Nutella Mani

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heymnGdGk2E

The Reckelss Gastronome

Martin Peyruc Reporter, Life News Today

Ciao, bella, the Reckless Gastronome greets you, although Bella Ciao is speaking to me a lot more these days (look it up). If you aren’t a polyglot, that means hello (or goodbye in other contexts) beautiful in Italian, which is introduction enough for today’s review, Nutella Peanut. I have to admit I’ve been looking forward to this product for a couple years now. No, I don’t have that much of an inside track for new products, but I did hear a rumor about it and saw a mock up (or perhaps someone’s AI bait) of what it might look like. The image I found showed it as having Nutella and peanut butter stripes, which looked pretty cool, but being a homogeneous mixture is probably better, from an eating standpoint at least.

I feel like I don’t have to explain what Nutella is, but since I’m the generous sort (and my article would be too short otherwise) I am going to give an explanation and history regardless. Nutella is a chocolate-hazelnut spread made by the Italian company, “The Ferrero Group”. They also make Ferrero Rocher, Kinder Chocolate, and Tic Tac. I’ll admit my ignorance here and confess I wouldn’t have guessed these were all from the same country, much less the same company. I can’t tell if this makes them like Zartan, a master of disguise, or me just an incurious clod (for the sake of my ego, I’m going with the former).

In 1946 Pietro Ferrero sold a 300-kilogram (660 pounds for us imperial unit users) batch of Pasta Gianduja (pasta in this case being translated as paste and not noodles). Gianduja is a chocolate that is “thinned” with hazelnut butter (roughly 70 percent hazelnut and 20 percent chocolate with 10 percent other ingredients) and it has been around since the early 1800’s when Napoleon blocked British goods (cocoa) from entering ports under French control (how this affected Italy is a topic too esoteric even for me). Thus, setting the stage for the perfect product for the post war period when once again cocoa was harder and more expensive to get ahold of.  

In 1951 he started making supercrema gianduja a creamy spreadable version and in 1963 his son, Michele, along with Francesco Rivella, reformulated it again with the goal of spreading it through Europe (get it? spreading). It wasn’t until the next year that it was renamed Nutella, and it became a huge hit. I really can’t emphasize enough, just how popular it has become. It is available in 160 countries, the Ferrero Group uses 25 percent of the global supply of hazelnuts each year (although not just for Nutella) and a jar was brought onboard for the Artemis II moon mission, so it’s popular in space too.

Now I do want to give a point of clarification, earlier I described it as a chocolate-hazelnut spread, but that’s only accurate if describing the flavor. Chocolate is one of the many foods that has a formal definition, like ice cream and peanut butter (this is foreshadowing). Although the rules for chocolate can vary from country to country, it must contain cocoa solids and cocoa butter to be considered a “true” chocolate. In Nutella the cocoa butter is replaced with palm oil (in 2013 a proposed palm oil tax in Europe was referred to in the media as “the Nutella Tax), which is why it stays spreadable in a far greater range of temperatures.

This is also why Nutella Peanut isn’t called Nutella Peanut Butter (foreshadowed!). Peanut butter is ground finely enough that that the oil separates and then has to be mixed back in. By the way, “chunky” peanut butter is smooth peanut butter with chopped peanuts mixed back in, not a less blended mixture. Most modern commercial peanut butters have emulsifiers that help bind the peanut oil back to the peanut flour but this is why natural peanut butters have to be stirred before eating (and woe to any who try to eat it without stirring, it is nasty).

Ok, I think I’ve padded out the article enough, it’s not like I get paid by the word (or at all). Are you all ready to get your expectations up-ended? You are? Damn, you probably should read a different article then, because this is as expected. Amazing! It would have taken some serious work to make this bad (possibly by hiding scorpions in it or something). It’s rich, it’s silky, it’s balanced. It’s all that last year’s Jif Peanut Butter & Chocolate wanted to be, but couldn’t quite reach. The Jif (I forget, am I supposed to pronounce it as gif now?) was pretty good, but Nutella Peanut is even better. The ménage à trois of cocoa, hazelnut and peanut is so harmonious, I can’t tell where one flavor begins and another ends, they writhe together on my tongue to ever greater heights of pleasure…um, what was I talking about again? I better take a sip of very cold water. I’ll even go so far to say that it surpasses original Nutella (not that I would ever kick Nutella off my toast). Since I wanted to be thorough (and not because I’m a greedy piggy-person) I tested it on a croissant, a slice of Japanese milk bread, and by itself. At room temperature I was able to dip the flaky croissant, spread on the soft milk bread, and form distinct peaks on the spoon. It adds flavor without compromising the texture of what it’s put on.

I don’t think I can sing its hosannas any more than I already have, but I do have one point of concern. What am I going to do if they ever stop selling it? I know new products frequently come and go, but this one feels different. It makes me feel different. So, I strongly suggest everyone gives it a try, and hopefully we can together make this into something that lasts.

Found at Walmart