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If you’re a fan of the fantastically rich, creamy taste of Nutella, there’s another nutty Italian product you should know about. It’s called gianduja (sometimes spelled “gianduia”). On paper, gianduja is similar to Nutella: It’s a chocolate and hazelnut concoction that can be found as a spread, although it’s often sold as a more solid piece of chocolate. In fact, it’s actually considered to be the predecessor to Nutella — but despite the overlap in ingredients and the fact it also hails from Italy, they aren’t identical.
Gianduja is for those who are nuts for nuts. While Nutella is only 13% hazelnuts, gianduja must be at least 20% hazelnut to be able to call itself gianduja, but it’s common for it to be 30% hazelnut, and it’s not particularly hard to find versions that are half hazelnut — at least in Europe. This delectable chocolate dates back to the early 1800s. It was invented in Turin, in northwestern Italy — and the surrounding area (Piedmont) produced hazelnuts by the bucketload. At this time, the French (under Napoleon) blockaded many ports in the area, so chocolate couldn’t be shipped in from the tropical areas where it grows. Faced with a shortage, local chocolatiers decided to pad out the limited chocolate with hazelnut paste, which was (thanks to Turin’s geography) extremely easy to source. The concept caught on and stuck, although it was made even better when some chocolatiers later realized that roasting the nuts would give a deeper, richer taste.
Where to get it and what to do with it
Obviously, Turin is the ideal place to pick up some gianduja. The city is packed with chocolate shops, so you can more or less trip over some gianduja without even looking. Fortunately for those who can’t wrangle a transatlantic trip just to pick up chocolate, it can be found in the United States if you look in the right places. Specialty stores for Italian groceries would be a good place to search; some, like Formaggio Kitchen, also sell it online. Gianduja spread isn’t hard to find on Amazon, although with prices around $20 a jar, you could argue that it’s firmly in the “special treat” zone. The solid chocolate version is also on Amazon, but many of the options are rather expensive bulk packages of a pound or more.
It’s also something you can make at home by roasting and grinding hazelnuts, then mixing them with melted chocolate (some recipes add extra sweeteners like condensed milk). Don’t forget to peel the nuts properly before you start. Naturally, it’ll pan out better if you get your hands on high-quality dark chocolate.
Once you’ve got your hands on gianduja, it’s not hard to find ways to use it: It can be worked into all sorts of recipes from cakes to cookies, or work it into a delectable chocolate breakfast. Of course, you can just spread it on bread or eat it plain to get the purest taste. Buon appetito!
