Ferrero buys about a quarter of the world’s hazelnut supply every year. That’s more than 100,000 tons. Thanks to Nutella, hazelnuts have become trendy, driving up prices and encouraging farmers in regions that have never produced the nuts, like Chile and Australia, to give it a try. The company contends that two years’ worth of its hazelnut supply could fill the Roman Colosseum, and in 2014, Ferrero bought the world’s leading hazelnut supplier, the Otlan Group. 6. EACH JAR CONTAINS 52 HAZELNUTS. In a string of new initiatives from Ferrero Travel Market, the company is now set to launch new Nutella platform, ‘Hello World’, that will be rolled out in travel retail from February 2018. In 2015, Ferrero slapped a rogue Nutella cafe scheduled to open in Brooklyn with a lawsuit. First, the restaurant was to be named the Nutelleria, but changed to Nuteria over legal concerns. Unfortunately, Ferrero still thought the Nutella-themed restaurant had too similar of a name to its own brand, and filed suit. The cafe closed in May 2015, as did, presumably, dreams of Miami and Los Angeles outposts. However, the New York location of the Italian market Eataly does have a Ferrero-approved Nutella bar. 15. NUTELLA HAS A SMEARED REPUTATION.

Potential banana skin … while this looks nice enough, it’s marked down for the poshness of the bread, and should really be paired with tea. Photograph: Vsevolod Belousov/Alamy Bafflingly rich, sweet, stodgy foods. The addition of Nutella, even more so than whipped cream, compounds this problem. “Galumphing, maximalist cooking that makes you long for delicacy, refinement and finesse,” says HTE, the column that eats Nutella straight from the jar. Nutella, the world-renowned hazelnut chocolate spread, boasts distribution in more than 160 countries and a loyal social media following including 32 million Facebook fans.Highlights of the new collection include the Nutella Apparel 750g pot of the spread dressed in a ‘snazzy zip-up top’. “This cute collectable sleeve serves also as a pen and pencil caddy or a make-up brush holder,” says Ferrero. Served straight from the spoon? Then likely every time you walk into the kitchen. You have been warned. Otherwise, Nutella works any time – breakfast (toast); dinner (banana sandwich); tea (ice-cream) – you feel that Covid-19/late-stage capitalism/life is squeezing your skull to the extent that you need a momentary lift, a boost, a jolt of pleasure to remind you you are alive. Drink The subject of heists in Germany and chaos in French supermarkets, blessed by the high priests of the kitchen pass ( Nigella, Yotam) but also slathered on chips in Aberdeen, Nutella’s popularity knows no bounds. Serving suggestion … also, ignore what the label says about not storing Nutella in the fridge. Photograph: MASP Food Photography/Alamy

In 2004, Nutella began using up-and-coming young players for Germany’s national soccer team in its advertisements. The problem? Once becoming the face of sweet hazelnutty goodness, these players tended to not live up to their potential as future all-stars. Many of them got booted from the team in what began to be called Nutella fluch, or the Nutella curse. 24. YOU CAN’T NAME YOUR CHILD AFTER IT… With the exception of the Guardian’s own Felicity Cloake – a heretic who recommends making your own – Nutella is seemingly irresistible to humans and animals alike. Not bad for a creation whose origins lie, twice over, in war, privation and improvisation. Napoleonic trade bans restricted cocoa’s availability in 19th-century Piedmont, inspiring the first gianduja or gianduiotto blends with local hazelnuts. In similar circumstances after the second world war, the Ferrero family created its own cocoa and hazelnut mix which, in 1964, became the easily spreadable SuperCrema version of Nutella which – recipe tweaks aside – we know today.

No. The end. Never. And don’t come at HTE with obscure Italian dessert pizza traditions, as if that justifies anything. This is not a matter of authenticity, it is a matter of common sense. When Another new launch from the brand is a collectable ‘Say it with Nutella’ gift box that contains a 350g jar with an ‘I love you’ or ‘For you’ printed label. OMG! The Mona Lisa might be... good, but a 3kg tub of Nutella is OFF THE CHART. A big Nutella jar is the ultimate everything: ultimate indulgence, ultimate gift, ultimate way to say "I Love You!".

That has an unmistakable, unappealing 1970s feel. Dipping fruit into softened Nutella brings two great things together and ruins both. Although it is not as leftfield as serving chocolate spread on a charcuterie board to pair with the cheese. Or adding it to a grilled cheese sandwich. We wanted to attract the shopper through multiple touch points, interact with him with fun activities and showcase our new travel-exclusive range. We look forward to working with retailers to roll this out worldwide early next year.” Ferrero Travel Market General Manager Francois Godin said: “Ferrero has had another great year in travel retail with strong growth in all our markets worldwide. Contributing to this growth is our strategy of mixing a local focus with constant innovation in our product portfolio. Ferrero described the Kinderino Sailor T7 as eye-catching on the shelf and believes it will attract sales in airports and on ferries and cruise-ships. Ferrero gifted members of the Italian national cycling team giant jars of Nutella personalized with their names just before the 2014 UCI Road World Championships. The company has also been a sponsor of its home country’s World Cup soccer team. 23. BUT THERE’S A NUTELLA CURSE.

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Ferrero originally made his chocolate-hazelnut paste into a loaf designed to be sliced and placed on bread, kind of like a chocolatey version of American cheese slices. 4. IT SPREADS FAR AND WIDE. Frederic Thil, General Manager Ferrero Travel Market comments: “Ferrero is leading the travel retail confectionery category through its imaginative and innovative activations and its creative approach to product design. Based on the results of Ferrero’s first segmentation study, conducted last year with thousands of passengers in airports all over the world, the Ferrero team has crafted a stand-alone platform on the theme of ‘optimism’. The smooth brand has encountered bumps in the road. But, since 2015, criticism of Nutella’s use of palm oil has largely subsided after the then French environment minister, Ségolène Royal, was forced into an embarrassing public apology. Royal had called for a Nutella boycott but, among others, Greenpeace leapt to Ferrero’s defence, stating that it is leading the way in terms of sustainability, transparency and regulation of palm oil production. Ferrero (which says it uses just 0.3% of global palm oil each year) was the best-rated manufacturer on the 2020 WWF Palm Oil Scorecard. There are 52 hazelnuts in every 14-ounce jar of Nutella, according to its advertisements. Hazelnuts make up about 13 percent of the product. 7. IT’S BIG BUSINESS.

Over a century later, chocolate again became expensive and scarce due to rationing in Europe during World War II. An Italian pastry maker named Pietro Ferrero once again turned to the mighty hazelnut for salvation in 1946 and created Pasta Gianduja; three years later he altered the recipe to make the treat spreadable. In 1964, Pietro’s son Michele tweaked the recipe slightly and renamed it “ Nutella.” 2. ITS PREDECESSOR WAS NAMED AFTER A CHARACTER FROM ITALIAN COMMEDIA DELL'ARTE. Over the last 18 months this has included substantial development of the Kinder category around the highly successful Kinderino aviator platform. The new Nutella and Tic Tac travel exclusive collections have been very well-received and have added value to these brands in the global business. The 140g Kinderino Sailor T7 features the character wearing a nautical hat and leverages on the success of the Kinder mascot and the popularity of the two versions – Baseball and Pilot – which are already on the market. It contains seven Kinder Surprise egg-shaped treats and will be also be available in February 2015. The chocolate and hazelnut substance was named after Gianduja, a smiling Piedmontese peasant with a three-point hat who rides around town on a donkey clutching a duja—which in the Piedmontese dialect means “container.” The duja was said to hold wine ... but could have just as easily held a few pounds of that chocolatey hazelnut goodness, no? Gianduja masks are sold all over the Piedmont region of Italy, and his face was plastered all over early Nutella advertisements. 3. IT ORIGINALLY CAME IN THE FORM OF A LOAF.North America’s Nutella is made in Canada, but you can also find the imported version from Italy in specialty shops (you can tell it’s from Italy by the glass jar). Despite the same list of ingredients, many Nutella aficionados claim that the stuff made in Ontario tastes sweeter and less hazelnutty than the European version. In 2014, a Washington Post correspondent dove into the debate with the help of a pastry chef, and came to the conclusion that the difference in taste could be the result of trans fats in the European version. Yum yum. 20. ITALY’S SO PROUD OF NUTELLA, IT PUT IT ON A STAMP. Top: Kinder Surprise T8 Mascot shines the spotlight on eight different sports; Left: Kinder Bueno 200g adds to the Kinder Miniatures range; Right: Kinderino Sailor T7 Kinder has intensified the focus on children’s gifting products, following the successful launch of Kinder Pilot as the ambassador of the Kinder brand. The roll-out of Kinder Pilot is said to have raised the brand’s visibility in travel retail considerably, and this year Kinder has launched two new travel retail exclusives designed to appeal to the children’s gifting segment. With three flavours available, the Kinder Miniatures collection will have excellent visibility in stores and is sure to prove a hit with retailers and consumers alike,” Ferrero stated. The ‘Say it with Nutella’ gift box that contains a 350g jar with an ‘I love you’ or ‘For you’ printed label.