Gianduioso can afford to lose some oil and still warrant recommendation.

Amedei, Crema Toscana alla Nocciola

★★ Amedei, Crema Toscana alla Nocciola (17).  Well into the premium single-origin bean-to-bar chocolate revolution, Tuscany-based Amedei (Cecilia and Alessio Tessieri) remains on most connoisseurs’ short list of the world’s best chocolate makers.  Consistent with the company’s reputation, the ingredient list for their Crema Toscana alla Nocciola withstands the highest scrutiny, with high Tonda Gentile delle Langhe hazelnut content (47%), natural vanilla, and no extraneous fats or artificial flavors.

Those familiar with Amedei’s few milk chocolate and gianduia bars will find the flavor balance of this spread familiar.  Hazelnut and a sweet, caramelized milkiness (accented with vanilla), cast a shadow over the chocolate.  It’s like a photo negative of Venchi’s Cuor di Cacao.

The high hazelnut content maintains a velvety, mouth-coating quality typical of good gianduia.  Textural consistency has varied harmlessly, with some batches slightly fluid and others having a light, creamy “whipped” quality.  In all, this is a worthy interpretation of gianduia, stamped with Amedei’s distinctive house style.

Three Stars (★★★).

 ★★★ Slitti, Riccosa (18).  Slitti’s Riccosa improves on Nocciolata in a number of important ways.  It doesn’t include extraneous vegetable fats.  It has significantly higher hazelnut content (46%), though still Tonda Gentile delle Langhe.  It uses natural vanilla, instead of vanillin.  The ingredient list shows a recommitment to quality.

The results are excellent.  Riccosa approaches Nutella in smoothness and spreadability, but with far greater intensity of flavor and aroma.  Though the vanilla is more pronounced than in most Piedmontese spreads (typical of Tuscan interpretations of gianduia), the balance of hazelnut, milk chocolate, and sugar falls right in the strike zone.

★★★ La Molina, Crema Gianduia Scura (19).  La Molina is a small Tuscan confectioner in Quarrata (about five miles from where Slitti operates).  The ingredient list of this dark chocolate gianduia spread offers no room for criticism.  It follows all of the guidelines.

At 55%, La Molina’s spread has higher hazelnut content than any other I’ve seen in the United States (20).  This produces the most powerful hazelnut aroma and flavor of any of the spreads in this report.  The high hazelnut content also gives the spread a lush, velvety, mouth-coating texture.

Though a dark chocolate gianduia spread, the hazelnut content subdues the chocolate flavor, almost to a fault.  La Molina presses up against the border between gianduia and hazelnut butter.  Even so, this is an exceptional spread.

★★★ Amedei, Crema Toscana al Cacao (21).  Concurrently with Amedei’s replacement of its “Crema Toscana” with Crema Toscana alla Nocciola, the Tuscan chocolate-maker launched this dark chocolate gianduia spread.  As with Amedei’s other spread, this product contains only premium ingredients: high hazelnut content of 50% (all Tonda Gentile delle Langhe), cacao mass and cocoa of their own making, cane sugar, and natural vanilla.

Amedei’s dark gianduia spread maintains a slightly dense, but creamy consistency.  It’s easily spreadable, though liquefies quickly on warm bread.  Despite the fifty percent hazelnut content, the dark chocolate flavor comes through clearly and complementarily.  (The cacao is not “in your face,” as with Askinosie’s spread or Venchi’s Cuor di Cacao.)  Though at the darker end of the gianduiotti spectrum, the flavor balance still falls within the gianduia tradition.  A heavy hand with the vanilla mucks up the taste and aroma a bit, but not enough to keep Crema Toscana al Cacao from scoring high marks.

★★★ Slitti, Gianera (22).  Unlike Slitti’s Riccosa, Nocciolata, and Slittosa, Gianera is a dark chocolate gianduia spread.  Like Riccosa, Gianera avoids all of the compromises of the older Nocciolata and Slittosa products, eliminating extraneous vegetable fats, dialing up the Tonda Gentile delle Langhe content to 52%, and replacing vanillin with natural vanilla.

The high content of quality hazelnuts delivers a strong, sweet aroma, fast melt, and velvety, mouth-coating texture.  Chocolate flavor edges to the fore, despite the high hazelnut content, but does not dominate.  The balance tilts darker than most (though not all) dark chocolate gianduiotti.  As with most of the Tuscan spreads, there’s more than a hint of vanilla (though not so much as Amedei’s).  This excellent spread is harder to find in the United States than most on this list, but is well worth the dollars if you spot it (23).

★★★ Guido Gobino, Crema Spalmabile Gianduja (24).  Turin-based Guido Gobino ranks among the modern masters of gianduia.  His extruded gianduiotti, intense and well-balanced, are some of the best on the market.  This recent reformulation of his gianduia spread strengthens his reputation for quality. Gobino’s crema follows nearly all of the rules.  It has strong hazelnut content (35%, a slight improvement over his preceding version of the spread), all Tonda Gentile delle Langhe, and no artificial flavors or extraneous fats. The spread has only one significant flaw.  High sugar content, though counterbalanced by the cacao, produces a tacky texture that comes closer to Nutella than to the velvety feel of gianduia.

The flavor balance approaches that of Gobino’s Tourinot gianduiotti—an ideal goal for a milk-chocolate gianduia spread.  This is an excellent product, by any measure, though a modest boost in hazelnut and cacao to drive down the sugar content would take it to even greater heights.

★★★ Caffarel, Crema Gianduia 40% (25).  With this spread, Caffarel lives up to its iconic status and deep historical roots in Piedmont, upgrading the old Crema Gianduja al Latte in every respect.  Caffarel took the hazelnut content from a Ferreroesque 14% to a sturdy 40%.  They swapped cheaper Turkish hazelnuts for premium Tonda Gentile delle Langhe.  They eliminated superfluous vegetable fats.  They dropped vanillin.  They even improved the packaging, employing the Gothic logo Caffarel began using in 1937 and placing an image of the character Gianduia on the lid (holding an oversized Caffarel gianduiotto, no less).

The results are stunning.  Of all the spreads readily available in the United States, Caffarel’s Crema Gianduia 40% comes closest to capturing the experience of “gianduiotti in a jar.”  Sweet, intense Piedmont hazelnuts grab hold in the initial aroma and carry all the way through into a clean aftertaste, unmarred by excessive sugar or vanilla.  Milk chocolate flavor meshes neatly, neither dominating nor fading entirely under the hazelnuts.  In truth, this spread quite surpasses Caffarel’s signature gianduiotti (with their 28% non-TGL hazelnut content and vanillin).  Highly recommended.

Notes:

(1)  Ingredients listed (Scharffen Berger, Gianduja): Sugar, cacao beans, half-and-half (milk), hazelnuts, corn syrup, and whole vanilla beans.

(2)  Ingredients listed (Askinosie, “Hey, Hey, Hazelnut!”): Hazelnuts (oil and butter), cocoa powder, organic sugar, roasted cocoa nibs.  In direct correspondence, Shawn Askinosie said hazelnut content (not including added hazelnut oil) is a minimum 20%.

(3)  Cristofori, Valerio.  Fattori di Qualità della Nocciola.  Tesi di Dottorato di Ricerca.  Università degli Studi Tuscia di Viterbo, Dipartimento di Produzione Vegetale, Sezione Ortofloroarboricoltura.  2005.  Pp. 123, 129, 135-6.

(4)  Ingredients listed (Venchi, No Sugar Added): Maltitol, Piedmont hazelnut paste I.G.P. (16%), vegetable fat, cocoa powder (22-24% cocoa butter), cocoa powder (10-13% cocoa butter), whole milk powder, skim milk powder, soy lecithin.

(5)  Ingredients listed (Caffarel, Crema Gianduja al Latte): Sugar, hazelnuts (14%), skim milk powder (10%), peanut oil, vegetable fat, low-fat cocoa powder (6%), almonds, soy lecithin, vanillin.

(6)  Ingredients listed (Venchi, Crema di Cacao): Sugar, Piedmont hazelnut paste I.G.P. (13%), vegetable oil, skim milk powder, cocoa powder (22-24% cocoa butter), cocoa powder (10-12% cocoa butter), soy lecithin, flavored with natural vanilla

(7)  Ingredients listed (Venchi, Crema al Cacao e Nocciole): Sugar, Piedmont hazelnut paste I.G.P. (17%), olive oil (17%), low fat cocoa powder (12.8%), skim milk powder, soy lecithin, natural vanilla flavor.

(8)  Ingredients listed (Giraudi, Giacometta): Sugar, Piedmont hazelnuts I.G.P. (32%), peanut oil, low-fat cocoa powder, almonds, powdered whole milk, soy lecithin, natural flavors: vanillin.

(9)  Ingredients listed (Slitti, Nocciolata): Sugar, Piedmont hazelnuts I.G.P. (35%), milk, cocoa powder, vegetable fat, vanillin, soy lecithin.

(10)  Ingredients listed (Domori, Crema Gianduja): Piedmont hazelnut paste I.G.P. (50%), cane sugar, cocoa powder, natural vanilla extract, soy lecithin.

Venchi's prior Cuor di Cacao, with 40% hazelnut content

(11)  Ingredients listed (Venchi, Crema Cuor di Cacao): Sugar, low fat cocoa butter, Piedmont hazelnut paste (23%), olive oil, soy lecithin, natural vanilla flavor.

(12)  Ingredients listed for discontinued version of Venchi, Crema Cuor di Cacao: Piedmont hazelnut paste (40%), sugar, cocoa powder (22-24% cocoa butter), cocoa mass, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, natural vanilla.

(13)  Ingredients listed (Baratti & Milano, Crema alle Nocciole): Hazelnuts (45%), sugar, fat reduced cocoa powder (9%), skim milk powder (5%), cocoa butter, soy lecithin, flavoring.

(14)  Ingredients listed (Novi, CremaNovi): Hazelnuts (45%), sugar, fat reduced cocoa powder (9%), skim milk powder (5%), cocoa butter, soy lecithin, flavoring.

(15)  Ingredients listed (Leone, Gianduioso): Piedmont hazelnuts I.G.P. (45%), sugar, cocoa, cacao mass, natural vanilla pods, non-GMO soy lecithin.

(16)   This isn’t quite the novelty that it may seem.  Caffarel & Prochet sold chocolate paste in foil tubes—Crema Supra (L’Elefante Goloso)—in the 1930s, even predating Ferrero’s spreadable Supercrema by decades.

Amedei's prior Crema Toscana

(17)  Ingredients listed (Amedei, Crema Toscana alla Nocciola): Piedmont hazelnuts I.G.P. (47% minimum), cane sugar, skim milk powder, cocoa mass, cocoa, vanilla.  This spread replaces the former “Crema Toscana,” which despite a different name and different packaging, had an identical ingredient list.

(18) Ingredients listed (Slitti, Riccosa): Piedmont hazelnuts I.G.P. (46%), sugar, whole milk powder, cocoa butter, cocoa, cocoa mass, natural vanilla.  (Cocoa minimum 14%.)

(19)  Ingredients listed (La Molina, Crema Gianduia Scura):  Piedmont hazelnuts I.G.P. (55%), sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa powder, natural vanilla.

Castagna Crema CQ with grissino

(20)  Though rarely, some in Piedmont go even higher—notably, Guido Castagna’s extraordinary Crema +55.  The name is jab at Nutella, indicating that Castagna’s spread adds 55 to Ferrero’s 13% hazelnut content, for a total of 68%.  Castagna takes another kick at Ferrero’s shins with Crema CQ, a spread with 12% hazelnut content—one percent less than Nutella—but that delivers surprisingly intense flavor and aroma through the use of Tonda Gentile delle Langhe hazelnuts and flavor cacao.

(21)  Ingredients listed (Amedei, Crema Toscana al Cacao): Piedmont hazelnuts I.G.P. (50% minimum), cane sugar, cacao mass, cocoa, vanilla.

(22)  Ingredients listed (Slitti, Gianera):  Piedmont hazelnuts I.G.P. (52%), sugar, cocoa mass, low-fat cocoa powder, cocoa butter, natural vanilla.  (Cocoa minimum 20%.)

(23)  When I was struggling to find the Slitti spreads in the U.S. in late 2008, Michael Magnatta of TusCan International (a Canadian importer) graciously agreed to sell me a case of them, despite the hassle of getting it through Customs.

Gobino's discontinued Crema Spalmabile Gianduja

(24) Ingredients listed (Guido Gobino, Crema Spalmabile Gianduja): Sugar, Piedmont hazelnuts I.G.P. (35%), low-fat cocoa powder, skim milk powder, concentrated butter, natural extract of Bourbon vanilla, non-GMO soy lecithin.

(25)  Ingredients listed (Caffarel, Crema Gianduia 40%): Piedmont hazelnuts I.G.P. (40%), sugar, low-fat cocoa powder, skim milk powder, concentrated butter, almonds, soy lecithin.  For discussion of Caffarel’s use of almonds in gianduia, see Rule #7 (and accompanying notes) in the Decalogue for Gianduia Snobs.

Nutella’s success spawned countless imitators, most trying to mimic Ferrero’s formula and a great many competing against the original on price.  But Nutella also inspired a counter-tradition, primarily within Italy, of premium spreads that hewed more closely to the older, nobler traditions of gianduia.  In the past few years, more of these premium spreads have made their way to the US market.  In the spirit of the Decalogue for Gianduia Snobs, here are seven guidelines on what to look for (and avoid) when shopping for quality gianduia spreads.

Though Nutella formulations differ internationally, the variations are relatively minor, never altering the essential nature of the product.  By weight, Nutella is roughly seventy percent refined sugar and engineered vegetable fat.  Hazelnut content is a mere 13%.  Fat-reduced cocoa powder is about 7.5% (1).  Milk solids—in the form of skim milk powder, sometimes supplemented with whey powder—range from 5% to 9%.  The ingredient list is rounded out by a bit of soy lecithin (as an emulsifier/surfactant) and vanillin.

Those familiar with the quality indicia of gianduia will immediately recognize much room for improvement in the ingredients and proportions in the status quo established by Ferrero.  In reviewing the label of a premium gianduia spread, here are some useful guidelines.

Ingredient list with peanut oil

First, avoid extraneous fats.  A premium gianduia spread—like quality gianduia itself—has no need of any oil or fat beyond that of its key ingredients: cocoa butter, hazelnut oil, and (in the case of milk chocolate spreads) milk fat.  Be wary of spreads with other oils or fats, particularly if they appear early enough in the ingredient list to indicate proportionately heavy use.

Remember that some of the textural qualities of Nutella and low-end imitators derive from the stabilizing effects of hydrogenated, partially hydrogenated, or interesterified vegetable fats.  Lacking the trick fats, premium gianduia spreads can experience some oil separation.  As with natural peanut butters, this is easily remedied by stirring to redistribute the fats (as shown here).  Also, without the engineered vegetable fats, the texture of premium gianduia spreads varies more across a range of temperatures (e.g., chilled, at room temperature, or when spread on hot toast).  These are minor tradeoffs, in the interest of a superior tasting, more natural spread.

Second, examine the hazelnut content.  As previously discussed, the historical preference for certain methods of gianduiotto formation relates to the capacity for a higher percentage of hazelnut content (2).  Quality makers have pride in their product and generally disclose the hazelnut content in the ingredient list by percentage weight.  If the hazelnut content isn’t stated, there’s a good chance the product isn’t worth the cash or calories (3).

For acceptable flavor and aroma intensity, a premium spread should have at least as much hazelnut content as good gianduiotti, the rule of thumb being about a third.  Many of the best gianduiotti have hazelnut content as high as 40%, leaving them soft, but still solid.  Making gianduia spreadable allows for incorporation of even more hazelnut.  Some makers fashion spreads with hazelnut content over 60%.  More is not necessarily better, though, if the proportions get out of kilter and the spread begins to taste more like hazelnut butter than gianduia.

Third, demand Tonda Gentile delle Langhe.  The quality of hazelnuts in a gianduia spread is at least as important as the quantity (4).  Tonda Gentile delle Langhe is the traditional hazelnut cultivar for gianduia and remains the best choice for flavor and aroma (5).  The use of Tonda Gentile delle Langhe among recognized masters of gianduia is so invariable that it serves as a useful litmus test for ingredient lists—in part because of the inherent quality of the nuts, but also as a demonstration of the maker’s general commitment to excellence.  If a maker uses Tonda Gentile delle Langhe exclusively, the ingredient list will reflect it.  If you just see the generic term “hazelnuts” (nocciole), you’re stepping down the quality ladder.

Tonda Gentile delle Langhe sometimes appears on ingredient lists under the cultivar name (e.g., “nocciole varietà Tonda Gentile delle Langhe“).  More commonly, you’ll find references to the European Union “protected geographical indication” for Tonda Gentile delle Langhe hazelnuts grown in the traditional territory: Nocciole Piemonte I.G.P. or Nocciole del Piemonte I.G.P.  Be aware that, while all “Piedmont Hazelnuts P.G.I.” are of the variety Tonda Gentile delle Langhe, not all Tonda Gentile delle Langhe hazelnuts are grown in the traditional territory, following the required discipline.  The Protected Geographical Indication offers stronger protections against fraud and also assures the consumer that he’s supporting growers in Piedmont (6).

Fourth, avoid artificial flavors.  The most common artificial flavor in gianduia spreads is synthetic vanillin (vanillina).  Italian labeling regulations also allow synthetic vanillin to be included under the catch-all term “aromi” (or “flavorings”), often appearing at the end of an ingredient list.  Look for vanilla (vaniglia) or “natural flavorings” (aromi naturali) in the ingredient list to ensure that natural vanilla is used.

Fifth, beware those that lead with sugar.  European labeling regulations, like those in the United States, require that ingredients be listed in descending order of weight.  When reviewing the ingredient list, pay special attention to the leading ingredient.  Sugar (zucchero) is cheaper than good cacao or hazelnuts, making it the top ingredient in most budget-oriented gianduia spreads.  More often than not, sugar-heavy spreads are quite unpleasant—weak in hazelnut aroma, overly sweet, and tacky (rather than velvety) in texture.  In the best premium gianduia spreads, hazelnuts almost always lead the ingredient list.

Sixth, remain flexible on cacao solids.  While the use of cacao liquor (or mass or paste) is de rigeur in solid gianduia, it poses a problem in gianduia spreads.  When using cacao mass, maintaining spreadability constrains the proportion of ingredients.  Because cacao mass is high in saturated fat (solid at room temperature), disproportionately high hazelnut content becomes necessary to avoid a dense, fudgy texture.   However, the presence of cocoa butter (bearing little of the flavor or aroma associated with cacao) and offsetting hazelnut content can push chocolate flavor into the background, skewing the desired balance.

In order to simplify the problem of managing the fats for texture without sacrificing flavor balance, most makers of premium gianduia spreads use cocoa powder instead of, or in addition to, cacao liquor.  This is not a cost-cutting measure, but a practical necessity (7).

Seventh, don’t get hung up on the milk.  Premium gianduia spreads evolved from Nutella, not from gianduia.  Since Nutella originated as a milk chocolate product, most premium gianduia spreads have followed Ferrero’s lead.  There are many excellent dark chocolate gianduia spreads on the market, but there’s no reason (other than individual preference) to choose them over milk chocolate versions (8).

When it comes to the form of milk in spreads, some makers use whole milk powder, while others use skim milk powder.   Though less common, other forms of moisture-reduced milk may appear on ingredient lists (e.g., whey powder or concentrated butter).  Given the high hazelnut content in premium gianduia spreads, the proportion of dairy ingredients is generally low enough for the impact of milk fat on texture to be negligible.  When reviewing the ingredient list, there’s no need to worry about the particular form of milk powder used.

Notes:

(1)  Under the Codex Alimentarius, “fat-reduced cocoa powder” contains between 10% and 20% of cocoa butter by weight (CODEX STAN 105-1981 3.1.2).  Under United States regulations, the comparable “cocoa” must have cocoa butter content between 10% and 22% (21 CFR 163.113).

(2)  See Part 28 (Rule #2) and Part 24.

(3)  Though rarely, almonds (mandorle) may also appear in some premium gianduia spreads.  This breach of tradition was addressed in Part 28 (Rule #7 and accompanying notes) in the context of gianduia.  In the case of spreads, an additional historical wrinkle arises from the fact that Nutella’s precursor products, Giandujot and Supercrema, both supplemented the hazelnut content with almonds (Part 31 and Part 32).  Distant precedent notwithstanding, consumers should generally avoid premium gianduia spreads containing almonds.

Castagna Crema CQ with grissino

(4)  A dramatic example of this is provided by gianduia master Guido Castagna (whose work was discussed in Part 30).  Castagna makes two premium gianduia spreads: Crema CQ and Crema +55.  Both rely exclusively on Tonda Gentile delle Langhe, the latter with a jaw-dropping 68% hazelnut content.  The eye-opener, however, is Castagna’s Crema CQ, which includes a mere 12% hazelnut content—one percent less than Nutella.  Despite the skimpy hazelnut content, the quality and intensity of hazelnut aroma and flavor beats many spreads with significantly higher content of non-Tonda Gentile delle Langhe hazelnuts.

(5)  Newcomers to this series can backtrack to Parts 20, 21, 22, and 23 for information on the established exceptionality of this cultivar.

(6)  Tonda Gentile delle Langhe grown outside of Piedmont have generally displayed all of the desirable kernel qualities—size, roundness, ease of pellicle removal, and excellent taste and aroma—as those grown in Piedmont.  So far, growers have been unable to overcome the productivity and susceptibility challenges the cultivar has shown outside of its native territory.  Until they do, it is usually safe to assume that TGL (with or without an I.G.P. designation) are grown in Piedmont.

(7)  As mentioned in Part 33, the cost-cutting in Nutella (and other budget spreads) arises from the substitution of cheap vegetable fats (e.g., palm oil) for expensive fats (e.g., cocoa butter and hazelnut oil).

(8)  This is not the case with solid gianduia, where history and tradition favor dark chocolate versions, as discussed in Parts 28 (Rule #4), 27, 26, and 19.  The rise of premium dark chocolate gianduia spreads can, of course, be seen as a return to those older ways.  This is supported by the fact that Ferrero’s Giandujot and Supercrema—the “missing links” between gianduia and Nutella—were also dark chocolate products (see Part 33).

Ferrero’s transformation and international expansion of the Nutella brand over the past forty-seven years remains one of Italy’s greatest industrial success stories.  But something was lost along the way.

Over the past half century, Ferrero has grown from a dozen employees to nearly 21,000 in eighteen factories around the world.  With annual sales of over $9 billion, it is the fourth largest confectionery company in the world (after being bumped from #3 in 2010, when Kraft Foods acquired Cadbury).  The privately held company has made Michele Ferrero the richest man in Italy and #32 on the Forbes list of world billionaires (1).

As is the case with any multinational enterprise, Ferrero has a complex legacy.  The company has been praised for its product innovation, branding, philanthropy, investment in agriculture (particularly hazelnut), and ongoing role in the development of Alba and the Langhe.  Ferrero has also been criticized—and sometimes protested and sued—for allegedly deceptive and misleading advertising, questionable nutritional value of many products, and the environmental impact of its factories and sourcing of ingredients.  Nutella has often been at the heart of such criticism (2).

General considerations of Nutella, positive or negative, fall outside the scope of this series.  The goal is merely to situate Ferrero’s core product within the history of gianduia.  In doing so, we will briefly consider Ferrero’s early, deliberate sacrifices in quality and Italianità.

One principle led Pietro Ferrero from gianduia to Giandujot: cost-driven ingredient substitution.  He was not trying to improve gianduia, but to expand his market by making gianduia cheap.  When Giandujot was launched in 1947, Italian sugar production and prices had not yet recovered from the disruptions of World War II (3).  Cacao remained a luxury (4).  Ferrero drove the price down by introducing inexpensive saturated vegetable fat to mix (5).  By doing so, he was able to decrease the quantity of the traditional ingredients of gianduia.  While this allowed Ferrero to sell Giandujot at one-fourth the prevailing price of chocolate at the time, it came at the expense of texture, purity, and flavor-intensity.

When Michele Ferrero took over product development after his father’s death, the agenda remained the same.  Francesco Rivella, a chemist who worked for Ferrero from 1952 to 1991, describes the company’s acquisition of state-of-the-art hydraulic presses in 1954, which allowed for more thorough extraction of cocoa butter.  Ferrero sold most of the valuable cocoa butter and used the remaining cocoa powder for Giandujot and other products.  By 1956, Ferrero had become Italy’s largest exporter of cocoa butter (6).

Ferrero logo from 1950s Cremalba can

The same substitutionary principle that led to the creation of Giandujot also resulted in Supercrema and, eventually, Nutella.  As Italian sugar production bounced back in the 1950s, prices fell and consumption increased in Italy.  When Pietro Ferrero launched Giandujot in 1946, per capita sugar consumption was 3.7 kilos.  By 1949—the year Supercrema hit the market—per capita consumption increased to 10.2 kilos.  In 1964, when Nutella arrived, per capita sugar intake rose to 24.5 kilos (7).  High sugar content was no longer cost prohibitive.

Extending the lesson learned with Giandujot, if fat could be added to drive down cost, more or different fats could be added to achieve a soft, spreadable texture.  Under Michele Ferrero’s direction, Rivella researched and analyzed vegetable fats through the late 1950s and early 1960s with the goal of improving texture and increasing the product’s range of temperature stability (8).

Both Pietro and Michele Ferrero advanced their company’s fortunes by replacing expensive ingredients with cheaper ones.  While Pietro Ferrero’s Giandujot merely diluted gianduia with vegetable fat “filler,” Michele’s substitutionary masterstroke was far subtler.  With Supercrema and Nutella, Michele Ferrero inverted the perspective, treating the “filler” as the product.  This Copernican shift shaped the original formulation of Nutella and the relatively modest changes since its launch in 1964.  Sugar and state-of-the-art vegetable fats took center stage, driving down cost, extending shelf life, and enabling stability and spreadability across a wider range of temperatures than could be obtained with gianduia’s unruly fats (i.e., hazelnut oil and cocoa butter).  With Nutella, Ferrero departed even further from gianduia’s elegance, balance, and power.

Ferrero logo from 1950s Giandujot box

As Ferrero steered its products further away from their inspiration, the presentation of those products also shifted, shedding Italianità to appeal to international markets.  The company changed product names from the original Piedmontese (Giandujot), to Italian (Supercrema), and finally to one with an English root (Nutella) (9).  Packaging graphics depicting the character Gianduia were abandoned with Michele Ferrero’s evolution of Giandujot to Supercrema in 1949.  Under the guidance of Studio Stile, the increasingly popular Swiss font Helvetica became the standard for Nutella’s wordmark.  Early 1960s redesign of the Ferrero company logotype abandoned the company’s place of origin, Alba (10).

As a concession to international tastes, Ferrero’s development of Nutella included another notable departure from Piedmont tradition.  Gianduia predated the invention of milk chocolate and remained a dark chocolate product through most of its history in Piedmont (11).  Pietro and Michele Ferrero maintained that tradition with Giandujot and Supercrema, both of which were dark chocolate flavored products (12).  With post-war European tastes shaped by Swiss, English, and American chocolates, Ferrero launched Nutella as a milk chocolate flavored product, which it has remained ever since.

Apace with its international expansion, Ferrero concentrated its business entities and management outside of Italy.  In 1985, Ferrero’s top holding company was established in Amsterdam, consolidating subsidiaries, not under the family name, but the generically corporate “Intercandy BV.”  While the Ferrero name returned with the 1992 renaming as Ferrero International BV, the operational center remained in the Netherlands until a 1997 relocation to Luxembourg, purportedly because of the latter country’s world leadership in per capita consumption of Nutella (13).

Rather than taking an Italian brand to foreign markets, Ferrero abandoned Italian trappings in the interest of establishing an international brand.  That strategy paid off.  But by eliding Nutella’s derivation from the crowning achievement of Piedmontese confectionery, Ferrero became a threat to traditional gianduia, rather than the ambassador it could have been.

Notes:

(1)  Michele Ferrero’s estimated wealth puts him above Michael Dell, Steve Ballmer, George Soros, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Rupert Murdoch, et al.  “Ferrero Rocher Heir Killed in South Africa.”  The Telegraph.  April 19, 2011.   Also, “The World’s Billionaires,” Forbes.

(2)  A class action suit against Ferrero USA, Inc., is currently underway in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California (Hohenberg v. Ferrero USA, Inc.), specifically targeting Ferrero’s advertising and labeling of Nutella.

(3)  In 1940, the year Italy entered the war, national sugar production was 559,754 metric tons.  By 1945, production had fallen to 18,077 metric tons—one-thirtieth of pre-war production.  Tonizzi, M. Elisabetta.  L’Industria dello Zucchero: La Produzione Saccarifera in Italia e in Europa, 1800 – 2000.  FrancoAngeli, 2001.  Pp. 119, 145.

(4)  Padovani, Gigi.  Nutella: Un Mito Italiano.  Rizzoli.  Milan.  2004.  P. 47.

(5)  Padovani, 47.

(6)  In 1956, Ferrero exported approximately 2,000 metric tons of cocoa butter (i.e., roughly 4.4 million pounds).  Padovani, 60-1.

(7)  Tonizzi, 145.

(8)  Padovani, 59-61.

(9)  Early internationalization of names also appears in Ferrero’s denomination of Supercrema as “Tartinoise” in the French market.  As noted in Part 32, Ferrero also considered names with German roots (e.g., Nussina and Nusscrem) for the relaunch of Supercrema.  This reluctance to use Italian product names extends across Ferrero’s brands, where it’s more common to find French (Ferrero Rocher, Mon Chéri, Ferrero Rondnoir, Gran Soleil), German (Kinder), and English (Pocket Coffee).

(10)  Padovani, 26-7.

(11)  For more on gianduia’s origins as a dark chocolate product, see Parts 26 and 27.  One positive step in the transition from Supercrema to Nutella was the abandonment of almonds from the recipe, bringing the product more in line with the gianduia tradition.  Whether that was a net gain is debatable, since Nutella’s total nut content decreased to approximately 50% of that of Ferrero’s Giandujot.

(12)  This is based on ingredient descriptions on 1940s Giandujot boxes and 1950s Supercrema cans.

(13)  Subbrero, Giancarlo.  “La Ferrero di Alba: Appunti per un Profilo Storico,” in Il Cioccolato: Industria, Mercato e Società in Italia e Svizzera (XVIII-XX Sec.).   FrancoAngeli.  Milan.  2007.  Pp. 157-8.  On the purported motivation for choosing Luxembourg, see Padovani, 138, 159-60.

Fate dealt Ferrero two blows with the flood of 1948 and, six months later, the death of its founder.  The following year, the company reorganized under the direction of Ferrero’s widow Piera, his younger brother Giovanni, and his twenty-five-year-old son Michele (1).

Giovanni, who apprenticed as a baker in Dogliani along with Pietro in the early 1920s, had rejoined his brother in Alba where he was tasked with sales and marketing.   Before his father’s death, Michele Ferrero had completed a degree in accounting at Mondovì and returned to learn the family business.  As sales continued to increase through the 1950s, Piera, Giovanni, and Michele shared management responsibility, though Piera primarily handled administrative and personnel matters, Giovanni continued to oversee sales and marketing, and Michele managed production (2).

Ferrero advertisement for Supercrema (1950s)

Michele Ferrero also shepherded the development of new products after his father’s death, most notably Mon Chéri (which fueled Ferrero’s early success in Germany and remains in production today) and Supercrema Giandujot (or simply Supercrema).  Supercrema, which Michele and Giovanni launched in 1949 (i.e., the year Pietro Ferrero died), represented a significant evolution of Ferrero’s Giandujot, reformulating it to be spreadable.  Ferrero distributed Supercrema in glasses, consumer-sized cans, and wholesale cans for grocers and shopkeepers who turned product into service by applying a schmear of the paste on customers’ bread (3).

Like Giandujot, Supercrema proved to be tremendously successful.  From 1947 to 1951, Ferrero’s factory in Alba had grown from 100 employees to 300.  Ten years later, in 1961, Ferrero employed 2,730 employees in its Alba factory, in addition to those working in Ferrero factories in Pozzuolo Martesana (Milan), Lauro (Avellino), and Germany (4).

Ferrero Supercrema can (1950s)

Michele Ferrero spearheaded the German factory.  With reluctant acquiescence of Michele’s mother and uncle, the company took over some abandoned Nazi warehouses in Stadtallendorf in 1956.  The factory opened the following year, establishing a lasting foothold in the German market and paving the way for Ferrero’s success throughout Europe.  Shortly after the German factory opened, Giovanni Ferrero died at the age of fifty-two, leaving Michele Ferrero in complete control of the company (5).

Ferrero promotional calendar featuring Supercrema (1956)

Michele Ferrero continued to pursue international expansion.  Ferrero France SA formed in 1960, with production facilities coming on line the following year in Villers-Écalles.  Ferrero entered the French market with Mon Chéri (already a hit in Germany) and Supercrema.  Ferrero Belge formed and commenced operations in Belgium in 1962 (6).

Ferrero developed the Supercrema brand nearly a decade before its early efforts to sell elsewhere in Europe.  The limits of the brand name grew more apparent as the company ventured into Germany, France, Belgium, and England.   To better appeal to the French market, Ferrero marketed Supercrema under the name “Tartinoise,” a portmanteau of tartiner (to spread) and noisette (hazelnut).  Further brand fragmentation might have occurred, were it not for new Italian marketing regulations in 1963 that limited the use of superlatives in labeling (7).  The need to eliminate “super” from the product name prompted Michele Ferrero to initiate a broader reformation of the brand to better fit the company’s increasingly international footprint.

Ferrero Tartinoise label (1950s)

With Ferrero already well established in Italy, Michele sought a name that would emphasize the hazelnut content of the spread to consumers in England and Germany.  Many candidates for the renaming riffed off of the English “nut” and German “nuss”: Nutsy, Nussina, Nusscrem, Nutina.  Eventually, Michele and Piera settled on Nutella (8).  Michele hired Carmelo Cremonesi and Gian Rossetti of Milan’s Studio Stile to design logos, labels, and packaging.  Studio Stile worked closely with Michelle in designing a black and red lowercase logo and illustration of a knife and slice of bread that have undergone only minor changes in the past four and a half decades.  On Monday, April 20, 1964, Nutella hit the market (9).

Notes:

1.  Subbrero, Giancarlo.  “La Ferrero di Alba: Appunti per un Profilo Storico,” in Il Cioccolato: Industria, Mercato e Società in Italia e Svizzera (XVIII-XX Sec.).   FrancoAngeli.  Milan.  2007.  P. 152.  Before the organization of P. Ferrero & Co. as a società in nome colletivo in 1950, Ferrero had been a sole proprietorship.

2.  Subbrero, 155.

3.  Subbrero, 159.  Supercrema did not immediately replace the established Giandujot products, which continued in production into the 1950s.  Like Giandujot, Supercrema contained almonds as well as hazelnuts.

4.  Subbrero, 163, 155.

5.  Padovani, Gigi.  Nutella: Un Mito Italiano.  Rizzoli.  Milan.  2004.  Pp. 52-5.  Piera and Michele Ferrero later bought Giovanni’s interest in the company from his widow, Ottavia Amerio.

6.  Subbrero, 157.  Padovani, 83.

7.  Padovani, 19-20.

8.  Padovani, 20-1.  Nutella was envisioned as part of a trio of products, including Cerasella (a spin-off of Mon Chéri) and Naturella (a hard caramel).

9.  Padovani, 23-8.

No discussion of gianduia would be complete without consideration of Ferrero SpA and its flagship product, Nutella.  Though a detailed examination of the company and its products is beyond the scope of this series, a brief historical sketch will suffice as background for some more specific observations to come.

Pietro Ferrero was born on September 2, 1898, in Farigliano, a small agricultural community on the western fringe of the Langhe.  Determined not to work the land, Ferrero left Farigliano for Dogliani (less than two miles away) where he apprenticed in a bakery.  In 1923, he opened his own pastry shop in Dogliani.  One year later, he married Piera Cillario, and the couple’s only child, Michele Ferrero, was born on April 26, 1925 (1).

Ferrero relocated to Alba in 1926 and built a fairly successful business over the following years, before trying his luck in Turin with a small pastry shop near Porta Nuova in 1934.  After two years of struggle, Pietro Ferrero left Turin to seek opportunity in Asmara, Eritrea, hoping to sell bread and pastries to Italian colonists and troops after Mussolini ordered the invasion of Abyssinia.  Finding little to gain in Africa, Ferrero returned to Italy and opened a new and larger pastry shop in Turin in 1940.  Italy entered the war in June and, by the end of the month, the first RAF bombs began falling over Turin.  Pietro Ferrero and his family promptly fled Turin, returning to Alba to open yet another pastry shop (2).

Dogliani, Italy

As Italy’s fortunes in the war continued to decline and poverty, food shortages, and supply disruptions increased, Pietro Ferrero set to work developing a new, inexpensive sweet to broaden his market.  Roughly imitating gianduiotti (which were still strictly a luxury good), Ferrero combined roasted hazelnuts, almonds, sugar (or, failing that, molasses), cocoa powder, and vegetable fat (3).  Driving down the quantity of cacao solids reduced the cost, so that the product could be sold for less than one-fourth the price of chocolate.  In a 1966 interview, Michele Ferrero referred to his father’s invention as “a pastone [i.e., mish-mash], a kind of gianduiotti, that was very good, but that cost little” (4).

Early 1950s Giandujot box

Nearly a year after V-E Day, Pietro Ferrero’s small Alba factory released over six-hundred pounds of the pastone on the market, under the name Giandujot—Piedmontese for gianduiotto, the diminutive of Gianduia (5).  Ferrero’s Giandujot was sold in slabs and loaves, wrapped in green and gold foil, intended to be sliced and eaten on bread as an energizing afternoon snack (merenda) (6).   Consistent with its name, Giandujot was marketed with an illustration of Gianduia throwing his arms around two young children, an image that remained central to the company’s branding until the mid-1950s.

Ferrero distribution truck

Giandujot succeeded immediately and beyond all expectation.  By the end of 1946 (the year in which it was released, in late spring), Ferrero had grown from a dozen employees to fifty and had produced over one hundred tons of Giandujot.  The following year, Ferrero doubled his workforce and produced over 2,500 tons of Giandujot (7).  Competitors took note.  Mario Spagnoli, Technical Director of Perugina, marched into a board meeting carrying a package of Ferrero’s Giandujot and presented it to the members, announcing, “This is the future of confectionery” (8).

Outgrowing the small factory in the city center, Ferrero moved to a location west of the city on the banks of the Tanaro river.  This decision nearly proved to be his undoing.  On September 4, 1948, heavy rains in the Langhe fed the Talloria torrent that flowed into the Tanaro, flooding the surrounding plains.  Water and mud rose in Ferrero’s factory above shoulder-height, sparing no part.  Tremendous effort from Pietro Ferrero and his employees enabled partial resumption of production in under a week.  The strain took a toll, however, and less than six months after the flood, Pietro Ferrero suffered a massive heart attack, dying at the age of fifty-one (9).

Notes:

1.  Padovani, Gigi.  Nutella: Un Mito Italiano.  Rizzoli.  Milan.  2004.  Pp. 43-4.  The basics of Ferrero history can be found in several sources (e.g., Ferrero 1946-1996: Un’Industria Attraverso Mezzo Secolo di Storia e di Costume, Turin 1996; Storia di un Successo: Ferrero la Più Grande Azienda Dolciaria del Mec, Turin 1967), though most are written for popular audiences and generally express the company’s official story.  Padovani’s books (i.e., Nutella: Un Mito Italiano; Gnam!  Storia Sociale della Nutella; and, with Clara Vada Padovani, Passione Nutella) are no exception.  (Anyone attempting a critical history of Ferrero has his work cut out for him.  The Ferrero family’s secrecy rivals that of John and Forrest Mars, Jr.)

2.  Subbrero, Giancarlo.  “La Ferrero di Alba: Appunti per un Profilo Storico,” in Il Cioccolato: Industria, Mercato e Società in Italia e Svizzera (XVIII-XX Sec.).   FrancoAngeli.  Milan.  2007.  P. 154-5.  Life, Vol. 8, No. 26.  June 24, 1940.  P. 30.

Ingredient description from early 1950s Giandujot box

3.  Though the inclusion of almonds in Giandujot receives no mention in prior publications describing the product, extant labels from the early 1950s plainly state that they are an ingredient.  In fact, at that time, the product was marketed as a “conserva di nocciole e mandorle” (i.e., hazelnut and almond jam/preserves).  Padovani identifies the vegetable fat (i.e., the cocoa butter replacement) as coconut oil.  Though he does not specify, it seems likely that the coconut oil (if that was indeed the fat Ferrero initially used) was hydrogenated, so the product would remain solid through a wider temperature range.

Ferrero promotional material from 1950s

4.  Padovani, 47.

5.  See Part 12.

6.  Though most writers only refer to the distribution of loaves of Giandujot, Ferrero marketing materials from the 1950s also describe “Giandujot in spicchi,” or “wedges of Giandujot,” indicating that it was also sold in the traditional shape of gianduiotti.

7.  Subbero, 155.  See also, Padovani, 49.

8.  Others at Perugina did not share Spagnoli’s enthusiasm.  At that time, the company still maintained a reputation for high quality chocolate products.  Many believed that emulating Ferrero would damage the Perugina brand.  Perugina officials also felt incapable of duplicating Ferrero’s unique distribution system, not only placing products on shelves, but contracting with grocers and shopkeepers to cut and sell Giandujot by the slice.  Buitoni, Bruno.  Pasta e Cioccolato: Una Storia Imprenditoriale (intervista di Giampaolo Gallo).  Casa Editrice Protagon.  Perugia.  1992.  Pp. 86-7.

9.  Padovani, 50-1.

Now let’s consider the best gianduiotti—the kind that require international mail, travel, or a willing gianduia mule.

Gianduiotti can be found in nearly every chocolate shop, pastry shop, and café in Piedmont.  Many of these gianduiotti comply with a majority of the rules, including respectable hazelnut content using Tonda Gentile delle Langhe.  While the average quality is good, the discriminating consumer should not be complacent.

Many shops do not produce in-house, but rely on private-label manufacturers (such as Turin’s Prodotti Gianduja) to provide finished molded gianduiotti, wrapped in colorful paper customized with the shop’s name or logo.  Private-label gianduiotti may be of acceptable quality (especially compared with some of what we see in the United States), but can’t hold a candle to the best artisanal gianduiotti.  The easiest way to filter these out is to stick to the rules, paying particular attention to Rule #2 (i.e., hand-cut over extruded over molded).  That may be slightly unjust, since some shops do make good hand-molded gianduiotti in-house.  However, on average, hand-cut and extruded gianduiotti in Piedmont are noticeably better than molded gianduiotti (1).

With that said, here are four picks for the “best of the best” gianduiotti in Piedmont, beginning with the two hand-cut holdouts (2).

Gianduiotti by Gerla (Turin)

First is Gerla.  Francesco Ciocatto’s shop, on Turin’s Corso Vittorio Emanuele, comes up in any serious conversation about the best gianduiotti.  Though Gerla offers less-costly molded gianduiotti (including five-gram minis), the traditional hand-cut, hand-wrapped gianduiotti are the real draw.   These score on almost all of the ten rules (3).

The shape of these, the most traditional of gianduiotti, doesn’t perfectly follow the canonical form of a neatly symmetrical overturned boat.  The bottom is flat, from being deposited on cool marble, and there is a sharp, rising keel above.  While there’s a curving bulge on one long side, the opposite is flat from the cut of the knife.  The general look remains the same from piece to piece, but without the mechanical regularity seen in molded and even in most extruded gianduiotti.  On average heavier than the ten-gram standard, the weight varies also, ranging from thirteen to fifteen grams each.

Gianduiotti by Gerla (Turin)

Gerla’s gianduiotti release the distinct perfume of Tonda Gentile delle Langhe even when wrapped.  The unprinted gold foil clings tightly.  Even at a room temperature of 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 degrees Celsius), unwrapped pieces can’t be handled without leaving residue on the fingers.  The gianduia yields with a gentle squeeze, demonstrating the softness (morbidezza) characteristic of traditional gianduiotti.  This “barely solid” quality results from an exceptionally high hazelnut content of 40% (4).

When swirled through the mouth, the mass quickly spreads into a thick, velvety mouth-coating.  The balance of flavor leans heavily towards the sweetness of hazelnuts.  Though a dark chocolate gianduiotto, there’s no perceived bitterness or astringency.  This is faultless gianduia.

Gianduiotti by A. Giordano (Leinì)

Next is A. Giordano.  Originally opened in Turin in the late nineteenth century, A. Giordano relocated to Leinì in the late 1960s under its new owners, the Faletti family, who continue to own and operate the company today.  In addition to the shop in Leinì, Giordano maintains a retail storefront in Turin’s Piazza Carlo Felice.  As with Gerla, Giordano sells molded gianduiotti for the budget conscious, though the cognoscenti seek the hand-cut.  The hand-cut pieces comply with all but one of the rules (5).

Though with some irregularity, Giordano’s gianduiotti share the typical hand-cut shape, with a sharp, curved top edge, a flat bottom, and a flat cut side with a bulge opposite.  The average weight of pieces approaches the ten-gram standard, ranging from eight to twelve grams.  Gold foil wrappers feature the company’s logo and, across the bottom, the address of their shop in Leinì.

Gianduiotti by A. Giordano (Leinì)

Giordano’s gianduiotti also push the upper limit for hazelnut content, with 40%, all Tonda Gentile delle Langhe (6).  The high hazelnut content and sugar make these fairly sweet, with chocolate right behind, and a noticeable vanilla aroma.  Another faithful interpretation of the Turinese specialty.

A related house specialty of A. Giordano are Giacomette, named after Gianduia’s wife.  Each Giacometta is hand-formed from the same gianduia used for Giordano’s hand-cut gianduiotti, but with the inclusion of finely chopped roasted hazelnut bits for textural contrast.  The pieces, which look somewhat like dried figs, are also hand-wrapped in foil.

Gianduiotti by Guido Gobino (Turin)

Now we come to Guido Gobino.  Over the past decade, Gobino has won more international attention than any other Turinese chocolatier.  This success owes as much to Guido Gobino’s brilliance in design as it does to the quality of his products.  While Gobino’s international recognition arises primarily from his dark chocolate bars (which have received mixed reviews from serious chocolate consumers), within Piedmont he is known first and foremost as a master of gianduia.

Cremini al sale by Gobino (Turin)

If a visitor to one of Gobino’s two Turin shops were to buy one of every product containing nocciole, he would need a duffel bag to get it all home.  Beyond the obvious gianduiotti, there are gianduia bars, fogli nocciolato (one-kilo slabs of hazelnut bark, in dark, milk, or white chocolate), giandujone with 40% TGL (cut by hand and sold by weight), chocolate-covered whole hazelnuts, ganaches, gianduia spreads, a variety of cremini (including the olive oil, sea salt, and gianduia version that won a well-deserved gold medal at the 2008 Academy of Chocolate awards), and his latest innovation that he calls Hazelshock (an intense gianduia in powder form, intended to be sucked up through a straw).  All of Gobino’s hazelnut products use Tonda Gentile delle Langhe and even include the harvest year on the ingredient list.  (As further evidence of his hazelnut-geekiness, Gobino is the only Piedmontese chocolatier I’ve seen who makes efforts to use the new industry-designated name for the cultivar, Tonda Gentile Trilobata.)

Tourinot Maximo by Gobino (Turin)

Gobino’s gianduiotti follow all but one of the rules (i.e., an inexplicable failure to specify hazelnut percentage on the ingredient lists).  All are formed by extrusion.  Though his standard ten-gram milk chocolate gianduiotto classico is excellent, Gobino is best known for the gianduiottini Tourinot—diminutive (but chubby) five-gram extruded pieces that he first released fifteen years ago.  With the original milk chocolate Tourinot and the dark chocolate Tourinot Maximo, Gobino’s genius lies in the tasteful balance of ingredients.  Though the perfume of toasted hazelnuts emerges as soon as the wrapper is peeled back, hazelnuts don’t dominate the flavor profile as the gianduiotto melts on the tongue.  In fact, nothing dominates; the ingredients meld in perfect harmony.  Hazelnut content is held to roughly a third (30% in the milk chocolate and 33% in the dark chocolate gianduiotti), allowing the cacao to take the edge off the sweetness of sugar and nuts (7).  Highly recommended.

Several years ago, a motivated consumer could find a number of Gobino products on the US market, though today it’s rare to see anything other than scattered dark chocolate bars and jarred spreads (often at exorbitant markups).  Gobino gianduiotti have been available through the occasional mail order retailer (usually for a limited time) and at better Italian import shops (including Eataly in New York City).  The fact that there has been some, albeit inconsistent, US distribution offers hope that Gobino’s excellent gianduiotti may someday be more readily available here (8).

Gianduiotti by Guido Castagna (Giaveno)

Lastly, there’s Guido Castagna.  Castagna’s workshop sits on a riverbank in Giaveno, a comune in the mouth of Val Sangone about twenty miles west of Turin. The small, utilitarian retail nook lacks the wood, marble, brass, and the lavish window displays of Turin’s chocolate shops and cafes.  Though in business for less than a decade, Guido Castagna has already won widespread attention in Italy both as a chocolatier and as one of Italy’s few micro-batch bean-to-bar chocolate makers.

Castagna’s gianduiotti follow all of the rules, but are unconventional in some respects.  Though they are extruded, the method is unique.  Since Enrico Carle’s invention of the first gianduiotto machine in the early twentieth century, mechanical extrusion of gianduiotti has mimicked the action of a pastry bag with a slotted nozzle, depositing the soft gianduia paste from above.  Castagna uses a pneumatic device to extrude gianduia paste through a die with greater compression, which (as with pasta) preserves a fixed cross-sectional profile.

Gianduiotto by Castagna (Giaveno)

This novel extrusion method produces a teardrop profile that approximates the cross-section of traditional gianduiotti (though more rounded at the base), but with perfectly flat ends where the extruded gianduia paste has been cut.  The compression increases the density of the paste, allowing Castagna to raise the hazelnut content to 40% (whereas conventionally-extruded gianduiotti rarely exceed 30%).

Gianduiotti by Castagna (Giaveno)

Castagna also departs from tradition by boxing his gianduiotti nakedly in neat rows, rather than individually wrapping them in colored foil.  Getting the first piece out of each row can be a challenge, since the thin edges facing up melt quickly when grasped between fingers and thumb, becoming slippery.

Gianduiotti by Castagna (Giaveno)

But that highlights the strength of Castagna’s gianduiotti.  The hazelnut content pushes the upper limit, but the pieces are lower in sugar than the hand-cut gianduiotti of Gerla and Giordano.  Though sweet, the sweetness is primarily of Tonda Gentile delle Langhe.  The sugar is balanced by Venezuelan cacao mass of Castagna’s own production.  (If the cacao is from Chuao, as the ingredient labels and press reports indicate, the prized qualities of the origin are largely obscured by having to stand third in line behind hazelnuts and sugar.)   Apart from the addition of some cocoa butter to lower viscosity of the cacao mass in processing, there are no other ingredients—no milk solids, no vanilla, and no lecithin.

The result is impressive.  Castagna achieves an incredibly smooth texture, but without the slickness of excessive cocoa butter.  The high hazelnut content ensures a rapid melt on the tongue.  These are the smoothest, fastest melting, most intensely hazelnutty gianduiotti I’ve had.  Highly recommended (9).

Notes:

1.  That distinction holds at the top of each category, also.  The best hand-cut and extruded gianduiotti are noticeably better than the best molded gianduiotti.

2.  It feels awkward to cut this list off at four makers, rather than five, ten, or twenty.  Yet, as much as I may like some of the “also rans,” the quality gap is wide enough that I can’t recommend them, when the very best are no harder to obtain.

In preparing this series over the past three years, I’ve sampled over 47 different gianduiotti from nearly 30 makers.  The list includes:  Baratti & Milano [Bra] (molded milk); Barbero Confetteria [Cherasco] (molded milk and dark); Silvio Bessone [Vicoforte] (molded milk, dark, ripieni, caffè, and sugar-free); Al Bicerin [Turin] (molded milk); Caffarel [Luserna San Giovanni] (extruded milk and dark);  Guido Castagna [Giaveno] (extruded dark); Cioccolato Puro [Pinerolo] (molded dark); Domori [None] (extruded dark); Ferrara ["Italy"] (molded milk); Gerla [Turin] (molded milk, molded dark, hand-cut dark, milk and dark minis); Gertosio [Turin] (extruded milk); A. Giordano [Leinì and Turin] (molded dark and hand-cut dark); Guido Gobino [Turin] (extruded classic milk, Tourinot milk, Tourinot Maximo dark, Tourinot al Caffè, and molded, hand-sliced Giandujone with 40% TGL);   Pastiglie Leone [Turin] (extruded dark]; Mokita [Turin] (molded dark); Novi [Novi Ligure] (molded milk); Nuovo Talmone [Turin] (molded dark); Pernigotti [Novi Ligure] (molded milk and dark); Perugina [Perugia] (molded dark); Peyrano [Turin] (molded milk and extruded dark); Pfatisch [Turin] (molded milk and dark); Premier Cioccolato [Turin] (molded dark); Roma già Talmone [Turin] (molded dark); SMA/ICAM [Lecco] (molded dark); Stratta [Turin] (molded milk); Venchi [Castelleto Stura] (molded milk, molded ripieni, and a special Christmas edition molded ripieno);  Zàini [Milan] (molded dark).

3.  The lone exception is the absence of an expiration date, though that’s not really problematic since Gerla’s hand-cut gianduiotti are only available in their shop, where they can ensure freshness and quality first-hand.

4.  Padovani, Clara Vada and Gigi Padovani.  Gianduiotto Mania — La Via Italiana al Cioccolato: Storia, Fortuna, Ricette.  Giunti, 2007.  P. 76.

5.  As with Gerla, the one exception is the omission of an expiration date.  Since the hand-cut gianduiotti are not available outside Giordano’s two shops, this is not problematic.

Eataly (Turin)

6.  Padovani, Clara and Gigi Padovani.  CioccolaTorino: Storie, Personaggi, Indirizzi, Curiosità.  Blu Edizioni.  2010.  P. 39.

7.  Padovani & Padovani [2010], 65.  This fall, Gobino is adding a new gianduiotto to the line with 39% hazelnut content, which should create a stir.

8.  Of the gianduiotti described in this item, Gobino’s are the easiest to find in Turin.  They are, of course, available in Gobino’s factory store (on Via Cagliari) and boutique (on Via Lagrange).  They can also be found at Eataly (Turin) and gift shops at the Turin Airport.

9.  With the opening of a retail storefront in Turin earlier this year, Castagna’s gianduiotti are now available without a trip to Giaveno.  Though Eataly stores in Turin and Pinerolo carry Castagna’s excellent gianduia spreads, they have not carried his gianduiotti.  (To date, I have seen no Castagna products at all in the US.)

Gianduiotto options in America are few.  Of those commonly available, most are bad.

Two factors contribute to prevalence of junk gianduiotti on the American market: cost and shelf stability.  Bad gianduiotti tend to be cheaper than good.  They’re often made by large industrial operators that benefit from economies of scale.  Further, price is driven down—along with quality—by skewing the ingredient mix towards inexpensive sugar over more costly cacao solids and hazelnuts.  Reducing the hazelnut content and loading the product with sugar also reduce the risk of noticeable oxidation, allowing retailers to keep the product on the shelf much longer.

Before discussing the few rays of light, here are some of the most common, yet least worthy, gianduiotti available in America.

Zàini gianduiotti

The Milan-based company Zàini sells cartons of cheap gianduiotti under the name GianduiOttimi (1).  Scanning the ingredient list raises several red flags: leading with sugar (Rule #6), containing aromi (Rule #7), having no disclosure of hazelnut content (Rule #9), and no TGL (Rule #10).  From the image on the box, one can see that they’re molded (Rule #2).  And, on the box I purchased, no expiration date was to be found (Rule #8).  Opening the package releases the harsh smell of sugar and vanillin, not hazelnuts.  The molded pieces have none of the softness or velvety texture of good gianduia.  Hard, extremely sweet (despite being dark chocolate), and with a foul aftertaste.  (The extreme hardness of Zàini’s gianduiotti were demonstrated in a video in Part 28.)

Ferrara gianduiotti

Ferrara gianduiotti are described as a “Product of Italy,” without specifying exactly where.  The brand is owned by New Jersey-based Cento Fine Foods, an importer and distributor of a variety of Italian goods.  Whatever the provenance, Ferrara shows all the hallmarks of cheap industrial gianduiotti, violating over half of the buying rules (e.g., 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10).  The pieces are rock hard, very sweet, with little hazelnut aroma, and with a lingering, unpleasant aftertaste (2).

Perugina gianduiotti

Perugina began as an artisanal chocolate company in Perugia in the early twentieth century and, with its second generation, became increasingly industrial.  (Founder Luisa Spagnoli’s son Mario, whose 1926 manual Fabbricazione del Cioccolato has been cited previously, was largely responsible for that transition.)  Today, the company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nestlé, which may account for their relatively wide availability in the US.  Rule violations abound, as the gianduiotti are molded, lead with sugar, contain artificial flavors, fail to disclose the hazelnut content, do not use TGL, and—with the box I bought—do not come with an expiration date.  Though the pieces melt quickly, sugar overwhelms all else, with only vanillin and faint woody hazelnut aromas in the background (3).

Pernigotti gianduiotti

Pernigotti is a Piedmont-based company (in Novi Ligure), though industrial and with significant exports.  Unlike most of the bad gianduiotti seen in America, Pernigotti products do occasionally appear on non-gourmet supermarket and convenience store shelves within Piedmont.  The company makes versions in both milk chocolate (“Classici” or “OroGianduia”) and dark chocolate (“Fondenti” or “NeroGianduia”), though the former is more common in the US.  Both versions are molded (Rule #2), lead with sugar (Rule #6), include artificial flavors (Rule #7), fail to disclose hazelnut content (Rule #9), and fail to use Tonda Gentile delle Langhe (Rule #10).  The molded pieces are very firm, weak in hazelnut aroma, overly sweet, and can leave a chalky mouthfeel.  Though not as bad as the gianduiotti described above, these still aren’t worth eating (4).

At present, only four brands of gianduiotti commonly available in America are close enough to what gianduia should be to warrant recommendation.

Domori gianduiotti

First is Domori.  Gianluca Franzoni’s company, located in None (about halfway between Turin and Pinerolo), developed a worldwide reputation for quality on the basis of single-origin bean-to-bar dark chocolate.  After Gruppo Illy acquired a majority stake in Domori in 2006, the company began expanding the line from dark chocolate bars to include more “value added” products such as flavored bars, “energy” bars, cross-promotion bundles with other Illy wares, and, recently, gianduiotti.

Domori’s gianduiotti have a lot going from them.  They come from one of the world’s most respected chocolate makers.  The lack of milk solids makes them one of the few dark chocolate gianduiotti available in the US.  They contain no artificial or extraneous ingredients—not even vanilla or soy lecithin.  Hazelnut content is high (37%), using Tonda Gentile delle Langhe.  They’re even extruded.

Domori (None)

Domori follows all of the “rules” except #6.  The ingredient list leads with sugar.  Therein lies a problem.  Since the gianduiotti have 37% hazelnut content, at least as much sugar, plus a little cocoa butter, it means that the flavor-bearing cacao content is less than 25%.  This skews the flavor profile away from chocolate—which one would expect to be Domori’s strength—towards sugar and, secondarily, hazelnut.  Many will consider these, as I do, too sweet (5).  Still, Domori’s gianduiotti are good enough to merit recommendation, given the options in the US (6).

Baratti & Milano gianduiotti

Second is Baratti & Milano.  Though Baratti & Milano’s roots lie in 19th century Turin, Gruppo Elah-Dufour (headquartered in Novi Ligure, Piedmont) bought the company a little over a decade ago.  Despite the acquisition, the Baratti & Milano brand continues production in facilities just north of Bra, home of Carlo Petrini and the Slow Food movement.

As an industrial product, Baratti & Milano’s gianduiotti break quite a few of the rules.  They’re molded, made with milk chocolate, lead with sugar, contain “aromi,” do not disclose hazelnut content (in the packages I’ve found), and do not claim to contain TGL.  Though these factors lower expectations, the gianduiotti easily surpass them.  While hazelnut content is undisclosed, it’s high enough to manifest itself in the aroma and flavor.  They’re sweet, but not unbearably so.  They melt quickly into a smooth mouthfeel, more slick than velvety, but not unpleasant.  Sugar and vanillin overstay their welcome on the palate; but there’s no foulness in the aftertaste, as with some of the rubbish previously described.  Corner cutting notwithstanding, Baratti & Milano capture enough of what makes gianduia great to earn attention for those in the US (7).

Caffarel gianduiotti (milk chocolate)

Third is Caffarel, a name that will be familiar to those who have followed this series.  Caffarel has passed through several changes in ownership, culminating in the acquisition by the Swiss company Lindt & Sprüngli in 1997.  Despite Swiss ownership, Caffarel continues to operate in Piedmont—specifically, in Luserna San Giovanni, Pierre Paul Caffarel’s birthplace in the Waldensian Val Pellice, to which the company relocated from Turin in 1968.

Though Caffarel makes a respectable dark chocolate gianduiotto (labeled fondente or antica ricetta), their milk chocolate gianduiotti are far more common in the United States.  The gold wrapper remains much as it has since the mid-1930s, with the “Gianduia 1865″ logo.  Caffarel’s gianduiotti comply with most of the “rules,” including the use of extrusion rather than molding.  Hazelnut content is a reasonable 28%, though not TGL.  The ingredient list leads with sugar, but the significant hazelnut content and balance of other ingredients avoids the fault of oversweetness.  The use of vanillin is unfortunate, as is the unnecessary inclusion of a small amount of almonds (8).

Caffarel (Luserna San Giovanni)

Extrusion and meaningful hazelnut content leave Caffarel’s gianduiotti firm, but with some give when squeezed.  They melt quickly into a tongue-coating, velvety texture.  Though sweet overall, the hazelnuts and milk chocolate are well balanced. Though Caffarel’s gianduiotti cannot stand shoulder to shoulder with the best of Piedmont, they are a fair representation of gianduia for those who’ve never tasted it (9).

Venchi gianduiotti

The best gianduiotti readily available in the US at present are from Venchi.  The Piedmontese company bears the name of Silvano Venchi, who opened for business in Turin in 1878; however, through a series of mergers, Venchi also continues the legacy of UNICA, Cuba, Dora Biscuits, and such early masters of gianduia as Moriondo & Gariglio and Talmone (10).  Though too large to be considered an artisanal operation, Venchi’s factory remains fairly small for a chocolate company, occupying one modest building in Castelletto Stura, outside of Cuneo.

Venchi gianduiotti ripieni

Venchi’s only deviations from the “rules” are in molding (rather than extruding or hand-cutting) and in the failure to offer traditional dark chocolate gianduiotti (though gianduia fondente does appear elsewhere in their product line).  The ingredient list leads with hazelnuts, at 30%.  Tonda Gentile delle Langhe.  Natural vanilla.  The fragrance of hazelnuts emerges even before unwrapping a gianduiotto.  Though molded, the hazelnut content is high enough to leave the gianduia soft.  Texture is very smooth.  Hazelnut sweetness predominates.  The chocolate has a slightly caramelized milkiness.  While one can find better in Piedmont, Venchi’s gianduiotti are nothing to sneeze at even there, especially in an apples-to-apples comparison with other milk chocolate versions (11).

Though Venchi doesn’t currently make a dark chocolate gianduiotto, they do have “gianduiotti ripieni” (i.e., filled gianduiotti) (12).  With these, the gianduiotti molds are coated with a thin layer of dark chocolate, before being filled with gianduia.  In addition to offsetting the gianduia’s sweetness, the dark chocolate shell melts more slowly than the gianduia filling, making for a pleasant and addictive textural contrast.  While a few Piedmontese makers do gianduiotti ripieni (most notably Silvio Bessone in Vicoforte), I have yet to find any better than Venchi’s (13).

Venchi (Castelleto Stura)

Notes:

1.  Ingredients listed (Zàini): Sugar, hazelnuts, cacao mass, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, flavorings.

2.  The one-letter difference between this brand name and that of Ferrero could easily create brand confusion.  Surely that’s mere coincidence.  Ingredients listed (Ferrera): Sugar, hazelnuts (22%), cacao mass, cocoa butter, powdered whole milk, soy lecithin, flavorings.

3.  Ingredients listed (Perugina):  Sugar, hazelnuts, chocolate, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, artificial flavors.

4.  Ingredients listed (Pernigotti, OroGianduia):  Sugar, hazelnuts, cacao mass, cocoa butter, powdered whole milk, soy lecithin, flavorings.

5.  Intense sweetness is not foreign to tradition.  In fact, compared to recipes published by Spagnoli (1926) and Kemeny (1949), Domori’s gianduiotti are lower in sugar and cocoa butter, while higher in hazelnuts and cacao liquor.

6.  Ingredients listed (Domori):  Sugar, Piedmont hazelnuts PGI (37%), cacao mass, cocoa butter.

7.  Ingredients listed (Baratti & Milano):  Sugar, hazelnuts, cacao mass, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, soy lecithin, flavorings.  Baratti & Milano’s parent company also produces gianduiotti in Piedmont under the Novi brand name.  The ingredient list for Novi gianduiotti is identical to that for Baratti & Milano, except that it specifies the hazelnut content of 26%.

8.  See Rule #7 and Note #10 in Part 28.

9.  Ingredients listed (Caffarel):  Sugar, hazelnuts (28%), cacao mass, powdered whole milk, cocoa butter, almonds, vanillin.

Talmone/Venchi, "Cacao Due Vecchi"

10.  Venchi continues to use Talmone’s iconic marketing piece featuring Ochsner’s 1890 illustration, Due Vecchi. It’s a pity that Venchi has abandoned the Talmone brand name, since: (i) Talmone was in business 28 years before Venchi; (ii) Talmone was a Waldensian company; (iii) Talmone was, first and foremost, a chocolate company (while Venchi was best known for caramels); (iv) whether or not Talmone invented gianduia (a hypothesis set forth in Part 13), the company was at the forefront of gianduia through the closing decades of the nineteenth century and into the twentieth; and (v) Talmone (especially in its second generation) set trends in product development and marketing that continue today.

11.  Ingredients listed (Venchi, Gianduiotti):  Piedmont hazelnut paste PGI (30%), sugar, cocoa butter, cacao mass, whole powdered milk, soy lecithin, natural vanilla flavor.

12.  Ingredients listed (Venchi, Gianduiotti Ripieni):  Sugar, Piedmont hazelnut paste PGI (20%), cacao mass, cocoa butter, whole powdered milk, soy lecithin, natural vanilla flavor.

Bloom from fat migration in Venchi gianduiotti ripieni

13.  There is one quirk to be aware of, when buying and consuming gianduiotti ripieni (from Venchi or anyone else): fat bloom due to fat migration.  When the liquid fat (i.e., hazelnut oil) from the gianduia filling makes contact with the solid fat (i.e., cocoa butter) in the dark chocolate shell, the fat phase gradually moves towards equilibrium, with the solid fat moving inwards and liquid fat moving outwards.  When the liquid fat approaches the dark chocolate surface, it can carry cocoa butter along with it, which will crystallize on the surface (i.e., fat bloom).  With enough time, the movement of fat can soften the shell and firm up the center, though you’ll usually have eaten the gianduiotti before they reach that point.  In any event, the white, chalky substance that you see in the photo above is fat bloom—not “mold” or anything that should keep you from eating the piece.

At present, national and online retailers offer few brands of gianduia to American consumers.  Those fortunate enough to live near a good Italian market may have somewhat better options.  Though we’ll discuss some of the more common brands shortly, limited and inconsistent availability make it difficult to advise on what to buy.  Instead, let’s discuss how to buy (1).

Gianduia Bars

Rule #1:  Buy gianduia as gianduiotti, not in bar form. Gianduiotti were the enduring invention of the Waldenses, the pride of Turin, and the namesake of Gianduia in the nineteenth century, historically preceding gianduia bars (tavolette) in Italy.  Such historical originality warrants the respect of traditionalists.  The size and shape of gianduiotti deliver a perfect, individually-wrapped, bite-sized portion, offering convenience, without overwhelming.

However, the real reason gianduiotti are preferable to bars lies in their differing composition.  The high hazelnut content of gianduia paste makes it soft and somewhat tacky, unsuitable for molding.  Molding bars with clean lines and enough firmness and rigidity to hold their form requires adaptation of the traditional formula.  Specifically, it necessitates lowering the proportion of hazelnut (with its liquid-at-room-temperature oil) and adding cocoa butter (which is solid at room temperature and only melts completely a little below body temperature).  Doing this undercuts several of gianduia’s greatest strengths: the intensity of hazelnut aroma, the soft, velvety texture, and the rapid melt and distribution of flavor from high hazelnut oil content.  And in exchange for what?  Improved shelf-stability?  It’s just not worth it.

Rule #2:  Seek hand-cut over extruded, and extruded over molded. When picking up a hand-cut gianduiotto—feeling its heft, its wedge-like shape, and the thick, crinkled foil in which it has been hand-wrapped—it is hard to avoid romanticism about this original method of formation that prevailed for nearly half a century.  But romanticism is not the only reason to prefer hand-cut gianduiotti over extruded.  Give the foil-wrapped gianduiotto a gentle squeeze and it yields to the pressure.  Working by hand, makers can incorporate a greater percentage of roasted hazelnuts—as high as 40%.  This results in a softer texture and more powerful hazelnut aroma than one finds in most extruded gianduiotti.  Hand-cut gianduiotti are not currently made or imported for retail in America.  Sadly, they’re uncommon even in Piedmont.  Yet they are well worth the seeking.

Extrusion allows for a respectable percentage of hazelnut, usually no higher than 33%.  Though not as soft as hand-cut, they are, on average, noticeably softer than molded gianduiotti.  The traditional trio of ingredients can be balanced without concern for how the resulting paste may stick to a mold (2).  Not all extruded gianduiotti are equal, but most are of acceptable quality and some are among the best made.

The gap widens between molded gianduiotti and those made with the older methods, for the reasons described in Rule #1.  The method requires a shift in the fat proportions so the pieces will release from the molds.  They’re slicker, harder, and slower to melt on the tongue.  While some artisanal shops in Piedmont mold by hand (with better or worse results), most molded gianduiotti are mechanically produced by industrial firms, which often compromise in other ways, as well (3).  Watch the video above to see how dramatically molded, extruded, and hand-cut gianduiotti differ in hardness.

Rule #3:  Buy from gianduia specialists. From its origins, gianduia was the product of chocolate makers—individuals and companies that transform dried cacao into finished chocolate.  Today, most small shops in Piedmont work from couverture or from cacao liquor, rather than from the bean (4).  Even so, they depend on common chocolate-making equipment to transform cacao mass, sugar, and hazelnuts into gianduia, including mélangeurs, roll refiners, and conches.  With dedicated chocolate-making equipment, gianduia makers can produce a paste with smaller, more uniform particle size and more thorough coating of particles with fat—smooth, velvety, homogenous.

The reduction of particle size and homogenization of fats and nonfat solids made possible with chocolate-making equipment cannot be duplicated, and only poorly approximated, with the tools available to most small chocolatiers.  Hazelnut praliné is not gianduia.  Chocolate with chopped hazelnuts is not gianduia.  The “flavor combination” of chocolate and hazelnuts is not gianduia.  While we can hope that one of America’s talented small-batch chocolate makers will someday produce quality gianduia domestically, for now it must be sought from gianduia specialists in western Europe (and mainly Italy).

Extruded gianduiotto fondente by Caffarel (Luserna San Giovanni)

Rule #4:  Remember gianduia’s dark past. Gianduia began as a dark chocolate product and remained exclusively so for at least a third of its history.  Though most of the world knows gianduia in its milk chocolate form (to the extent they know it at all), gianduia fondente remains common in Piedmont.  Beyond its historical primacy, many prefer dark chocolate gianduia for its cleaner flavor (absent milk’s sugars, proteins, and fats) and greater balance between bitterness and sweetness.  Milk chocolate gianduia can be excellent; but most chocolate connoisseurs are likely to prefer the more traditional form.

Rule #5:  Mind the cacao solids. In inspecting the ingredient list, look for gianduia made with cacao liquor (or mass or paste).  While a bit of additional cocoa butter may be acceptable (or even necessary, for molded gianduiotti and bars), products that substitute cocoa powder and cocoa butter for cacao liquor should be avoided.  It should go without saying that products containing “cocoa butter equivalents” or CBEs—industrial Newspeak for inexpensive vegetable fats used in place of cocoa butter—are best left on the shelf.

Rule #6:  Beware those that lead with sugar. European labeling regulations, like those in the United States, require that ingredients be listed in descending order of weight.  When reviewing the ingredient list, pay special attention to the leading ingredient.  Sugar is cheaper than good cacao or hazelnuts, so many industrial producers use huge amounts of it.  Under the current definitions in the Codex Alimentarius, a product could be nearly 50% sugar by weight and still be called gianduia (5).  Sugar-heavy gianduiotti can be quite unpleasant—weak in hazelnut aroma, tacky (rather than velvety) in texture, and with poor melt characteristics.

Sugar leading the ingredient list needn’t always be a deal-killer.  You just have to do the math to estimate how much sugar is in there.  For products made in Europe, the percentage of hazelnuts by weight will usually be included in the ingredient list.  If a sugar-leading gianduia contains 37% hazelnuts, it has over 37% sugar.  Best case scenario, it’s going to be quite sweet (though perhaps not overwhelmingly so), with strong hazelnut aroma (assuming TGL are used), and more subdued chocolate flavor (especially if it’s a milk chocolate gianduia, since a portion of the remainder will be dry milk solids).  If you don’t mind gianduia with that profile, it might be worth a try.

Let’s pause for a brief, related comment.  Gianduia is sweet.  Not necessarily overwhelmingly sweet—and, on average, less sweet than what passes for chocolate in most supermarkets and convenience stores in America and Europe—but sweet, nonetheless.  Not only is gianduia sweet, but it should be sweet.  It arrived at a time when sugar was a prized luxury, rather than a constituent of every food product sold to every socioeconomic class.  It developed, as did the companies that made it, alongside the expanding Italian beet sugar industry, turning a rare, seasonal extravagance into an affordable, popular product by the mid-twentieth century.  Gianduia’s sweetness is unlikely to be a turnoff for most chocolate lovers, except in the extreme cases covered by Rule #6.  But if you’re the kind of chocolate snob who dims the lights, closes his eyes, and meditates on Le 100% or Noir Infini, you’ve come to the wrong shop.

Rule #7:  Avoid extraneous ingredients. Cacao liquor, roasted hazelnuts, and sugar (cane or beet) are sine quibus non.  Though optional, milk solids, natural vanilla (vaniglia), and lecithin are also acceptable (6).  If there’s anything else on the ingredient list, you should probably move on.

What else might turn up that would lead you to walk away?  Vegetable fats other than cocoa butter or hazelnut oil.  Vanillin (vanillina).  Italian labeling regulations also allow vanillin to be included under the catch-all term “aromi” (with “aromi naturali” reserved for natural flavorings).  Though blessedly rare, “diet” gianduiotti with artificial sweeteners have appeared on the market (7).

Some gianduia may include one gray area ingredient: almonds (mandorle).  This is not common in Piedmont and may even be unique to Caffarel.  Almonds are not foreign to Piedmontese culinary tradition.  Though not as common as hazelnuts or chestnuts in the region, sweet and bitter almonds are used in a number of definitive local sweets and pastries, including ossa di morto, baci di dama, and of course amaretti.  Long before gianduia’s invention, Spanish and Mexican chocolate makers frequently ground almonds (in modest proportions) with cacao, though for use in beverage form.  With the spread of gianduia in the late nineteenth century, it would be natural for some makers to use almonds as a supplement or even substitute for hazelnuts, particularly in countries with little or no domestic supply of hazelnuts (e.g., France, Switzerland, Germany, et al.).  Today, the Codex Alimentarius allows the inclusion of other nuts in gianduia, as long as the minimum hazelnut and cacao solid percentages are met and the total nut content does not exceed 60%.  (Under that permissive standard, one could market as “gianduia” a product with 40% peanuts, 32% cacao solids, 20% hazelnuts, and 8% sugar, which is sheer lunacy.)

With that said, surviving descriptions of the earliest gianduia make no mention of almonds—only hazelnuts.  While the combination of almonds with chocolate was common enough to merit mention in Mario Spagnoli’s 1926 manual Fabbricazione del Cioccolato, the author clearly distinguishes the product from gianduia by using the name cioccolato alla mandorla (i.e., almond chocolate).  He describes gianduia as containing nothing other than hazelnuts, sugar, and cacao solids, and gianduiotti as being made exclusively in Italy (8).  Definitions of gianduia in nineteenth and twentieth century Italian dictionaries mention no nut other than hazelnuts.

Today, artisanal and quality-oriented makers—even most industrial makers—in Piedmont use hazelnuts, and only hazelnuts, in gianduia (9).  From a traditional perspective, almonds simply do not belong in gianduia.  Whether Caffarel should be given a pass on this is debatable (10).

Rule #8:  Check the date. Hazelnuts go rancid.  Don’t buy product that’s near or past its “use by” or “best before” date.  If you’re ordering online, ask the vendor for the expiration date before completing the order.  Any retailer worth doing business with will happily tell you.  Retard oxidation by storing gianduia in an airtight container in a cool, dark, and dry place.  In recent years, some makers have begun including the harvest year of the hazelnuts in the ingredient list, offering another way of ensuring the hazelnuts are not past their prime.

Rule #9:  Examine the hazelnut content. Hazelnuts are the heart of gianduia.  If a maker is skimping, sliding by with the minimum necessary to call the product “gianduia” (i.e., 20% in Europe, though the term is unregulated in the US), move on.  Quality makers have pride in their product and generally disclose the hazelnut content in the ingredient list by percentage weight.  If the hazelnut content isn’t stated, there’s a good chance the product isn’t worth the cash or calories (11).  Generally speaking, gianduia with less than one-third hazelnut content will be weak in aroma and the hazelnut flavor will be muted by the sugar or chocolate.  Low hazelnut content also contributes to the rock-hard texture found in the many of the worst industrial gianduiotti (as seen in the video above).

More is not necessarily better.  Ideally, gianduia strikes a synergistic balance between the ingredients, with no one dominating the others.   Depending on the balance and quality of ingredients, a gianduiotto with 33% hazelnut content could well be better than one with 36%.  Because of the need to keep gianduia solid at room temperature, it’s difficult to push the hazelnut content higher than 40% without compromising the traditional taste and texture.

In addition to the quantity of hazelnut content, consider the form.  Gianduia makers have long considered the roasting of hazelnuts to be a delicate art, crucial to the development of flavor and aroma in the final product.  Rather than roasting hazelnuts in-house, some makers (often industrial firms) purchase hazelnut paste (pasta di nocciole).  This entrusts the roasting to a third party, which an artisanal gianduia maker would be loathe to do, just as a truly artisanal chocolate maker would never outsource the roasting of cacao to third-party personnel and facilities.

Rule #10:  Demand Tonda Gentile delle Langhe. Tonda Gentile delle Langhe is the traditional hazelnut cultivar for gianduia and remains the best choice for flavor and aroma.  The use of TGL among recognized masters of gianduia is so invariable that it serves as a useful litmus test for ingredient lists—in part because of the inherent quality of the nuts, but also as a demonstration of the maker’s general commitment to excellence.  If a maker uses TGL exclusively, the ingredient list will reflect it.  If you just see the generic term “hazelnuts” (nocciole), you’re stepping down the quality ladder.

TGL sometimes appears on ingredient lists under the cultivar name (e.g., “nocciole varietà Tonda Gentile delle Langhe“).  More commonly, you’ll find references to the European Union “protected geographical indication” for TGL hazelnuts grown in the traditional territory: Nocciola Piemonte I.G.P. or Nocciola del Piemonte I.G.P.  Be aware that, while all “Piedmont Hazelnuts P.G.I.” are of the variety Tonda Gentile delle Langhe, not all Tonda Gentile delle Langhe hazelnuts are grown in the traditional territory, following the required discipline.  The Protected Geographical Indication offers stronger protections against fraud and also assures the consumer that he’s supporting growers in Piedmont (12).

Tonda Gentile delle Langhe kernels.

With respect to nomenclature, consumers should also be aware that, in late 2009, Piedmont’s hazelnut industry consortia renamed TGL as “Tonda Gentile Trilobata”—round, mild, and trilobed (or trefoil), referring to the three-lobed kernel shape—in an effort to better distinguish and protect the product of Piedmont growers.  The name change created some controversy, given the long history and clear geographical association of the name Tonda Gentile delle Langhe.  For now, only the consortia and some growers appear to be using the new name.  Chocolate makers, chocolatiers, chefs, grocers, and consumers throughout Piedmont have been sticking with the older, more elegant name.

Notes:

1.  Many of these rules relate to ingredient lists.  If an online or mail-order retailer does not include a product’s ingredient list on its web site, ask for it.  If they won’t provide it on request, find a retailer who will.

2.  Some may prize this balance more than the higher hazelnut content of hand-cut gianduiotti, which can be quite sweet.

3.  While there are some good molded gianduiotti in Piedmont, a traveler who eschews molded altogether and seeks out extruded and hand-cut gianduiotti will spare himself a great many middling experiences.

4.   Those working with liquor have no involvement in harvest, fermentation, drying, sorting, roasting, winnowing, and initial grinding.  Those working with couverture begin with finished chocolate, having even less control over the quality and characteristics of the chocolate.

5.  CODEX STAN 87-1981, Rev. 1 – 2003, §2.1.7.2.  Gianduia is not currently defined in US regulations.

6.  From 1929, items in the trade magazine Il Dolce show a growing interest, among Italian chocolate makers, in the use of lecithin.  Its use became common in Italy by the mid-1930s.

7.  Though “purity” was an ideal in the Italian chocolate industry from the late nineteenth century, Turinese makers were no more immune to the commercial lure of adulterants than were chocolate makers in other countries.  Caffarel Prochet & Co. had an enforcement action brought against it for the use of adulterants—specifically, alabaster powder—in the early 1880s.  In correspondence with his brother Matteo, Michele Prochet states that the use of adulterants was practiced by “everybody, more or less.”  When similar charges were brought against Talmone in the 1890s—in their case, for using potato starch and fat other than cocoa butter—the industry rallied behind the brothers.  In a filing by Caffarel Prochet & Co., Gay Revel & Co., Beata & Perrone, and Moriondo & Gariglio, the chocolate makers stated that, given the market conditions for sugar and cacao, it was impossible to make chocolate consisting solely of cacao and sugar for under 3.20 lira per kilogram.  Given the economic challenges Turinese makers faced well into the twentieth century, it is likely that gianduia today is as pure as it has ever been.  Bächstädt-Malan, Christian.  Per Una Storia dell’Industria Dolciaria Torinese: il Caso Caffarel.  Doctoral thesis (Economics and Business), Universitá degli Studi di Torino.  2002.  Pp. 88-9.  Gianolio, Bartolomeo and Enrico Cavaglià.  Memoriale a Difesa nell’Interesse dei Signori Talmone (Enrico, Amedeo, Alberto, Gustavo e Michele), Appellanti da Sentenza 27 Giugno 1894 del Tribunale Penale di Torino.  Tipografia Baravalle e Falconieri.  Turin.  1895.  Pp. 1, 5-6.

8.  Spagnoli, Mario.  Fabbricazione del Cioccolato.  Ulrico Hoepli.  Milan.  1926.  Pp. 111-5.

9.  That’s not to say that hazelnuts are the only nut combined with chocolate in Piedmont.  However, when almonds or chestnuts are combined with chocolate, the product is never referred to as gianduia.

10.  One could argue that this hinges on when the company began including almonds.  If at any time prior to the First World War, Caffarel should be given latitude simply for antiquity’s sake.  If the inclusion of almonds began as a response to supply disruptions during the First World War or during austerity and autarky through the Second World War, their use would be a legitimate deviation grounded in history.  If, however, the use is more modern, motivated simply by cost calculations before or after the company was acquired by the Swiss company Lindt & Sprüngli, Caffarel deserves no special consideration (even though the company has, by dint of its name and history, sometimes received such consideration).

11.  One notable exception is when buying hand-cut, hand-wrapped gianduiotti in Turin.  Because each batch is different and because the makers do not sell outside their own shops, they generally do not include an ingredient list at all.

12.  TGL grown outside of Piedmont have generally displayed all of the desirable kernel qualities—size, roundness, ease of pellicle removal, and excellent taste and aroma—as those grown in Piedmont.  So far, growers have been unable to overcome the productivity and susceptibility challenges the cultivar has shown outside of its native territory.  Until they do, it is usually safe to assume that TGL (with or without an I.G.P. designation) are grown in Piedmont.

Though we’ve been discussing the earliest gianduiotti, the late-nineteenth and twentieth centuries brought a number of innovations in production, not all of them bad.

Battaggion Triple Mill (Spagnoli, 1926).

Gradual improvements in industrial chocolate-making equipment (mélangeurs, hammer mills, refiners) enabled makers to produce gianduia with a finer, more uniform particle size, making it smoother and silkier on the tongue.  By 1904, Lindt’s conche was no longer a trade secret, and equipment manufacturers in Switzerland, Germany, England, and France were marketing a variety of conches to makers (1).  This allowed further improvement to both texture and flavor.

The rise of mechanical formation (rather than hand-cutting) of gianduiotti in the early twentieth century is not well documented, though it appears to have begun with the invention of a motorized extruder by Enrico Carle, whose company, Carle & Montanari, eventually became a major manufacturer of industrial chocolate equipment (2).  Mechanical extrusion became more common among Turin’s larger chocolate makers following the First World War (3).

Mechanical molding (as opposed to extrusion) also became more common following the First World War (4).  This reflected a move towards more “modern” methods, including conching and the use of additional cocoa butter to create a smooth texture, crisp temper, and melting quality in the mouth (5).  In 1926, Mario Spagnoli, Technical Director for the industrial maker Perugina, offers a recipe for gianduia in which over 40% of total cacao solids are in the form of added cocoa butter (6)!  Liberal additions of cocoa butter skewed the fat content away from the traditional balance, resulting in a product that—due to higher saturated fat content—remained crisp and firm at room temperature.  It could be molded.

Battaggion gianduiotti extruder (Spagnoli, 1926).

From its earliest use, connoisseurs have regarded molding of gianduiotti as improper, if not criminal.  In its 1929 submission to the Guida Gastronomica d’Italia, the National Fascist Federation of Confectionery Industry, after praising the original method of hand-cutting gianduiotti, stated that “All [gianduiotti] that are obtained with molding machines, molds, or matrices, are nothing more than imperfect imitations of the created form” (7).  Despite the preferences of buongustai, molding benefitted producers in several ways.  The technique was less labor intensive than hand-cutting.  The higher cocoa butter content made for a less temperature-sensitive and more shelf-stable product.  Above all, molding guaranteed uniformity of size and shape.  This uniformity, as Spagnoli observed in 1926, enabled producers to further reduce costs by replacing hand-wrapping with mechanical wrapping devices (8).

Talmone ad for Lacteobroma (Almanacco Italiano, 1906).

Perhaps the most significant twentieth century development of gianduia was the emergence of milk chocolate gianduia.  Yet the basic questions of when milk chocolate gianduia first appeared and from which company remain unanswered.  In 1903, Talmone appears to be the first Turinese chocolate maker to introduce a milk chocolate product, Lacteobroma (9).  The complexity of milk chocolate production could only be undertaken by a company of some size.  While Talmone was not large compared with contemporaries in the US and UK that were struggling to produce milk chocolate in the first decade of the twentieth century, it was the largest chocolate maker in Italy at the time, rivaled only by Moriondo & Gariglio.  Further, Michele Talmone was acquired by the Swiss company Tobler in 1905, a time in which the Swiss remained the world’s dominant producers of milk chocolate (10).  This enabled the flow of capital, technology, and know-how from Bern to Turin, giving Talmone a tremendous leg up on the local competition.

Caffarel & Prochet brochure featuring Lactina.

While Talmone would have been capable of producing Turin’s first milk chocolate gianduia, there is no evidence, at present, to indicate that they did.  Did milk chocolate gianduia arise during the import disruptions of the First World War?  During the height of Mussolini’s autarky?  And did it even originate in Turin?  The Swiss were early adopters of gianduia, with Cailler exhibiting it at the 1873 World’s Fair in Vienna and Suchard advertising it as a specialty in US and German publications by the end of the nineteenth century (11).  Any of the large Swiss makers would have been capable of fashioning milk chocolate gianduia long before the Italians and, given the Swiss emphasis on milk chocolate, it would not be surprising if they had.

Whether the invention of milk chocolate gianduia was Italian or Swiss, it became a part of the Italian tradition (12).  Because of the global reach of one milk chocolate gianduia-inspired product (to which we will soon turn our attention), many consumers around the world remain completely unaware of gianduia’s dark chocolate roots.

Notes:

1.  Chiapparino, Francesco.  “Milk and Fondant Chocolate and the Emergence of the Swiss Chocolate Industry at the Turn of the Twentieth Century,” in Food and Material Culture: Proceedings of the Fourth Symposium of the International Commission for Research into European Food History (ed. Martin Schärer and Alexander Fenton).  Tuckwell Press.  1998.  P. 340.

2.  ”The Manufacturing Confectioner.”  Vol. 87, No. 10.  October 2007.  P. 98.

3.  Spagnoli, Mario.  Fabbricazione del Cioccolato.  Ulrico Hoepli.  Milan.  1926.  Pp.  114-5.

4.  Chiapparino, Francesco.  “Tecnologie, Capitali e Mercati: I Rapporti Italo-Svizzeri nel Settore del Cioccolato,” in Il Cioccolato: Industria, Mercato e Società in Italia e Svizzera (XVIII-XX Sec.).   FrancoAngeli.  Milan.  2007.  P. 178.  Marsero, Mario.  “Gianduia: Storia di un Cioccolato,” Pasticceria Internazionale, n. 141.  2000.  P. 142.

5.  Spagnoli, 86, 113, 115.

6.  Spagnoli, 113.  This is all the more remarkable since, in the same volume, Spagnoli observes that the Swiss mistakenly attributed the power of conching to a heavy addition of cocoa butter, which he regarded as harmful to flavor (53).

7.  Il Dolce, No. 42, August 1929.  P. 196.  With the use of the expression forma creata, the uncompromising declaration carries a quasi-theological tone.

8.  Spagnoli, 115.

9.  Talmone advertisement in Almanacco Italiano: Piccola Enciclopedia Popolare della Vita Pratica, e Annuario Diplomatico, Amministrativo, e Statistico (Year 9, 1904).  R. Bemporad & Figlio.  Florence.  1903.  See also, ”Diva Caraca: Curiosità Storiche Aneddoti e Varietà sul Cacao; Sue Virtù Prodigiose,” in Almanacco Italiano: Piccola Enciclopedia Popolare della Vita Pratica, e Annuario Diplomatico, Amministrativo, e Statistico (Year 10, 1905).  R. Bemporad & Figlio.  Florence.  1904.  (P. 495.)  The author describes Lacteobroma as “one of the most recent creations of the Talmone factory.”

10.  Chiapparino [2007], 178.  A few years later, Theodor Tobler invented the candy bar that bears his name today, Toblerone (now a property of Kraft Foods Inc.).

11.  See Part 15.

12.  Within Piedmont, however, milk chocolate gianduia remains less common.

Before moving forward, let’s pause for a moment and consider how revolutionary gianduiotti were in their early years.

Costa Rican cacao liquor (Steve DeVries).

As previously mentioned, cacao liquor is solid at room temperature—hard, harsh, brittle, and of a texture little better than dirt clods.  Several late nineteenth century advances in chocolate-making offered tools for transforming this crude material into a more palatable form of solid chocolate.

Two of these advances involved the addition of fat.  Surplus cocoa butter as a byproduct of the Van Houten press (and its imitators) allowed makers to combine cocoa butter with cocoa powder or liquor in a ratio that allowed the fat to more thoroughly coat particles, resulting in a smoother solid chocolate that melted well (1).  Daniel Peter’s invention of milk chocolate relied on the addition of butterfat, which is mostly liquid at room temperature, to soften the resulting product (2).

Tonda Gentile delle Langhe.

The Waldensian chocolate makers of Turin solved the texture problem by combining cacao liquor with oil-rich hazelnuts years before Van Houten’s press came into common use and a decade before Gala Peter milk chocolate bars hit the market, making gianduiotti softer and smoother than any chocolate then on the market.

Lindt’s conching in the late 1870s improved both texture (by reducing particle size) and flavor (by reducing harsh volatiles and acids).  Though the makers of gianduia in the preceding decade did not use identical equipment and methods, it is quite possible that the additional grinding time necessary to incorporate hazelnuts in the previously finished cacao liquor would have further refined particle size and allowed dissipation of acids and volatiles, much as Lindt’s conching later did.  Beyond that, the addition of a substantial quantity of hazelnuts obscured textural shortcomings of the milling equipment and—by diluting the cacao content (with something other than sugar)—mellowed the liquor’s harshness, both improving palatability.

Four-pot longitudinal conche (from Cocoa and Chocolate; Arthur Knapp, 1920).

The quantity of hazelnuts in gianduia also gave it its most novel and enduring appeal. Cocoa butter is solid at room temperature, but melts at a little below body temperature.  Hazelnut oil is liquid at room temperature.  The Waldensians combined the two fats in a ratio that made gianduia as soft as possible, while still remaining solid at room temperature.  At body temperature, the significantly reduced amount of cocoa butter (relative to contemporary solid chocolate) melted almost immediately, carrying the flavorful solids along in a wave with the already liquid, intensely aromatic hazelnut oil.

Gianduiotti ripieni at Combal.Zero (Rivoli)

The closest analogy to gianduia’s rapid melt and distribution of flavor across the palate is chocolate ganache, a suspension and emulsion of chocolate in cream or other dairy.  However, unlike the cream in ganache, the hazelnuts in gianduia contribute a powerful and pleasing aroma.  Unlike the water in cream, the oil from hazelnuts creates a smooth, velvety mouthfeel.  Unlike ganache, gianduia has relatively little water content and no lactic acid, allowing it to stay fresh much longer without the use of artificial preservatives (3).

The impact gianduia makes on first-time tasters today, even after a century and a half of industrial and scientific advances in the production of chocolate, provides indirect evidence of how revolutionary gianduia would have been in the 1860s (4).  But the historical record also shows that the brilliance of gianduia was recognized soon after its invention, leading to its propagation throughout Europe (5).

Notes:

1.  Beckett, Stephen T.  The Science of Chocolate.  RSC Publishing.  2009.  Pp. 3-4.  Though it is a relatively recent phenomenon, some modern artisanal makers are able to achieve excellent texture without adding flavor-diluting cocoa butter (or surfactants/emulsifiers).  God bless them.

2.  Beckett, 31.

3.  It is also worth noting that dark chocolate gianduia is vegan, with no compromise in flavor or texture.

4.  Shortly after giving a friend a few good gianduiotti during a layover at DFW, I started getting text messages.  8:25 PM: “Man, one of those gianduiotti I just ate was tasty.  Milk chocolaty, I think, and complex.  Reminds me of marshmallow cream.”  8:45 PM: “Seriously, it’s like chocolate filbert toasted marshmallow.  I might have to eat another of those.  I was licking out the foil.”  2:25 AM: “That stuff was really, really good.  Not sure if I’ll let my wife have any.”  Quality gianduia is better experienced than described.  For those who have yet to experience the Waldensian revolution first-hand, wait for the upcoming buyer’s guide.  It won’t be too much longer.

5.  See Part 15.